Adjunct Faculty

Margaret York

Adjunct Faculty

JD, Vermont Law School, 2015
BA, Sonoma State University, 2010

Contact

Biography

Meg York is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS), focusing on marginalized groups and oppressed or otherwise vulnerable communities. To that end, she is active across multiple fields, including LGBTQ+ law and animal advocacy.

She is the Senior Policy Counsel & Director of LGBTQ+ Family Law and Policy for Family Equality. In this role, Meg advances a proactive agenda for family formation, expansion, and recognition; lobbies in support of legislative and policy changes at all levels of government that are beneficial to and affirming of LGBTQ+ families; drafts and advocates for model family-inclusive legislation; and provides legislative drafting and other technical assistances to national, state, and local partners and elected officials. Of the Policy Department’s priority areas, Meg specifically focuses on family formation and protection.

Prior to joining Family Equality, Meg was a Professor of Law at VLGS and Director/Lead Attorney of the Family Law Project at VLGS’s South Royalton Legal Clinic. There, Meg served the legal needs of vulnerable Vermonters while simultaneously teaching students how to practice law both inside and outside of the courtroom. Her practice areas included working with LGBTQ+ Vermonters, representing children, assisting victims of domestic violence, and providing legal services to populations with limited resources.

Meg is also a long-time animal advocate, teaching in the VLGS summer program and mentoring students interested in animal protection work. She served as a staff attorney for Mercy For Animals (MFA), facilitating undercover investigations on factory farms. At MFA, Meg was responsible for providing legal support to the investigations department by conducting necessary research into state, federal, and international laws and regulations and addressing any legal issues arising during the course of investigations; assisting in the organization’s requests for criminal prosecutions of animal abusers by reviewing investigative footage and field notes, drafting legal petitions, meeting with counsel and law enforcement; engaging in witness and trial preparation; and participating in media, public speaking, and law school lectures.

Meg has published numerous articles on legal advocacy, LGBTQ+ rights, and animal welfare. She was twice a recipient of the Advancement of Animal Law Scholarship and won first place in the National Animal Law Competitions. She has since gone on to mentor student competitors. Meg was named LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40.

Meg is committed to providing high-quality legal advocacy to the most vulnerable, and to making law accessible to all. When she is not working, Meg enjoys spending time with her wife and three children in Vermont’s great outdoors.

Expertise

Animal Law

Departments

Animal Law
Summer Session

Courses Taught

Undercover Investigations of Animal Operations