Who we are
I’m Penny Ellison, the founder of the Animal Advocacy Academy. I am an attorney, an adjunct professor of Animal Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and a leader of nonprofit organizations that seek to improve conditions for animals and people. I created the Animal Advocacy Academy with the single goal of providing well researched and accurate content that distills hard-to-understand concepts into clearly communicated, actionable podcasts, classes, articles and videos for anyone who is eager to learn about making the world a little easier and more compassionate for animals.
I know you get a lot of emails from animal welfare organizations. When most advocacy oganizations ask you to get involved, they mean by donating money. And donating is great and important and you should do it if you can. But I know, when I open those emails, I’m always looking for more concrete ways to help. That’s what the Animal Advocacy Academy is all about.
Animal Advocacy Academy is based on a few of my core beliefs…
I want to teach you about animal law and advocacy so you can make your own judgments and set your own priorities based on an understanding of the facts and the processes to effect change. Armed with that knowledge, animal advocacy becomes fun and do-able, not out of reach and pointless. My goal is to share everything I know about animal advocacy and to foster critical thinking, thought provoking conversations and real world change.
Animal Advocacy is not just for lawyers
Lawyers have a role but so does everyone else who cares and it’s not that hard to learn about what needs to change and how to change it.
Thinking small is often better than thinking big
You might want to relieve the suffering of every animal – but that can feel impossible because it is. Changing things in your community can create a groundswell that ripples in ways you never imagined.
Together, we can shift the paradigm
Many people say that the actions of just one person can’t make a difference. They can and they do – when we join in community and take action.
PENNY ELLISON
Penny Ellison is an animal protection attorney, writer, and community leader. Since 2006, she has taught Animal Law and Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she also serves as faculty supervisor of Penn’s Animal Law Project — a student group that provides pro bono legal assistance to nonprofits working on behalf of animals. The Project has advised organizations including the Humane Society of the United States, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Center for Biological Diversity. Penn’s Toll Public Interest Center has honored Penny as Supervisor of the Year for her work with the Project.
From 2013 to 2022, Penny was a Contributing Writer for The Legal Intelligencer, where she wrote a quarterly column on Animal Law and Ethics. In 2015, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture appointed her to the Pennsylvania Dog Law Advisory Board to advise on enforcement of laws affecting the care and breeding of dogs across the Commonwealth.
From 2012 through 2023, Penny served as Executive Director and Board Chair of Hand2Paw, a Philadelphia nonprofit that builds work and life skills in vulnerable youth through work with animals. She currently serves as co-Chair of the Board of the Pennsylvania SPCA. In 2023, Penny was honored to be a recipient of the 2023 WHYY Good Souls Project Award.
Penny is the author of more than 40 published articles on animal and environmental law and policy and is a frequent speaker at conferences nationwide. She received her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
She founded the Animal Advocacy Academy on a simple conviction: the people working hardest for animals deserve the same knowledge and tools that lawyers and lobbyists take for granted.
Ready to Start?
The Four C’s of Legislative Advocacy for Animals is a free private podcast series that walks you through the practical framework for turning concern into change. It’s where most people begin.