UM student goes to Harvard for animal law competition

For a woman who grew up on a small farm surrounded by horses, dogs, cats, ducks and chickens, it is no surprise that Lindsay Abernethy has a passion for helping animals.

This weekend, Abernethy, the 32-year-old, third-year University of Montana law student, combines that passion with her law education as she heads to Harvard Law School to compete in the eighth annual National Animal Law Competitions.

With her distinctly Southern accent, the cheerful Georgia native said that as the first student from UM to participate in the competition, she hopes to "put Montana on the map as far as animal law goes."

Over the past few weeks, Abernethy has been writing, memorizing and practicing a closing argument for the prosecution in an animal cruelty case, which she will deliver to a panel of judges at the competition. All that hard work has been in addition to Abernethy's already busy schedule, which largely revolves around her animals.

Abernethy begins her day around 7 a.m. with a long walk with her dog, Jasmine, whom she adopted in 2007 after her previous dog, Jerry, died.

At age 16, while her parents were on vacation in France, Abernethy convinced Kelli, one of her older sisters, to go to an animal shelter in Georgia with her and fill out the paperwork to adopt Jerry, a chocolate Labrador mix.

"For a person that age … to be educated and socially conscious enough to know that the best thing to do was to go and save [a dog] from a shelter, that's a tribute to Lindsay's character," said Abernethy's sister Chamblee, 41.

Abernethy credits much of her interest in helping animals to Chamblee, who rescues dogs in Atlanta.

When Jerry died, Abernethy was "devastated," said Chamblee.

A month after Jerry's death, Abernethy called Chamblee and asked, "Who have you got that you think needs a home the most?"

It was then that she found Jasmine, and since then the two have been inseparable.

"She's got so much personality and she definitely keeps me laughing," Abernethy said.

Depending on the day, after her walk with Jasmine it's off to an 8:30 a.m. class at law school or to her internship at the Missoula city attorney's office. Later in the afternoon, Abernethy steps out of her high heels and into jodhpurs as she heads to a barn just outside of town where she shovels stalls and does other chores in exchange for boarding her two horses, Gus and Victoria.

Abernethy has always loved horses. Though she got her undergraduate degree in business administration from Wesleyan College in 2000, Abernethy joked that she "majored in equestrian," as she spent a lot of time riding on the equestrian team.

After Wesleyan, Abernethy worked five years as a horse trainer in Georgia, North Carolina and Wyoming. She then worked as a paralegal at a law firm in Macon, Ga., which she said inspired her to go to law school.

In her first year of law school in 2008, Abernethy co-founded UM's chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF), one of 154 chapters in the U.S., with fellow law student Tess Roth, who has since graduated.

The UM SALDF chapter currently has 10 members who have participated in activities ranging from drafting Montana legislation that protects animals to holding a bagel sale at the law school every Monday to raise money for animal causes.

Abernethy said her main goal for the group is to spread awareness about issues affecting animals. One of the most important messages she likes to tell people is "if they want an animal . . . they adopt one from a shelter and not buy one from a breeder, just because so many animals are homeless."

Abernethy got the idea to start a SALDF chapter from Stacey Gordon, a law professor and associate law librarian at UM. Gordon serves as adviser to SALDF.

 "She took [SALDF] and ran with it. … She's very dedicated to the group and to animal issues," Gordon said.

Despite her interest in prosecuting animal cruelty cases, Abernethy said that a future as an animal lawyer might be difficult, as "animals don't have very much money." Abernethy expects she will work in criminal or family law once she graduates and still help animals through volunteer work.

Eventually, Abernethy and Chamblee hope to open an animal sanctuary together and transport dogs to the West from the Southeast, where there is greater pet overpopulation.

For now, Abernethy is focused on the competition at Harvard.

Accompanying Abernethy on the trip to Boston is fellow law student and SALDF member Lindsey Pilecki, who has been coaching Abernethy over the past few weeks.

There's no monetary prize in the competition, just a plaque. However, Abernethy is less concerned about the prize than she is about the future of animal law at UM, hoping the competition will inspire other members to compete.

"One way or another, she'll always be an advocate for animals," Chamblee said.

jed.winer@umontana.edu

Lindsay Abernethy finished in the top four in the closing argument competition at the National Animal Law Competitions at Harvard Law School, after competing against 15 other students from Lewis & Clark Law School, The John Marshall Law School, the University of Nebraska College of Law, and other law schools across the country.