2025 Articles

Animal Law Section Members Attend the Annual Meeting in Lincolnshire October 2025 Key moments featuring the Association’s Animal Law Section members at the 2025 Annual Meeting held in Lincolnshire on June 5–6.

Detailed Discussion of Veterinarian Malpractice By David S. Favre October 2025 This article provides a short history of the development of veterinary malpractice as a cause of action and also explores the elements of a malpractice suit. It further delineates the concepts of standard of care, proximate cause, and res ipsa loquitur. Defenses to malpractice actions are also discussed.

Estate Planning for Animals By Timothy S. Midura May 2025 This article by Timothy S. Midura explores the often-overlooked area of estate planning for pets, framing it as a specialized form of special needs planning. Since pets are dependent, perishable beings lacking legal personhood, estate plans must explicitly address their care upon the incapacity or death of their human guardians. Despite their central role in many families, pets are legally treated as property, which complicates planning but also mandates it for ethical and practical reasons.

LAWPAC Needs You! May 2025 The Illinois Lawyers’ Political Action Committee (LAWPAC) needs your help to fulfill its mission to support the legislative goals of the ISBA and Illinois’ legal community.

Member Spotlight: Justice William E. Holdridge May 2025 A spotlight on a member of the Animal Law Section Council.

Member Spotlight: Kimberly Backman October 2025 Kimberly Backman, an Ambassador for the Center for Animal Law Studies Global Ambassador Program, provides pro bono legal services to animal welfare non-profits and organizations; founded a non-profit dedicated to protecting animals, their, rights, and their environments; and is a 6th Congressional Volunteer District Leader for the Humane Society of the United Statse.

What’s the Law? Dogs in Hot Cars By Elizabeth Zurek May 2025 Some states allow individual citizens to enter a car, including by means of breaking a window, in order to rescue an animal. In Illinois, only a law enforcement officer can do so, using “any reasonable means under the circumstances.”