MA in Philosophy

Laura Fox, 2009

Laura J. Fox is the Douglas M. Costle Chair in Environmental Law and Director of the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic. Professor Fox works, and trains students, to protect farmed animals from the industrialized practices of factory farming, including by reducing extreme confinement practices and challenging their environmental, social, and public health impacts. Her work involves filing complaints with federal and state agencies, litigating issues arising under various federal statutes, and bringing consumer protection, tort, and other matters at the state level.
 
She regularly presents at conferences and in the media on topics including environmental,
public health, and other societal harms of extreme farmed animal confinement; strategic
litigation for protecting farmed animals and human health; and discussions on specific legal challenges. 
 
Prior to joining VLGS, Professor Fox was a Senior Staff Attorney focused on farmed animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States in its Animal Protection Law department. Prof. Fox served as a Visiting Fellow with the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School, was an Adjunct Professor of Animal Law at George Mason University’s school of law, has taught courses in philosophy and ethics at Northern Virginia Community College, and teaches Climate Change, Extinction and Adaptation in the Vermont Law School Online Learning Program. Prof. Fox graduated from Vermont Law School with a J.D. and Master of Environmental Law and Policy and holds a master’s in philosophy from George Mason University, where she also earned her B.A. in philosophy.