Vanessa Shakib

Adjunct Associate Professor of Law/ Co-Founder & Co-Director, Advancing Law for Animals

Image - Professor Shakib

B.A., University of Southern California, 2009
J.D., George Mason University School of Law, 2012

Joined Southwestern: 2022

Professor Shakib is an expert in animal law, government accountability, and illegal business practices. She co-founded and co-directs Advancing Law for Animals, a non-profit law firm for our non-human friends. There, she develops impact litigation to further the interests of animals exploited in research and industrial food production.

Prior to animal law, Professor Shakib specialized in illegal taxation, consumer protection, and inverse condemnation, among other practice areas. Her track record in government oversight informs her work at Advancing Law for Animals, where she has successfully challenged cruel and illegally-promulgated regulations at the federal level, and lack of animal-welfare enforcement at the local level. Professor Shakib continues to consult on a variety of legal matters through her private practice, Shakib Law, PC.