School Violence Expert Witnesses: 8

David K. Easlick, Jr., is a Hazing and Risk Management Specialist and a member of the State Bar of Michigan for over 30 years. Mr. Easlick was the Executive Director of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity for over 20 years. In such a role, he became familiar with just about all outrageous conduct by undergraduate young men on the college campus. He spent years combating it and attempting to correct and eliminate it. His experience includes Hazing, Binge Consumption, Sexual Misconduct, or other Risk Management Violations. 

Mr. Easlick has been a member of the Fraternity Executives Association for 30 years, an affiliate member of the North American Inter-Fraternity Conference, an associate member of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors, a business member of the Association for Student Conduct Administration, and a past member of FIPG and FRMT, Litigation Support - Mr. Easlick is the most qualified expert witness regarding Fraternal Law Suits. As a lawyer and former litigator, he offers unique advice to counsel. Mr. Easlick does not try cases and is not seeking out litigation clients. His role is an expert witness and consultant and his services include trial preparation, discovery preparation, review services, and other legal advice to litigation counsel. Mr. Easlick is currently appearing in several cases on the plaintiff's side, and he has successfully completed one case on the defendant's side as well as fifty-nine on the plaintiff's side.

Areas of Expertise:

Charles H. Heller, PhD, is a Forensic Psychology Expert with over 35 years of experience in his field. Dr. Heller is currently on staff at Rutgers University Biomedical Health Service, specializing in criminal behavior and risk assessment. He also serves as a forensic psychologist consultant for the Rockland County (NY) court evaluation service, where he has performed hundreds of child custody, as well as criminal competency and child abuse/neglect evaluations.

Litigation Support - Dr. Heller specializes in conducting custody evaluations, providing the review and analysis of potentially mitigating circumstances in connection with criminal behavior, and providing consultation to attorneys regarding civil litigation. He has extensive court experience in Civil, Criminal, and Family Court cases. Dr. Heller is a fully vetted and approved forensic psychologist for the NJ Office of the Public Defender as well as other Public Defender offices. (Federal Public Defender, Legal Aid in Manhattan, Bronx, Kings, and the NYC assigned counsel program). He often travels throughout the US as a forensic consultant in important court cases including military Court Martials, death row assessment, sexual abuse, assault, and multiple homicides. He is well-known and respected among his colleagues as a clinician and as a forensic psychologist/expert witness.

Civil Litigation - (Emotional and Mental Injury) - Dr. Heller is retained by both plaintiff and defense counsel to assess plaintiffs for emotional and mental injury. He takes an unbiased, ethical approach to assessments and is not "a hired gun." He is an expert in objective evaluations that assess the probability the plaintiff is suffering PTSD, other emotional injuries, or if there is an exaggeration of symptoms based upon psychological testing and other data. He has expertise in cases that involve group home / residential schools, provider negligence, and assaults.

Criminal Litigation - Dr. Heller is experienced in providing successful rebuttal testimony explaining the scientific issues related to the problems of validity, reliability, and usefulness of "Syndrome evidence" such as "Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome" and "Rape Trauma Syndrome." He testifies in child sexual abuse cases and explains research related to false allegations, recantations, memory, suggestibility, child testimony, interview protocols, and "Believed-In Imaginings" in children and adults. He has expertise in domestic violence and has assessed women who have been victims of intimate partner violence and "Battered Women Syndrome" that contributed to homicides, assaults, and other felonies by the victims of abuse.

View Dr. Heller's Consulting Profile.

Jeffrey A. Sugar, MD has been a practicing Psychiatrist for over 20 years. Dr. Sugar is board certified both in Child and General Psychiatry. He is Past President of the Southern California Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Sugar  is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at USC, and has been an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. Dr. Sugar is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trauma Program at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA where he sees patients, teaches psychiatry, and performs research. He is Attending Psychiatrist in both Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry Outpatient Clinics at USC. He teaches child and general psychiatrists-in-training and medical students on topics ranging from Trauma, Adversity, and Dissociation to Psychotherapy theory and methods.

Dr. Sugar was the founding director of the Hathaway Children’s Clinical Research Institute where he performed funded research on the effects of interpersonal child trauma. Dr. Sugar has presented at national and international meetings on child and adolescent Trauma and Dissociation. Director, Child Psychiatry Trauma Program at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine .. Dr. Sugar has been worked with the legal industry since 1988. Qualified in Superior court, he has been retained over 40 times as an expert in a broad range of child and general psychiatric cases, for both Plaintiff and Defense. His services include:

• Consultation Regarding Psychiatric Injury, Diagnosis, Treatment
• Record Review and Opinion
• Psychiatric Interview and Mental Status Evaluation
• Expert testimony

Dr. Sugar's litigation support is available to attorneys for both Plaintiff and Defense. His Areas of Expertise include:

Professional Training:

• MD: University of California, San Francisco
• General Psychiatry: Harbor-UCLA, Torrance, California
• Child Psychiatry: UCLA-Neuropsychiatric Institute
• Chief Fellow: UCLA

View Dr. Sugar's Consulting Profile.

Alan J.  Robinson brings over 35 years of Security / Law Enforcement experience to the  security, safety, fire safety, emergency management field. Mr. Robinson is a former Supervisor, Protection Services for Disney-ABC, Inc. in New York, where he coordinated the security of millions of dollars in equipment for both Reagan Presidential Inaugurations. While at Disney-ABC, he was credited with creating the first hostage negotiation training class after an incident at ABC News in Washington, D.C.

Background Experience: For  the past 25 years, Mr. Robinson has been the Director of Protection and Security Services/Emergency  Management for Atlantic Health System; a hospital system based in New Jersey where he manages: Public Safety and Security, Fire/Life Safety, Emergency  Management, Investigations, and Special Events for a healthcare system that approximately 10 million square feet of physical plant and campus, spread  throughout New Jersey.

Mr. Robinson directly and indirectly manages over one-hundred (100) security  officers, investigators, fire safety officers, emergency management officers, and contract law  enforcement officers. He has successfully navigated numerous external agency regulatory compliance  surveys including those from the “Joint Commission,” State Department of Health, New Jersey Office of Homeland Security, and New Jersey Office of  Counter-Terrorism.

Litigation Support: Mr. Robinson has been retained to provide consultation, security analysis, and security expert witness testimony by plaintiff and  defendant in a wide variety of civil suits. He is available to consult and testify in matters concerning:

Areas of Expertise

Workplace Violence Prevention and Investigation · Public Safety & Security · Emergency Management · Preventing Infant Abduction · Child Predator Protection · Narcotic Diversion Investigations · Multi-Facility Management · Asset Protection · Hospital Security · Continuous Process Improvement · Crisis Event Management

View Risk and Threat Analysis Management, LLC's Consulting Profile.

Dr. John F. Doherty is an experienced Public and Private School Educator who has focused his work on improving schools through effective hiring practices, supervision and training of staff, and building a school culture of sustainability. In his current role, he serves as a School Liability Expert Witness.

Dr. Doherty has over 35 years of experience as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, department chair, coach, and teacher. He is the co-chair of the Massachusetts Department of Education Safe and Supportive Schools Commission and chair of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Professional Development Committee.

Litigation Support - Dr. Doherty provides consultation and expert witness services to plaintiff and defendant attorneys throughout the US and Canada. As a court-qualified education administration and supervision expert, he applies his experience, education, and training to the review and analysis of cases to determine the professional standard of care from case inception to resolution, including expert reports, deposition, and trial testimony.

Ideal Client Engagement - Attorneys litigating matters involving the question of liability for school or youth-serving agencies (daycare, camps, aftercare, church childcare) regarding the standard of care, student-supervision, staff training, in any type of injury or incident involving the school/agency, such as wrongful death, personal injury, sexual harassment/abuse, Title IX, Section 1983, in daycare through college/university and more.

Areas of Expertise:

Virginia Rhodes, Ed.D. has an extensive background in public schooling with over 35 years of experience in duty and standard of care: teacher, principal, hiring, supervision, evaluation and instruction in K-12 settings. Her research and role as an elected school board member in a large city district informs her expertise in school policy and district administrative and teaching functions. Dr. Rhodes provides expert witness research, reports & testimony for districts and law firms, working with both plaintiff and defense cases. Dr. Rhodes' services are available nationally and internationally, as she is culturally competent, and travels regularly, presenting at conferences and observing schools. Previous cases have included student injury & death, religious/race, disability discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual abuse, physical abuse of children with multiple abilities, administrative supervision, teacher supervision, actions of paraprofessionals including teacher assistants, security guards, and school resource officers, as well as school evaluations & recommendations for school selection in domestic cases. 

Areas of school-related expertise include:

• Disciplinary policy & practices
• Standard of care and duty for administrative, teachers, paraprofessionals, support staff
• Safety issues: accidents, health & other safety and emergency procedures
• Physical and/or sexual abuse of students by staff or peers
• Teacher & administrator personnel issues: hiring/firing/discrimination/training/evaluation
• School climate, culture, SEL (social-emotional learning), trauma-informed practice
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) issues or incidents within both personnel and student settings
• Challenges of hIgh-poverty schools & districts
• Urban school research & new trends in teacher leadership
• Issues involving STEM, environmental, magnet, and other specialty programming
• Deposition & court testimony, document review & analysis
• Innovative & 21st-century practices vs. typical or common but unacceptable practices

View Dr. Rhodes' Consulting Profile.

Dr. Joseph S. Schwartzberg, is an Educational Consultant / Expert Witness who provides consultation and testimony on cases involving students with disabilities and School safety matters.. Dr. Schwartzberg was responsible for developing and administering legally compliant special education and general programs for 35 school districts in NY before doing likewise for the 14 districts of North San Diego County. For 13 years, he served as the Senior Director of the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education for the San Diego County Office of Education. 

Litigation Support - Dr. Schwartzberg has provided expert witness services to counsel representing both plaintiff and defense in state,federal as well as family court. 

Areas of Expertise:

• IDEA
• School Safety
• ADA
• Standards of Care
• Other Agency Responsibilities
• Non-public Schools
• Appropriate Programming for Students with Disabilities

Certification / Credentials:

• School Administrator and Supervisor (SAS)
• School District Administrator (SDA)
• Professional Clear Administrative Services Credential
• Professional Clear Single Subject Teaching Credential : Health Science
• Learning Disabilities, Emotionally Handicapped, General Special Education
• Nursery, Kindergarten, Grades 1-6
• Health and special classes of the orthopedically and similarly handicapped
• Teacher of children with special learning handicaps

View Dr. Schwartzberg's Consultant Profile.

Dr. James F. Pastor, Ph.D, JD, CPP, is a multifaceted security expert with a rich background that spans security, policing, legal, and academia. His career began as a tactical officer in Gang Crime Enforcement with the Chicago Police Department, where he gained hands-on experience in one of the nation's most dynamic policing environments. This real-world foundation laid the groundwork for his extensive expertise in security, policing, and public safety.
 
 Transitioning from the streets to the courtroom, Dr. Pastor built a distinguished legal career representing police unions, security guard and electronic security firms, corporations, and religious institutions. His comprehensive counsel and advice to litigation attorneys, corporate counsel, and policy makers is grounded on real world experience and practical understanding.
 
With a doctorate in Public Policy Analysis, Dr. Pastor brings vision and understanding of how policies shape incentives and influence human behavior. This academic insight, combined with his extensive experience, gives him a unique perspective on risk and liability, making him a sought-after advisor for corporations and communities aiming to prevent crime or mitigate its impact.
 
Dr. Pastor’s security sense is a blend of street-level policing intuition, academic scholarship, legal expertise, and technical know-how, further enhanced by a deep understanding of geopolitical trends. His decades-long study of terrorism and extremism also informs his work, allowing him to contribute valuable insights and assessments in a variety of settings.

Areas of Expertise:

Litigation Support - Dr. Pastor is a highly regarded expert witness with experience in policing, security, public safety, and legal issues relating to these. His depth and breathe of experience is substantive, yet practical. Bringing a unique background, along with credentials and skills, including participating in over 750 prior depositions, has proven to be very effective in his expert witness role.

Dr. Pastor has over 20 years of university teaching experience in security, public safety, and policing, including Northwestern University- Center for Public Safety and the International Law Enforcement Academy. 

Author of four books on security and public safety, plus chapter on Private Policing in ASIS International's Protection of Assets Manual and created Privatization of Policing Bibliography for Oxford University Press, both being comprehensive, substantive works relating to Private Policing.

View SecureLaw LLC's Consulting Profile.