Do you need pro bono legal advice?

If you are an animal advocacy or rescue group that needs help incorporating or with contracts, our team is currently armed and ready to help you!

If you are seeking assistance with a consumer law matter, our team is currently working on a number of exciting cases and we are not taking on new matters. Please keep an eye on this page as we will let you know once we are accepting new clients. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

To submit a request for legal assistance through our Anti-Puppy Farm Legal Clinic, please visit this page.

About our pro bono legal service

About our pro bono legal service

The suffering and exploitation of animals in Australia is legal and happens every day because of cruel, inadequate and inconsistent laws.

Our lawyers fight to protect animals.

We do this by initiating ground-breaking and strategic lawsuits which challenge animal exploitation, and working closely with many respected and high profile animal advocates and animal protection organisations.

We focus on matters that have a broader animal protection element to them – this means that we generally focus our work on the legal injustices that affect the largest number of animals and give rise to the worst cruelty.

The majority of our our lawyers and staff are volunteers. Because of this, we are not able to help every individual or organisation that requests assistance. Unless your matter has an animal protection public interest element to it we will generally be unable to assist you. Here are some examples of cases that we do not generally take on as they do not satisfy our intake criteria:

dog or animal attack cases, including dangerous dog matters; councils or police seizing your pets;
restricted breed cases; and
veterinary negligence claims.

If you need legal assistance about one of these areas of law, we suggest that you contact the Lawyers For Animals clinic at the Fitzroy Legal Service, who provide an excellent clinic service.

We exist to protect animals. Because of this, we will not act on behalf of breeders or defend individuals charged with animal cruelty offences. As we are a charity, we also do not generally provide advice or representation to for-profit organisations.

If you need legal advice or assistance, please complete the form below. You should also review our Advice Guidelines to determine whether your matter is something we can assist with.

As we are an predominantly volunteer-run organisation, we are unable to respond to help everyone with free legal advice. While we’d love to help you, we focus on public interest cases that seek to change the way the law works for the benefit of lots of animals, rather than just one or two.

ALI will assess all requests for assistance against our Advice Guidelines internally and will notify you within 7 days if we are able to assist. Should you not receive a response from ALI within 7 days, please assume that unfortunately ALI is not able to assist you with your request.

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What is your name?

First Name

Last Name

Organisation Name:

Address:

State:

Phone:

Email:

Date of birth:

YYYY

Is this advice for you?

Are you enquiring as an individual or on behalf of an organisation?

What areas of law does your query relate to?

Please summarise your legal issue:

Please explain what assistance you seek from The Animal Law Institute:

Other side (who is this advice against?):

Are you aware of any conflicts of interest?

Urgency:

Have you contacted The Animal Law Institute before?

Have you received legal advice on this matter previously?

Are you currently receiving legal advice or assistance from any other legal professional in relation to this matter?

If this request is about an animal you own, do you have pet or other insurance for that animal?

If you hold pet or other insurance for that animal, have you made a claim on that insurance in relation to this matter?

Have you received any pay out from pet or other insurance in relation to this matter?

How did you hear about the Animal Law Institute?

Please choose one option below:

Search engine (eg. Google)

Social media (eg. Facebook)

Word of mouth

Other

About our pro bono legal service

The suffering and exploitation of animals in Australia is legal and happens every day because of cruel, inadequate and inconsistent laws.

Our lawyers fight to protect animals.

We do this by initiating groundbreaking and strategic lawsuits which challenge animal exploitation, and working closely with many respected and high profile animal advocates and animal protection organisations.

All of our lawyers and staff are volunteers. Because of this, we are not able to help every individual or organisation that requests assistance. Unless your matter has an animal protection public interest element to it we will generally be unable to assist you. Here are some examples of cases that we do not generally take on as they do not satisfy our intake criteria:

dog or animal attack cases, including dangerous dog matters; councils or police seizing your pets;

restricted breed cases; and

veterinary negligence claims.

If you need legal assistance about one of these areas of law, we suggest that you contact the Lawyers For Animals clinic at the Fitzroy Legal Service, who provide an excellent clinic service.

We exist to protect animals. Because of this, we will not act on behalf of breeders or defend individuals charged with animal cruelty offences. As we are a charity, we also do not generally provide advice or representation to for profit organisations.

If you need legal advice or assistance, please complete the form below. You should also review our Advice Guidelines to determine whether your matter is something we can assist with.

As we are an entirely volunteer run organisation, we are unable to respond to help everyone with free legal advice. While we’d love to help you, we focus on public interest cases that seek to change the way the law works for the benefit of lots of animals, rather than just one or two.

Here are some other organisations who may be able to assist you:

Are you located in Victoria? Lawyer for Animals offers free legal advice with appointments every Wednesday evening at the Fitzroy Legal Service. Call (03) 9419 3744 to book an appointment or follow this link for further information: http://lawyersforanimals.org.au/clinic-2/

Are you located in Canberra? The Animal Defender’s Office are able to provide free legal advice and representation. They are unfortunately unable to help with vet negligence cases. Please visit their website for more information about how to contact them: https://www.ado.org.au

If you are in a position to pay for legal assistance, you can contact K & R Animal Law (https://www.kandranimallaw.com.au)

Are you contacting us about a puppy or animal farm matter? We have put together a fact sheet which you can read here.

Are you in South Australia, the Northern Territory or Western Australia? We are a Victorian based community legal centre and are unable to take on puppy farm cases in these States.

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Some of our clients

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What happens next?

We are unable to assist in dangerous dog, restricted breed or veterinary negligence claims unless they fall within the public interest criteria in our Advice Guidelines.

Requests for legal assistance are considered in the order they are received.