Retirement Tribute: Elizabeth Scott Wood

Happy Retirement, Betsy Wood!

McAfee & Taft is proud to honor the career and contributions of Elizabeth Scott Wood, and to celebrate her retirement from the firm.

A founding member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Group, Betsy devoted her 37-year career at McAfee & Taft to representing employers and management exclusively in all areas of labor and employment law. In addition to defending clients in litigation in federal and state courts and before regulatory and administrative agencies, she routinely counseled clients on a myriad of employment law compliance issues and best practices and provided training to both management and non-management employees in all areas affecting the employer/employee relationship.

Nicknamed “The Oracle” by her colleagues, Betsy was widely regarded as the Labor & Employment Group’s go-to person whenever some outstanding, obscure, complex, or nuanced question about employment law arose, or when the proven voice of experience was needed to help navigate a particularly tough issue. During her tenure with the firm, the firm’s Labor & Employment Group grew to become the state’s largest, due in large part to Betsy’s role in developing the practice and mentoring many of its attorneys.

A 1980 graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Betsy joined the firm in 1986 and retired at the end of 2023.

Over the course of her career, Betsy’s legal achievements earned her inclusion in Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America (employment law – management; labor law – management; labor and employment litigation) and Oklahoma Super Lawyers. She was selected by Best Lawyers as the “Oklahoma City Employment Lawyer of the Year (Management)” for 2017, an honor given to a single lawyer in each legal specialty in each market.

Additionally, Betsy was recognized for her professional and civic contributions to the state of Oklahoma by being named to The Journal Record’s list of Leadership in Law honorees in 2008.