Service Animals and the Law
Date: Oct 6, 2025 9:00 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.
Location: Online
Member Price: $177.00
Non-Member Price: $209.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Animal, For All Attorneys
Earn up to 4 credits! (More Information)
Keynote
Moderator
Presenters
- Beth C. Manes, Esq.
- Manes & Weinberg, LLC, Mountainsideis a Partner in Manes & Weinberg, Special Needs Lawyers, LLC in Mountainside, New Jersey. She concentrates her practice in special education law, special needs planning, guardianships, trust advocacy and estate planning.
Admitted to practice in New Jersey and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Ms. Manes is a member and Past Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Solo-Small Firm Section and a member of the NJSBA’s Elder and Disability Law Section and Education Law Committee, as well as the New Jersey Special Education Practitioners. She is a member of the Union County Bar Association, serves as Co-Chair of the Association’s Trusts, Estates and Elder Law Committee and is a member of the Union County Probate Early Settlement Panel. A member of the Board of Directors of Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It!, Ms. Manes is Past President of the Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of New Jersey, Inc., which provides lifetime advocacy for people with special needs. She is a member of the Special Needs Alliance, a national organization of attorneys who work with families with special needs.
Ms. Manes served as a hearing panel chair for the State of Delaware Department of Education, overseeing special education hearings. She has lectured on special needs children in divorce topics for CLE courses and for community groups, and has raised puppies for The Seeing Eye since 2012. She is the recipient of several honors.
Ms. Manes received her B.A., cum laude, from Brandeis University, where she was the recipient of several awards and inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a member of the Environmental Moot Court Team, won the Best Oralist award and was the Coordinating Editor of Production of the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law.
(8/23) - Charles McKenna, Esq.
- NJ Commission For the Blind and Visually Impaired, Newark
- Michael D. Ridenour, Esq.
- Law School Admission Council, Newtown
If you represent business owners, schools, public employees or service animal handlers, you won’t want to miss this special presentation on the legal issues surrounding service dogs.
There are approximately 400,000 service dogs known to work in the United States, and this number does not include other service animals such as miniature horses. They may be the eyes or ears for people they serve, the first to alert their handler of an impending medical episode or may provide the psychological support that enables a person to live independently. The animals are highly trained, intelligent and sensitive. However, as their use has increased, so have the legal questions. The issues are many, from the legal obligations of businesses, to attacks on service animals, fraudulent service animals and more.
In addition to the legalities, you’ll also get an inside look into The Seeing Eye – an organization that breeds, raises and trains dogs to enhance the independence, dignity and self-confidence of people who are blind.
Topics include:
- Overview of The Seeing Eye – What a dog means to someone’s life, introduction to service animals, including examples of the types of tasks that they can be trained to perform
- ADA Title 1 – The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination in the workplace, including reasonable accommodations, what types of animals qualify, addressing negative reaction/responses from co-workers and whether a service dog is allowed at a job interview.
- ADA Title 2 – The protection of qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in services, programs and activities provided by state and local government entities
- ADA Title 3 - Discrimination based on disability in the activities of places of public accommodations (businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of 12 categories listed in the ADA, such as restaurants, movie theaters, etc.)
- FHA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act – Protects people with disabilities from discrimination in housing, schools, jobs and the community.
- Air Carrier Access Act – The federal law which, under the purview of the U.S. Department of Transportation, regulates what animals can travel on airplanes.
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