Betsy Gwin joined MLRI in 2022 as Senior Economic Justice Attorney focused on Safety Net Programs. She brings to MLRI an extensive track record as a litigator and advocate for low-income and disabled individuals.

Prior to joining MLRI, Betsy worked for eight years as a senior clinical instructor and the Associate Director of the Veterans Legal Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, where she represented disabled veterans and family members in disability and safety net benefit appeals before state and federal courts and agencies. She trained and supervised second- and third-year law students in their legal advocacy on behalf of low-income clients and taught seminars on poverty law and veterans law and disability benefits. Betsy also previously worked as a public defender, representing parents and children in child welfare proceedings as a Staff Attorney in the Child and Family Law Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) in Springfield, MA.  Prior to law school, Betsy served as an AmeriCorps paralegal focused on public benefits and housing issues at Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services.

Betsy holds a B.A. in Anthropology, summa cum laude, from Syracuse University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy. She lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband and two children.