Animal law is becoming an increasingly serious discipline as barristers and corporate law firms sign up for what many are calling the next big social movement, The Australian Financial Review reports.

Animal protection group Voiceless will begin a 12-lecture series on animal law next week spanning seven cities in 10 days, as growing consumer demand for more humanely produced food, clothing and products reliant on animal testing is forcing governments and large companies to institute animal-friendly policies.

Last week Coles announced it would phase out the sale of pork from sows reared in tiny metal stalls from next year, whil the Tasmanian government said last month it would ban the stalls by 2017. A federal review of food labelling law and policy, due to report in December, will assess the use of terms such as "free range", "corn fed" and "100 per cent natural" to sell products.