US activists demand lawyers for chimps Our nearest relative: Should apes get lawyers too? Animal activists in the United States have launched a new campaign to let chimpanzees go to court. The Chimpanzee Collaboratory says chimpanzees are so close to humans - sharing 98.7% of our genetic make-up - that they deserve to get the same kind of legal representation as children. A minimum level of autonomy is sufficient to justify the basic legal right to bodily integrity Lawyer Steven Wise Campaigners say this would let activists act as legal guardians for the chimps, potentially lodging law suits against researchers...