Overview

From assisting lawmakers to evaluate law reform proposals in family law to assisting citizens to seek better protections for patient safety and patient dignity in teaching hospitals, Professor Wilson has, in a method she refers to as "translational law",  actively sought opportunities to translate her scholarship into palpable changes in the law.  Her work has spanned more than a decade and a half and ranges from working with legislators on proposed laws from bill genesis to enactment to assisting lawmakers to improve pending legislation. That project-by-project work with legislators and policymakers in more than a dozen states has resulted in a tangible impact on laws and policy. That work has informed judicial decision making so that it is more protective of children, often in cases of sexual violence.

Twice, Professor Wilson has been honored for her work on legal change.  In 2007, she received the Citizen’s Legislative Award, presented by Virginia Delegate Robert Bell, for her work on reforming Virginia’s informed consent law. In 2015, she received one of 16 signing pens for her work on Utah’s landmark legislation protecting the full LGBT community from discrimination in housing and hiring, while ensuring that religious communities and persons of faith may adhere to their faith tenets around marriage without fear of legal repercussion.