Animal Welfare Under Scrutiny: How Slaughter, Handling, and Labeling Laws Are Transforming Food-Production Liability

Felicia Kerney | Animal Cruelty & Community Prosecution Unit

Felicia Kerney is a seasoned attorney with over twenty years of experience in criminal law.

She served as an Assistant District Attorney with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, where was the Chief Prosecutor over the Animal Cruelty and Community Prosecution Unit. In that role, she worked closely with law enforcement, veterinarians, and community partners to ensure that cases involving the mistreatment of animals were thoroughly investigated and appropriately prosecuted.

Throughout her career, Ms. Kerney has trained prosecutors, investigators, and animal control officers across Texas and beyond the importance of comprehensive animal cruelty investigations and the critical connection between animal abuse and interpersonal violence.

Now based in Houston, Ms. Kerney practices criminal defense, bringing her deep understanding of both sides of the courtroom to every case she handles. In addition to her legal practice, she is the author of the children’s book Josie Dreams of Justice, which introduces young readers to the power of fairness, compassion, and standing up for what is right.

Ms. Kerney’s dedication to justice and humane treatment of animals continues to guide her work as an advocate, educator, and author.

Shelby L. Bobosky | Texas Humane Network

Shelby Bobosky is the Executive Director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network and the Texas Humane Network. Ms. Bobosky attended the University of Kentucky for her undergraduate degree, earning a double major in History and Spanish in 1996. She then attended the University of Tulsa Law School and spent a year as a visiting law student at Northwestern University School of Law graduating in 1999. In 1999, Ms. Bobosky moved from Chicago, Illinois to Dallas, Texas, to begin her law practice. For sixteen years, Ms. Bobosky has continued practicing general civil litigation until when she decided to do only pro bono work putting in hundreds of hours for THLN as well as assisting animal welfare advocates and rescues when possible. Ms. Bobosky was heavily involved in the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, co-chairing the Animal Welfare Committee for four years and raising thousands of dollars for local 501(c)(3) rescues during her terms.

Ms. Bobosky has been Vice President and Board Member with THLN from January 2011 until September 2019. Ms. Bobosky served as the Co-Legislative Chairman for THLN from 2011 until 2019 and has helped write and pass numerous animal-related laws for the state of Texas. She has traveled thousands of miles with THLN to promote its mission.

Ms. Bobosky and her husband, three boys and three rescue dogs live in Dallas, Texas. Ms. Bobosky serves as an Adjunct Legal Professor at the SMU Dedman School of Law, and she teaches Animal Law in the Fall (seven years) and Wildlife Law in the Spring (five years).

Ms. Bobosky has given over 100 presentations with respect to animal cruelty to judges, lawyers, animal cruelty investigators, LEOs and ACOs. Her specialty involves the LINK between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence.

Vanessa Shakib | Advancing Law for Animals

Vanessa is an expert in administrative and constitutional law. Her work has been featured by CNN, Fox News, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, USA Today, the Guardian, Science Magazine, and more. Vanessa co-founded and co-directs Advancing Law for Animals, a non-profit law firm for our non-human friends. There, she develops impact litigation to further the interests of animals exploited in research and food production, with an emphasis on government transparency and accountability. Vanessa is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School, and recognized as 2022-2023 Adjunct Professor of the Year. She regularly presents talks as an invited expert in animal law both nationally and abroad.

Prior to animal law, Vanessa specialized in illegal taxation, consumer protection, and inverse condemnation, among other practice areas. Her track record in government oversight informs her work at Advancing Law for Animals, where she has successfully challenged cruel and illegally promulgated regulations at the federal level, and lack of animal-welfare enforcement at the local level. Vanessa continues to consult on a variety of legal matters through her private practice.

Will Lowrey | Animal Partisan

Will Lowrey is the founder and Legal Counsel for Animal Partisan, a legal advocacy organization focused on challenging unlawful conduct in animal agriculture and experimentation. Will has engaged in numerous lawsuits, as well as criminal and administrative enforcement actions against the government, industrial agriculture, and research laboratories, including cases involving federal slaughter laws, public records, false advertising, public nuisance, animal cruelty, and others. Prior to his current role, Will worked for another animal protection nonprofit where he divided his time between civil litigation and providing counsel for undercover investigations.

Will currently teaches Animal Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law and has also taught at Vermont Law and Graduate School and the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Kelly Nuckolls | University of Arkansas

Kelly Nuckolls is the Assistant Director and Visiting Assistant Professor of Law for the LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law. Kelly received her LL.M. in Food and Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas School of Law, her J.D. from Drake Law School, and her B.A. in Political Science from Fort Hays State University.

Kelly previously worked in Washington, D.C. as a senior policy specialist at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), where she advocated for federal policies related to sustainable agriculture, including the farm bill, food safety, and food labeling laws. She also assisted with grant management and the creation of multiple educational resources while at NSAC. Prior to NSAC, she worked at the University of Maryland Agricultural Law Education Initiative, where she provided legal education on a variety of agricultural law topics to farmers in Maryland and Delaware.

Kelly has also taught Food Law and Policy to second- and third-year law students at George Mason University Law School in Arlington, VA, and U.S. Farm and Food Policy to undergraduate students at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, VT. Kelly serves as a board member for the Women, Food and Agriculture Network and as an Advisory Council member for the Food Law Student Network. She is licensed to practice law in the State of Iowa.

Session I – Humane Handling, Labeling, and Compliance: Legal Essentials for Food Producers and Processors | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Humane handling & slaughter laws
  • Federal and State framework and enforcement
  • Common compliance pitfalls and trends
  • Implications for producers, processors, and counsel
• Labeling & marketing claims
  • Requirements for “organic,” “natural,” “free-range,” and “grass-fed”
  • Approval pathways, evidentiary support, and recent challenges
  • Risk management: Avoiding deceptive practices and consumer protection exposure
• Practice focus: Advising farmers & processors
  • Counseling on audits, investigations, and corrective action plans
  • Contracts and supply-chain representations (sourcing, verification, traceability)

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Farmed Animal Welfare Laws: Federal, State, and Advocacy Perspectives | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Understand the landscape of federal and state laws dealing with the welfare of animals used in agriculture
• Understand the landscape of laws intended to limit transparency into the use of animals in agriculture
• Explore legal challenges brought by animal advocates to reduce the suffering of farmed animals

Break | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

Session III – Humane Handling and Risk Management in Meat and Poultry Production | 3:20pm – 3:50pm

• Describe the basic requirements for the humane handling and slaughter of livestock and poultry
• Explain how farms operating under exemptions are still required to comply with certain humane handling regulations
• Recognize the role of risk management in maintaining animal welfare and preventing violations