Social Work Meetup: A Discussion About Testifying

Do you testify in court cases as an expert or about mitigation at sentencing? Have you thought about what it might be like? This meetup will discuss the pros and cons, successes and pitfalls of testifying in court. Led by members of SAGE Mitigation (Sentencing Advocacy Group of Evanston) including founder, Betsy Wilson, this will be an enlightening, informative, and engaging conversation about testimony!

Betsy Wilson is a founder of the Sentencing Advocacy Group of Evanston, where she leads a multidisciplinary team of sentencing advocates and record specialists. SAGE conducts mitigation investigations in federal and state and capital, juvenile-life-sentence, and non-capital cases throughout the country. Betsy has been dedicated to capital defense and mitigation for her entire legal career and has conducted sentencing investigations in more than 120 cases, including more than 70 capital cases. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1998, she worked as a trial attorney at the New York Capital Defender Office representing clients in capital cases from arraignment through disposition. Betsy has developed expertise in mitigation investigations involving complex trauma, intellectual disabilities, mental illness, drug dependency, exposure to toxic substances and toxic environments, and gang affiliation. She spends an embarrassing amount of time tracking her airline and hotel status.