SARA JACOBSON, Executive Director of Training, Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania

Sara Jacobson is the Executive Director of Training for the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania (PDAP), where she is
responsible for training public defenders across Pennsylvania in trial skills, criminal defense, and case theory. Before joining PDAP,
Professor Jacobson served as the Director of Trial Advocacy and an Associate Professor as Temple Law School. She has taught Trial
Advocacy, Evidence and Criminal Procedure. Before coming to Temple, Sara was an assistant public defender at the Defender
Association of Philadelphia. Sara trains lawyers internationally on trial advocacy skills for the International Law Institute’s African
Centre for Legal Excellence and is a member of the Board of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA). In 2020 she was
recognized by her peers in the trial advocacy community with the Edward D. Ohlbaum award.

ELIZABETH LIPPY, TACT Founder and Executive Director

In addition to her position at TACT, Ms. Lippy serves as the Director of Trial Advocacy for Temple University’s Beasley School of Law and maintains a private practice as a founding member of the law firm of Fairlie  & Lippy, P.C. For almost a decade, Ms. Lippy received the Super Lawyer designation in Pennsylvania and most recently named one of Pennsylvania’s 10 best female attorneys by the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys. She formerly served as Associate Director of the Trial Advocacy Program at the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. Ms. Lippy currently teaches an array of different courses at Temple and oversees the Integrated Trial Advocacy Program.

THE HONORABLE MIA ROBERTS PEREZ, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Judge Perez was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and received her judicial commission on December 16, 2022.  Prior to this prestigious appointment, she served on the bench of Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas from 2016-2022. Judge Perez attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts and Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. Following law school, she served as an assistant public defender at the Defender Association of Philadelphia where she honed her skills as a trial attorney dedicating thousands of hours to her cases. She was then tapped to serve as an associate at Friedman Schuman Applebaum, PC where she represented municipalities in counties throughout the region and members of Laborers Union Local 135. In 2011, Judge Perez established her own practice, Perez Law LLC, specializing in criminal defense and family law. When elected to the bench, Judge Perez became one of the youngest judges to serve on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Judge Perez has also served since 2011 as an adjunct professor at the James E. Beasley School of Law (Temple University) teaching second year law students.

MEGAN WHITESIDE, Senior Attorney, Brown & Barron, LLC & Founder, Mom Life and Law

Megan Whiteside is a Senior Association at Brown & Barron, LLC in Maryland and a Trial Advocacy Adjunct Professor at American University Washington College of Law. Professor Whiteside’s practice focuses on representing injured people in litigation, from pre-suit negotiations through trial. Professor Whiteside teaches Scientific Evidence and Expert Testimony and coaches mock trial competition teams. She is also the founder of Mom Life and Law Events, LLC, through which she hosts a podcast and sponsors events to encourage, support, and empower women lawyers. She’s a trial lawyer, super mom, podcast host, law professor, marathon runner, and problem solver. Woah… thank goodness she runs marathons and not sprints! encourage, support, and empower women lawyers.