People

Sarah Pickering is a mission-driven communications specialist with more than 20 years’ experience directing proactive and reactive media work resulting in international coverage in The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, BBC, Times of India, and more. Prior to joining the Animal Law & Policy Program, she was International Director of Communications for Animal Equality and oversaw media outreach on its undercover investigations into factory farms and slaughterhouses in eight countries. Throughout her career, Sarah has consulted for numerous animal protection and environmental organizations, and other entities, including Compassion in World Farming, Greenpeace, and FAI Farms at Oxford University.

Before moving to the US from the UK in 2016, Sarah was Head of Communications for The Equal Rights Trust, a global center for excellence in equality law. Prior to that, she lived in Denmark, overseeing global programs and projects for the Foundation for Environmental Education, the world’s largest environmental education organization. Sarah also served as Communications Director for Copenhagen Climate Council for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15), World Climate Solutions, and the World Business Summit on Climate Change.

Sarah’s first job in the non-profit sector was with World Animal Protection. In addition to promoting its international campaigns, for example, to end the long-distance transport of animals for food, commercial whaling, bear bile farming, and the use of animals in entertainment, Sarah was the organization’s first disaster relief media lead deployed to Pakistan after the earthquake in 2005 and Bangladesh after cyclone Sidr in 2007, among other countries. She has also worked on sustainable development projects in Kenya and Mali.

Sarah began her career as a newspaper reporter in the UK, following postgraduate study in journalism. In addition to overseeing communications for the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program and its Animal Law & Policy Clinic, Sarah also assists the school’s Program on Law & Society in the Muslim World with communications, and serves on the board of Animal Charity Evaluators.

Below you can read an interview with Animal Law & Policy Program Clinic Director Katherine Meyer by Sarah that Harvard Law Today published.