Elisabeth Custalow, Esq.

Elisabeth joined AWI in 2025 as deputy general counsel, assisting the general counsel with oversight of legal issues relating to AWI’s programs and operations.

Elisabeth spent 11 years as an attorney with the PETA Foundation, most recently as deputy general counsel, where she worked on a wide variety of initiatives, litigation, and regulatory actions for the advancement of animals’ interests, and she spent several years as a prosecutor, handling the gamut of criminal offenses, including cruelty to animals. She is a graduate of The College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia School of Law.

A lifelong animal advocate, Elisabeth has volunteered at shelters and for various advocacy organizations, transported injured wildlife to rehabilitators, and devoted much of her life to all aspects of dog rescue, including fostering dozens of dogs. She lives in Virginia with her companion animals: four former shelter residents—dogs Kimber (who was included in a Rescues in Richmond coffee table book) and Walter and cats Elinor and Marianne (sisters, just like the Dashwoods); Nicholas, a very long cat found as a tiny kitten by her mailbox one fall night; and horses Emma and Breezy, an off-the-track thoroughbred who’s now been with her for more than two decades. Elisabeth enjoys reading, writing creatively, finding and spreading the word about new vegan foods, and improving her yard to be ever friendlier to wildlife.