Spirit (top) and Kenya

Carolyn B. Matlack, JD
Managing Editor

Carolyn combines a law degree from Vermont Law School focusing on Animal Law with 28 years experience in pharmaceutical animal health and related businesses, both in the U.S. and abroad. She has written We've Got Feelings Too: Presenting The Sentient Property Solution, published in 2006. Addressed to all audiences with an interest in animals, the book tells a story about an animal airline case and at the same time offers a new, positive yet practical way for courts to recognize animals as more than plain property - unlike a couch or a chair, companion animals are living "feeling" or "sentient" property. Carolyn offers a fun, interactive program called How Much Am I Worth? to all levels.

As a former teacher and lifelong animal lover, Ms. Matlack's mission is to foster kindness and respect between people and animals. She is confident Animal Legal Reports Services ™, LLC will assist decision makers in doing just that. Carolyn enjoys her North Carolina home, working as a parttime dog trainer, wrestling with her two canines and ay foster dogs who happen along, hiking and canoeing. She is excited by the potential of ALRS and by the quality and faith of the people below whose paths have led them to be part of the Publishing Team.

Joe Manda, DVM, MBA, MS
Veterinary Section Co-Editor

Dr. Manda has taken on many roles in the veterinary industry over the past 20+ years. He possesses a unique mix of clinical skills in veterinary medicine, combined with an extensive background in business and marketing in the veterinary industry.

He completed his undergraduate studies at Oklahoma State University receiving two Bachelor of Science degrees in Pre-Veterinary Medicine and Secondary Education - Science. He is also a graduate of Hood College , where he received an MBA in Marketing and Management. Dr. Manda earned his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the Universidad Nacional de Pedro Henriques Urena, Santo Domingo , D.R. and holds a Master of Science degree from Rutgers University in Animal Science. Dr. Manda also graduated from the AAHA/Purdue School of Management - Certificate in Veterinary Practice Administration. He is completing his PhD Program in International Business Administration at Kennedy Western University .

Dr. Manda has been a member of the Management Committee for the American Animal Hospital Association, one of the founding members of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Management, and a member of numerous veterinary professional societies. He is a Charter Member of the American Association of Veterinary Practice Management Consultants and the American Veterinary Law Association, (AVMLA). Dr. Manda has made media appearances on the Leeza Gibbons show and had a successful talk radio show in the Philadelphia listening area entitled "Talking About Pets".
He is the owner of (2) adopted Siamese, one renal transplant donor cat, and an adopted English Springer Spaniel.

Gregory M. Dennis, JD
Veterinary Section Co-Editor

Since 1986 Gregory M. Dennis has been Legal Counsel for the Kansas Veterinary Medical Association. He is a charter member of the American Veterinary Medical Law Association. Greg is a member of the AVMA's Animal Welfare Task Force. From July 2002 to July 2003 he served as the President of the A.V.M.L.A.

Gregory has written and spoken extensively on numerous and diverse legal issues and matters affecting the practice of veterinary medicine and animals. He represents veterinarians in both Missouri and Kansas. Gregory is an attorney with Kent T. Perry & Co., L.C. in Overland Park, Kansas, handling, in addition to veterinary law, litigation and appellate matters. Mr. Dennis actively practices law in Kansas and Missouri.

 

Aggie

Mary Margaret McEachern, Esq.
Legal Section Editor

Ms. McEachern is a partner with the law firm of Dillow, McEachern & Associates, P.A. in Wilmington , North Carolina. She guest lectures and teaches courses as an Adjunct Lecturer of Honors at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington . Her courses focus on issues surrounding the human-animal relationship, including social, legal and ethical implications. Ms. McEachern is a 1992 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a 1996 graduate of the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, Campbell University , in Buies Creek , North Carolina. She served as Notes & Comments Editor on the Campbell Law Review. She has published several scholarly articles, one of which was a finalist in the Scribes National Notes & Comments Competition, and one of which won the I. Beverly Lake Award for Excellence in Constitutional Law.

She lectures on a variety of topics and has served as lead counsel in several reported state and federal cases. She authored Modern Trends in Veterinary Malpractice: How Our Evolving Attitudes Toward Non-Human Animals Will Change Veterinary Medicine , published in the Animal Law journal by Lewis & Clark Law School. She is the author of a legal advice column in Paw Prints, a local magazine published monthly and devoted to finding homes for homeless pets.

Ms. McEachern is continuing her education, presently seeking degrees in physics and mathematics while running a full-time law practice. She recently won the Fred Toney, Jr. Scholarship, given by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington Department of Mathematics and Statistics in recognition for her accomplishments in the study of mathematics. She has been an Animal Legal Defense Fund attorney since she began her practice in 1996. Her hobbies include long-distance running and racing, boating, and animals. She is the proud mother of two extremely spoiled cats, "Aggie" and " Sandy."

Adam P. Karp, Esq.
Animal Welfare and Law Enforcement Section Editor

Adam Karp exclusively practices animal law statewide from Bellingham, Washington. Having graduated from Gonzaga University with a B.A. Honors, and University of Washington with a J.D. and M.S. in statistics, this is Mr. Karp's ninth year actively practicing law. He founded and served as first chair of the Washington State Bar Association's Animal Law Section in 2002. He is also a vice-chair of the American Bar Association's Animal Law Committee. In addition to serving his fifth year as a contributing editor of The Animal Legal Report, produced by Animal Legal Reports Services, he is a long term member of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Further, he was graduated from the Washington Level One Animal Control Academy and is a member of the Washington Animal Control Association and National Animal Control Association.

He regularly writes for bar association bulletins on the topic of animal law and routinely speaks around the nation about animal law, including at Yale, Harvard, Vanderbilt, and Vermont Law School. Mr. Karp is an adjunct professor of animal law at the University of Washington School of Law and Seattle University School of Law.

He has been quoted in TIME magazine, the National Law Journal, and other periodicals, including a dedicated article on his practice in the Seattle Times. He was also quoted in the ABA Journal (November 2007) on animal law. He has chaired several animal law CLEs hosted by the WSBA, and has been a speaker at nearly 20 CLEs and conferences all on the subject of animal law.

With positive results, he has argued before the Washington Courts of Appeal on the subject of animal law. Mansour v. King County, 131 Wash.App. 255 (Div. I, 2006), pub.; Williams v. MacMahon, 110 Wash.App. 1031 (Div. II), unpub.; Wolverton v. Young, 2006 WL 165734 (Div. III, 2006), unpub.; and Womack v. von Rardon, 133 Wash. App. 254 (Div. III, 2006), pub.; Clarke v. Tri-Cities Animal Care and Control, 2008 WL 1821709 (Div. III, 2008), pub. Adam, 35, is married with cats.

Amy A. Breyer, Esq.

Jury Verdicts Section Editor

The Law Offices of Amy A. Breyer. LLC is the first animal law practice in Illinois. A 2000 graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, her caseload involves primarily litigation, including veterinary malpractice, civil cruelty claims, condominium/zoning issues, dog bites, consumer fraud, contractual disputes with breeders, as well as various other torts and negligence.

The Law Offices of Amy A. Breyer, LLC has been featured in the Chicago Tribune's Sunday Magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago's newspaper for the legal profession, The Daily Law Bulletin, as well as the London Sunday Telegraph and China Standard.

Academic and Bar Activities: Adjunct professor of animal law, DePaul University College of Law; Member, ABA-TIPS Animal Law Committee, Animal Disaster Relief Network and Select Legal Panel of Emergency Management Regarding Animals, American Bar Association 2006-07; Member, Agricultural Law  Section Council, Illinois State Bar Association, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07; Chair, CBA Solo/Small Firm Practitioners Committee, 2005-06; Founder, Chicago Animal Shelter Alliance. C.A.S.A., a pro bono project of the Animal Law Committee, was designed to help the city's shelters work together on problems such as pet overpopulation; Principal founder, Animal Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.

Prior to law school, Ms. Breyer worked in journalism for more than a decade as a newswriter/producer at CNN in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. She has authored Laws & Paws, a periodic legal informational column for Chicagoland Tails magazine and Asset Forfeiture and Animal Cruelty: Making One of the Most Powerful Tools in the Law Work for the Most Powerless Members of Society, Vol. 6, Animal L., 203 (2000).