AELaw is a public interest law practice and consultancy located in Washington, DC.
Bruce Myers is AELaw’s principal. His current work at the international level includes assisting governments, nonprofits, and stakeholders seeking to protect and better manage the ocean areas and marine spaces of island states through marine protected areas (MPAs), marine spatial planning (MSP), and related policy tools. Domestically, he partners on the development of model ordinances and other materials to empower municipalities looking to strengthen local policy on plant-based protein alternatives, community composting, and climate mitigation. Bruce has also been integral to legal initiatives involving companion animals (protecting dogs from exploitation and abuse) and laboratory animals (supporting regulatory acceptance of the science-based shift away from animal testing).
Before establishing AELaw in 2016, Bruce spent over a decade as a senior policy attorney for the nonprofit Environmental Law Institute (ELI), a national research and education organization. While at ELI, he developed and managed environmental projects in the United States and abroad, with an international focus on Africa. He founded the Institute’s Industrial Agriculture Law and Policy Center.
Bruce has for many years researched and written on the legal dimensions of animal and environmental topics. Among the issues Bruce has addressed are the protection of marine ecosystems, sensible regulation of the impacts of industrial agriculture, the promotion of alternatives to lab animal testing, and reliance on the US Constitution as a source for strong environmental protection. Representative publications include co-authorship of two chapters in the 2020 volume, What Can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law? (2d ed.) and a chapter in the 2011 book Principles of Constitutional Environmental Law. His work has appeared in the Environmental Law Reporter, the NYU Environmental Law Journal, and Harvard Environmental Law Review, among other respected legal publications.
Bruce speaks publicly on the legal aspects of animal and environmental protection. Among other venues, he has given talks at the annual Animal Law Conference sponsored by Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon, and a conference on the Animal Welfare Act convened by Harvard Law School.
Bruce spent four years as a litigation associate at a Washington, DC law firm (Shea & Gardner, which was absorbed by Goodwin Procter LLP), and before that he clerked for Senior Judge Edward Rafeedie of the US District Court for the Central District of California, in Los Angeles. Bruce has served as an adjunct associate professor at the American University Washington College of Law in DC. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL). Bruce is licensed to practice law in Washington, DC and California.
Bruce is involved in farm animal rescue. He has volunteered with B-More Dog, a nonprofit seeking to create a better Baltimore for dogs—especially pit bull type dogs—and their owners. He also directed the re-launch of United Spay Alliance, a national nonprofit promoting spay/neuter for all dogs and cats.