During the 2024 Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Convention Interviews, Rutinel describes his evolution within the animal-rights movement and explains how activists can use political office, legislation, and influential institutions to advance animal-rights priorities.

“It sort of solidified my identity within the movement.”

“You can notice when legislation is moving through committees in ways that may harm animals, and you can try to stop that legislation.”

“If we can tackle those leverage points and take advantage of them for the benefit of animals, I think we should.”

This video from the 2024 Animal Legal Defense Fund Student Convention documents Rutinel’s longstanding involvement in the animal-rights movement, beginning with his college position with The Humane League, which he says “solidified my identity within the movement,” and continuing through his work with animal-law organizations and student groups. He describes the animal advocacy community as small and tightly connected, emphasizes the importance of relationships and networking, and says he learned more from extracurricular involvement than from his law-school classes. He also describes a strategy of pursuing influence beyond traditional animal-law organizations, arguing that advocates can have greater “counterfactual impact” by bringing their values into positions at major law firms, government agencies, corporations, and other institutions.

The discussions also reveal how Rutinel views political and institutional action as a means of advancing the animal-rights movement. He points to state ballot initiatives and legislation as major opportunities, discusses the potential for elected officials who share the movement’s values to stop legislation they believe may harm animals, and says the movement is increasingly shifting resources from individual vegan advocacy toward institutional action. He specifically describes industrial animal agriculture as an issue with significant potential impact and argues that institutional strategies can produce vastly greater results than individualized action. He also encourages a broader “big tent” approach that allows people to participate through donations, protests, political advocacy, and other activities without requiring them to be vegan, while urging activists to think in terms of decades-long efforts. Taken together, the videos portray an activist strategy focused not simply on changing individual diets, but on placing animal-rights advocates and values in positions where they can influence law, government, corporations, politics, and agricultural policy.