Team

Ms. Ankita Shanker

Founder & Director

Ankita Shanker LLB (R'dg) BCL (Oxf) BPTC (Lond BPP) is a social entrepreneur and legal researcher specialised in Public International Law, Animal Law, and Legal Philosophy and Theory. She earned her post-graduate degree in law from Oxford University and qualified as a barrister at the Bar of England and Wales. Ankita is now working towards her doctorate in Animal Rights Legal Philosophy and Theory at the Universities of Basel and Helsinki. She is the Founder and Director of the first world moot on International Law and animal rights.

Altamush Saeed

Deputy Director | Regional Co-Director, Northern America

Altamush Saeed BA-LLB (Lhr LUMS) LLM (Mich) LLM (Pdx L&C) LLM (Pdx L&C) is an Animal Law LLM Graduate from the Center for Animal Law Studies, Lewis and Clark Law School. He is currently pursuing an Environmental Law, Natural Resources, and Energy Law LLM at Lewis and Clark. Altamush is a Co-Founder/Director of Charity Doings Foundation and an Animal Welfare Ambassador to Comprehensive Disaster Response Services.

Eduardo Kapapelo

Strategic Advisor

Eduardo Kapapelo BA BAdmin MPhil (Pret) MA (Vie) PhD (Pret) is a Project Manager and Researcher at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. With a focus on a variety of critical topics, Eduardo is currently working on issues relating to climate justice and human rights.

Danielle Yeatman

Executive Assistant to the Director

Danielle Yeatman BA-Law (Pret) is a final-year LLB student at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. She is currently a research assistant for the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment's Climate Litigation in the Global South Project.

Uzma Hussain

Executive Assistant to the Director

Uzma Hussain Btech (Noida Bernett) is a graduate in Engineering Physics from Bennett University. She is interested in Environmental Science and is committed to minimizing the damage that humans have caused our Earth.

Sara Mehak

General Counsel

Sara Mehak BMgt (Leth) LLB (Law) LPC-LLM (Law) CID (Camb), originally from Canada and currently based in London, is a licensed lawyer in England and Wales. With extensive experience in private practice and in-house, Sara has served as legal counsel for a defense intelligence company, and served as a litigator successfully litigating against major airlines, financial institutions, and other prominent companies.

Vanessa Man-Yi Wong

Legal Operations Manager

Vanessa Man-Yi Wong MA (HK) JD (HK CUHK) PCLL (HK CUHK) is an LLM candidate in International and Transnational Criminal Law at the University of Amsterdam, with a specialism in International Law and Comparative Literature.

Shreya Padukone

Partnerships Manager

Shreya Padukone BSc-LLB (Amd GNLU) is a legal and policy researcher with an integrated degree in Science and Law from Gujarat National Law University. She leads programs at the Animal Law Centre – NALSAR University of Law, and assists on custom operations projects with nonprofits at Aneeha Patwardhan Consulting.

Sabina Bravo

Marketing Manager

Sabina Bravo Rebolledo LLB (Stgo UCH) is a law school graduate from Universidad de Chile, where she specialised in Animal Law with background in civil and criminal law. Since 2020, she has been a committed advocate for Animal Rights.

Imogen Suett

Marketing Associate

Imogen Suett is a second-year Philosophy and Politics undergraduate student at the University of Bristol in England. As a keen advocate for animal welfare and rights, she seeks opportunities to make substantial positive change in this sector.

Daniel Clark

Head Content Creator

Daniel Clark BA (Camb) MPhil (Camb) is a writer, editor and translator based in the UK. He has a Master's degree in European Cultures from the University of Cambridge, where he also co-founded Plant-Based Cambridge, a fast-growing climate campaign calling for fully plant-based catering.

Mikalah Singer

Regional Co-Director, Northern America

Mikalah Singer BA (Cle CWRU) JD (Pdx L&C) LLM (Pdx L&C) is an Oregon-barred attorney with a JD, a Certificate in Animal Law, and an L.L.M. in Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law. She currently works as the Public Policy Manager for the Center for Contemporary Sciences (CCS), a 501(c)(3) working at the intersection of animal exploitation and public health, and is the Founder and Executive Director of Fox Protection International.

María Francisca Tapia Thenoux

Regional Co-Director, Latin America and the Caribbean

María Francisca Tapia Thenoux LLB (Stgo UCH) is a law school graduate from Universidad de Chile, where she specialized in criminal law and became a passionate advocate for Animal Rights. Since 2017, she has been an Associate of Fundación Derecho y Defensa Animal, where she has organized, moderated, and spoken at various symposiums and forums on Animal Rights Law.

Angie Vega

Regional Co-Director, Latin America and the Caribbean

Angie Vega LLB (Bog PUJ) LLM (Mich State) is a Colombian attorney and the current Animal Law Fellow at Michigan State University. With an LL.M in the American legal system, she has used her expertise in civil law and common law to advance animal law in the academic field.

Cheslyn Ceaser

Regional Co-Director, Sub-Saharan Africa

Cheslyn Ceaser LLB (Bel UWC) LLM (Bel UWC) is a graduate of The University of the Western Cape (UWC), completing a Bachelor of Laws degree in 2018. He completed a master's degree in environmental law with a focus on climate change in 2020 from his alma mater.

Michaela Tafani

Regional Co-Director, Sub-Saharan Africa

Michaela Tafani LLB (Pret) LLM (Pret) is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa with several years of legal practice experience. Michaela holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (2018), and a Master of Laws degree (2022) in environmental law with a specific focus on animal rights, from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Dara Eisen

Regional Co-Director, Northern, Western, and Southern Europe

Dara Eisen LLB (Liv J Moores) LLM (Durh) is a full-time PhD candidate at Durham University Law School, an aspiring Barrister, and Exhibition Scholar of The Honourable Society of The Inner Temple. Dara's thesis title is: 'Reconsidering the International Legal Approach to Harmful Cultural practices'.

Rimona Afana

Regional Co-Director, Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia, and Northern Africa

Rimona Afana BA (Crai) BA (Crai-Biel) MA (Crai) MSc (Ams) PhD (Uls) is a Romanian–Palestinian researcher, lecturer, activist, and multimedia artist working on environmental harms, nonhuman rights, violent conflicts, state–corporate crimes, and colonial legacies.

Lu Shegay

Regional Co-Director, Eastern Europe, Central and Western Asia, and Northern Africa

Lu Shegay LLB (Ala KIMEP) LLM (Pdx L&C) is the co-founder of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia, has earned her LL.B degree at KIMEP University School of Law (Kazakhstan) and her LL.M degree at Lewis & Clark Law School (Portland, Oregon). Twice Ambassador of the Center for Animal Law Studies, Lewis & Clark Law School, under the initiative Global Ambassador Program, Lu worked on the projects of aquatic animals and animal abuse in Kazakhstan.

Aman Garg

Regional Co-Director, Southern Asia

Aman Garg BA-LLB (Blr NLSIU) earned his bachelor's degree in law from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, with research interests in constitutional law, animal law, environmental ethics, and Indian philosophy.

Dulki Seethawaka

Regional Co-Director, Southern Asia

Dulki Seethawaka LLB (Lond) BA (N'ria) LLM (Cmb) MPhil (Cmb) completed her LL.B. from the University of London and B.A. in Interior Design from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, both with honours. She took oaths as an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2015. Her special focus on animal protection within the legislative regime began when she was pursuing her LL.M. degree in 2016 from the University of Colombo. Currently, Dulki is a Senior Executive Researcher at the Centre for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP) of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She represents animal laws and policy related sectors in CELP publications, proposals and other projects.