CSU|LAW launched the David H. Braff Animal Law Center in 2024. It is the only center of its kind in the Midwest. The Center seeks to be a leader in the animal justice community by: 1) providing a broad range of legal services to protect and enhance animal welfare, 2) offering a robust animal law curriculum, and 3) engaging with the community on issues involving animal welfare.
The Center was founded by David H. Braff, a graduate of Cleveland State University and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Mr. Braff practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York City for nearly four decades. Mr. Braff serves on the Board of Directors for the Animal Legal Defense Fund and also serves on the Center's Advisory Council.
Mr. Braff has been an integral part of planning the wide range of innovative programming that the Center is undertaking including inter-disciplinary collaborations with CSU's School of Social Work on the link between animal cruelty and domestic violence, offering a robust animal law curriculum, determining guidelines for choosing cases for representation by the Center's Animal Law Clinic, and re-invigorating the Student Chapter of the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Strategic Plan
In May of 2025, the Center with guidance and input from its Advisory Council finalized a 3-year strategic plan. The Plan has five over-arching goals: 1) to maintain and develop strategic alliances to benefit the Center's mission and work, 2) to offer a robust animal law curriculum, 3) to engage in meaningful and impactful clinical work that benefits animals and produces students who are effective animal advocates, 4) to offer programming that benefits our students, animals, and the community, and 5) to develop a fundraising plan to achieve financial stability.
Our Course Offerings (2025/2026 ACADEMIC Year)
In the 2025/2026 Academic Year, the Animal Law Center will offer the following courses:
- Animal Law (a survey course covering federal and state animal laws focusing on protecting companion animals).
- Wildlife Law (a course focusing on federal and state wildlife laws including the Endangered Species Act, Lacey Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Migratory Bird Act).
- Animal Law Clinic (will be offered in both fall and spring semesters focusing on the enactment, enhancement, and enforcement of annimal welfare law, rules, and regulations, including through legislative invitiatives, prosecutions and related support, and impact litigation. The Clinic also provides non-litigation support to nonprofit animal welfare organizations.
Future Planned Course Offerings include: Advocating for Change (focusing on advocacy efforts outside of traditional impact litigation), Farmed Animal Law, Animal Cruelty Investigation and Enforcement, and Transactional Animal Law for NonProfit Organizations.
Animal Law Center Advisory Council
The Center's faculty are extremely grateful for the insight and knowledge of the Members of our Advisory Council. The Members of the Advisory Council include:
- Isadora Almaro, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office
- David Braff, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
- Alyssa Crowell, Animal Legal Defense Fund
- Carolyn Broering-Jacobs, CSU College of Law
- Rose Fini, Cleveland Metroparks
- Lee Fisher, Baldwin-Wallace University
- Sharon Harvey, Cleveland Animal Protective League
- J. Jeffrey Holland, Holland & Muirden
- The Honorable Benita Pearson, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
- Heidi Robertson, CSU College of Law
- Richard Rutt, City of Fairview Park
- Craig Waldman, Jones Day
- Mary Walsh, University Hospitals
- Aviva Vincent, CSU School of Social Work
The Center's Faculty
For more information on the Center or the Clinic, please contact the Center's Faculty Director:
