News and Events

press releases

Cupp Addresses Animal Rights in San Diego Law Review

Richard L. Cupp,  John W. Wade Professor of Law at the Pepperdine University School of Law, recently published the article "Moving Beyond Animal Rights: A Legal/Contractualist Critique" in the San Diego Law Review. A longtime animal law scholar, Cupp discusses the rising significance of animal law in the article and shares his view that expanding rights is not the answer to our appropriately increasing sensitivity regarding animal welfare.

"The article addresses animal rights and it sets forth my view that both humans and animals would benefit from focusing on human responsibility for humane treatment of animals rather than on 'rights,'" Cupp says. "The article provides this analysis in the context of the rights issue's dramatic shift toward legal, rather than merely philosophical, analysis."

Cupp also presented on the topic to both the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science, Technology, and Law, and to the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Neuroscience last fall.

At Pepperdine School of Law, Cupp teaches Products Liability, Remedies, and Torts. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and has served as chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Torts and Compensation Systems. Cupp has published numerous law review articles in prominent journals such as the NYU Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, University of Illinois Law Review, and George Washington Law Review.

As a law student Cupp served as editor-in-chief of the UC Davis Law Review. Upon graduation he joined the San Diego law firm of Gray, Cary, Ware and Friedenrich as a litigation associate, and later served as associate general counsel for Pepperdine University.

In addition to his interest in torts and products liability, Cupp has written extensively about moral issues surrounding animal law. He has frequently been invited to participate in conferences, symposia, and media interviews addressing tort law and animal law issues.

Click here to read an abstract of Cupp's article, "Moving Beyond Animal Rights: A Legal/Contractualist Critique."