Law and Mental Health: The Value of Forensic Social Work Megan Leschak, LMSW

Megan is the coowner of Context Mitigation, a firm that provides mitigation services for clients in both state and federal courts. Megan began her forensic social work career at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore City where she was awarded a Soros Open Society Institute Fellowship to highlight for the courts the impact of structural racism, poverty, and violence on defendants. She subsequently worked as a mitigation investigator in the Delaware Federal Defender Capital Habeas Unit and as the social work supervisor for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender. Megan earned her MSW from the University of Maryland where she cocreated the course Racism and Racial Equity in Social Work Practice. Megan has trained attorneys, investigators, and social workers at forensic conferences across the country.

Learning Objectives:

1. Summarize the history of forensic social work and the role of forensic social workers in a variety of legal settings.
2. Analyze the value of forensic social workers in light of the unique education, training, and perspective they bring to forensic work.
3. Specify and analyze the roles and responsibilities of forensic social workers, forensic psychologists, and neuropsychologists within the overall structure of a legal team.

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