Betsy has been the Deputy Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services since 2017. In this capacity, Betsy writes and edits the PLS newsletter Pro Se, organizes the prisoner education materials, handles professional responsibility issues, reviews and comments on proposed legislation and regulations and is responsible for writing PLS staff and management policies.

From 1984 through 1998, Betsy worked in the Ithaca Office of PLS as a staff attorney and from 2004 through 2017, as the Managing Attorney. She specialized in litigating federal excessive force cases, challenging disciplinary hearings in federal and state court, resolving sentencing and jail time issues and editing Pro Se.

From September 1998 through June 2004, Betsy worked at the Criminal Appeals Bureau of the NYC Legal Aid Society.

Betsy graduated from Rutgers University School of Law in 1978. She began her career in legal services as an attorney first at Appalachian Research and Defense Fund, Inc. in Pikeville, Kentucky and then at North Central West Virginia Legal Aid Society in Morgantown, West Virginia.

When she is not working on prisoners’ rights issues, Betsy and her husband Brad Rudin write articles on Professional Responsibility issues. Their articles have been published in the New York Law Journal and the New York Legal Ethics Reporter.