Joyce Tischler

Joyce Tischler is an extremely well-known animal activist and attorney who used her education to protect the rights of animals. Joyce received her Juris Doctor Law Degree from the University of San Diego Law school and her Bachelor of Arts in law from Queens College. She is a co-founder of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and was the executive director for 25 years. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is an organization dedicated to the protection of animals and tries to enforce change through the legal system. It was founded in 1979 and is still running today. The original name of the organization was called Attorneys for Animals Rights but in 1984 the organization’s name was changed to Animal Legal Defense Fund. Joyce was able to create this organization through help of others who shared her interests. Joyce along with other lawyers would meet monthly to learn about state and federal laws pertaining to animals and discuss the issues of animal abuse. In 1981, Joyce filed her first ever case. Joyce was notified that the U.S. Navy had killed over 600 feral burros  at a Weapon Testing Center in China Lake, California and they were planning to kill over 5,000 burros in the next few weeks. Joyce quickly typed a set of pleadings to argue that the Navy could not continue unless they created an (EIS) Environmental Impact Statement document which follows the (NEPA) National Environmental Policy Act.* Joyce successfully argued her case in front of a judge and saved the lives of 500 burros. Over the next 8 months, Joyce continued to work on this case and prevented any burros from being killed in the future. Joyce’s success was extremely important to the future of the foundation and they were recognized by the Animal Protection Institute. The Animal Protection Institute gave the organization a yearly budget of $12,000 which allowed Joyce to work for the organization full time. The organization continued to grow with the help of other lawyers across the country. Through the years, the organization was able to change the lives of many animals through their extremely consistent efforts. Examples of these efforts include advocating for mistreated animals in zoos, abused animals, animals hunted for sport, unlawfully kept wild animals and many more cases. The organization helped various types of animals including dogs, cats, bears, giraffes, farm animals and the list continues.  The changes implemented by this organization and by Joyce also changed the educational system. Amongst Canada and the U.S., 167 law schools now have an Animal Law Program. Harvard Law School, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University and Stanford University are just a few examples of universities that have an Animal Law Program. In 2019, Joyce started working at Lewis and Clark Law School as a professor of Animal Law Fundamentals and Industrial Animal Agriculture Law. Joyce is an incredibly inspirational attorney who was able to spread her knowledge, help hundreds of animals and advance the importance of animal law throughout the country. Her impact will be felt throughout the country and was extremely important to the success of the Animal Legal Defense Fund.   

*The National Environmental Policy Act was a law created in 1969 which requires that federal organizations think about how their actions affect the environment before they proceed. Federal Organizations have to create an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement), which is a document to propose their action and its effects on the environment. .