Law Related Specialties Consultants

For over 25 years, Alpine Engineering and Design, Inc. has provided expert witness services in the fields of patents, Intellectual property, product liability, mechanical design, human factors, industrial safety, accident reconstruction, failure analysis, DOT compliance, compliance with standards, hydraulic systems. We specialize in the development of hydraulically operated equipment, trucks and related equipment, aerial lifts, industrial equipment, mobile equipment,amusement rides, aerial lifts, material handling, forklifts, boom trucks, suspension systems, man lifts, garbage trucks, front loaders, side loaders, automated loaders, rear loaders, roll-offs, and liftgates. Our engineers have over been retained on over 500 cases and hold 75 U.S. Patents.
 
Alpine Engineering and Design experts use resources such as a model shop, computer graphics and animations, full-size prototypes and written descriptions to communicate their ideas to their customers. They use these same resources to explain their opinions in a clear, concise manner in reports and when testifying.

EDUCATION & LICENSES

BSME, MSME, MBA (Product Development), PE, CSP

Expert Witness Services Professional Expert Reports Testing Forensic/Failure Analysis Accident Reconstruction Demonstratives Inspections/Measurements Compliance with Standards Expert Testimony Patent & Patent Related Issues Patent Searches Provisional Patent Complete with Illustrations Patent Infringement Review Product Development Innovative Concept Multi-Industry Experience Powerful Design Tools Full Service Fabricating Materials Design Analysis Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Electrical Structural Integrity Tests Value Analysis

Michael Nranian, JD, MBA, MS has over 30 years experience focusing in Product Development, Intellectual Property, Patent Litigation, Legal and Technical Compliance, and Product Liability Litigation. He is a licensed attorney in Michigan, Texas, & the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Nranian is a Six Sigma Black Belt, Professional Engineer, & Certified Project Management Professional. He has an in-depth background and education in Law, IP, Electrical, Chemical & Computer Engineering, & Business. He has testified extensively as an expert witness in depositions, hearings, and trials in state & federal courts.

Mr. Nranian conducts Product and Technology Analysis, Patentability & Prior Art Research,and provides Technology & Litigation Support for Intellectual Property. His litigation background includes patent infringement / non-infringement under literal infringement and the doctrine of equivalents, patent validity / invalidity, prior art, & file-wrapper estoppel, for both ITC and Federal cases, including Inter Partes reviews. He conducts analysis of patents and products, prepares claim charts, & expert witness reports. This includes testimony and document preparation for cases before state, and federal court jurisdictions, and the International Trade Commission and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Mr. Nranian is thoroughly familiar with all 101, 102, 103, 112, and other enablement and prior art arguments. His experience includes Technology Standards Boards and Licensing Authorities, Antitrust / DOJ, Technology Development and Transfer, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, and Copyrights, Licensing, Unfair Competition/Trade, False/Deceptive Advertising, & Lanham Act Actions, & Class Actions.

His Product Liability Expert Witness litigation background includes all types of Safety Systems, Electrical Systems, Fires, Accident Reconstruction, and Evaluation of Alternative Designs for Automotive, Medical and other industries. He has over 29 years of experience in Automotive Safety Systems, Sensors, Seatbelts, Airbags / Curtains, Seats, Diagnostic Systems, Crash Recorders, Crash Pulse Analysis, System Diagnostic, Fault Codes, Structure (including roof-crush and door) and front, side & roll-over systems (including sensing and algorithm development) for domestic and international corporations. He is thoroughly familiar with all regulatory (including FMVSS), and corporate due-care requirements, & preemption arguments, occupant kinematics, & injury causation.

BHK Associates, Inc. (BHK), is a Banking / Finance firm comprised of former bank presidents, chief executive officers, chief creditor officers, and chief lending officers. BHK clients include banks, credit unions, title companies, financial institutions, and insurance companies.

Advisory Services - BHK Associates, Inc., provides a broad range of advisory services to the financial industry and its clients, involving a number of disciplines: Banking Industry Standards & Best Practices, Strategic Planning and Performance Reviews, Banking Operations, Construction Lending, Due Diligence Reviews, Merger & Acquisition Reviews, Troubled Debt Restructuring, Real Estate Appraisal Issues, and more.

Special Credits & Loan Workouts - Their experts have years of experience advising in the areas of special credits, loan workouts, and collection. Specific areas of expertise include: Problem Loan Review & Classification, Problem Loan Workout Strategies, Negotiating Loan Workouts & Forbearance Agreement, Asset Disposition and Loan Sales, Intra-bank disputes, Problem Asset Valuation, Loan Quality Assessment and Analysis, etc.

Brian H. Kelley, Founder and Principal, is a seasoned Banking Executive, Lender, and Attorney with over 30 years of experience in lending, top management, and legal positions for both regional and larger commercial banks in California, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon. He has served as the CEO of three successful community banks and the head of a Multi-Billion Dollar lending group with a large international bank.

Mr. Kelley earned his BA and JD from Brigham Young University. He has been admitted to the CA, UT, and HI Bar Associations. He also has extensive professional course experience in loan underwriting, credit analysis, corporate finance, and lending practices. Mr. Kelley has been a featured speaker and panelist for various industry groups, including the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Hotel Finance & Investment Conference.

View Brian Kelley's Expert Witness Profile.

Seth Goldstein, is an attorney representing parents and children in family violence cases for 23 years. His practice uses the successful multi-disciplinary prosecution model bringing to a case the special expertise of various professionals involved.

Since 1994, he has been the Executive Director of the Child Abuse Forensic Institute, a non-profit resource and referral organization he created using the same approach handling child abuse based in Monterey, California. When working for the district attorney in Napa County, his program achieved a 96.5% conviction rate, at charging, charging 75% of the cases brought to the program. He currently sits as an advisory board member for the Family Violence Appeals Project, Oakland, California, that has had an amassed an unprecedented 85% success rate in its appeals.

Mr. Goldstein has worked as a consultant for the State of California on the subject of response to domestic violence; the National Counsel of Juvenile and Family Court Judges on family violence, a law enforcement investigator specializing in the investigations of Sexual Assault, Child Physical and Sexual Abuse, and Family Violence for the Berkeley Police Department, the Santa Clara and Napa County District Attorney’s Offices. He has testified as an expert witness in Criminal, Civil, Juvenile Dependency and Family Law courts in California and other states on these subjects. He has written and been published on the topics of family violence and child abuse in various national journals, publications. His book on investigating child sexual abuse by Seth Goldstein is in its second edition.

View Seth Goldstein's Expert Witness Profile.

Richard J. Brzeczek, Attorney at Law, Chicago Police Department Superintendent (Retired) has over 45 years of experience in the criminal justice system. He is a noted Expert and Consultant in the area of Police Policy and Procedure.

Background - Mr. Brzeczek has 19 years of experience as a police officer and police official, and over 25 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney. From 1973-1980, he served as General Counsel for the Chicago Police Department. Prior to that, Mr. Brzeczek was a partner at Levy & Erens, a commercial litigation, bankruptcy, and commercial real estate firm. He has 28 years experience teaching law enforcement seminars on the subjects of police misconduct, internal affairs procedures / investigations, and use of deadly and non-deadly force. This includes several years teaching at the FBI Academy (FBI National Academy and FBI National Executive Institute).

Attorney Services - Mr. Brzeczek is currently in the private practice of law concentrating primarily on Federal and State Criminal Defense with experience in civil litigation and administrative hearings. He argues cases on appeal at the Federal and State levels.

Litigation Support Richard J. Brzeczek has almost 30 years of experience as an opinion/expert witness. He has provided his expertise in a Wrongful Conviction Litigation which resulted in a multi-million dollar award for plaintiff. He also served as an expert witness involving Proper Police Procedures regarding the handling of a suicide threat and traffic safety.

Areas of Expertise:

• Police Administration & Procedures - Policy Development, Review, and Implementation
• Police Misconduct Issues - Improper Procedures, Wanton and Willful Conduct and Wrongful Convictions
• Internal Affairs Issues - Examining Competency of Investigations

Carlo Scevola & Partners is an International Fiduciary Company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with branches in six continents. We specialize in International Planning, Strategic Consulting and Wealth Management.

Our clients trust us for everything from setting up an Offshore Company to Mergers and Acquisitions to Business Finance and Asset Protection. CS&P’s customer-centric methodology ensures that each client gets a custom-tailored solution which addresses that business’ individual objectives and requirements.

Our team has expertise in every functional category and every important geography. From finance to operations to human resources to marketing – from the Americas to Europe to Africa, Asia and Oceania – CS&P can bring together experienced executives who know how to advise you and will make your enterprise a success. All this while always protecting your privacy.

Services Offered:

Business and Strategic Consulting

S.W.O.T. Analysis

Pre-investment Feasibility Studies / Competitive Background Assessments

Business Plan Research, Writing and Production

Strategy Definition / Implementation

Reworking of Operating Processes for International Suitability

Industrial Partnership Scouting / Matching

Tailor Business Model to Market Environment, Jurisdiction and Local Authorities Requirements

Corporate Finance:

Mergers, Acquisitions and CessionsCommercial Due Diligence or Investment / Financial Appraisals

Company Reorganization and Restructuring

Financial Feasibility Plans for Industrial Expansion

Scouting / Recruiting Highly Qualified Financial Management

Exit Strategies in the event of Buy-outs, Buy-ins, Spin-offs or MBOs, MBIs and LBOs

Listing on Stock Exchanges

Offshore Consulting:

International Tax Planning

Corporate Structuring, Maintenance and Trusts

International Contracts Law

Jurisdictions

Residency and Citizenship

International Banking

Logistic Support

Government Licenses

Aircrafts and Vessels

Intellectual Property

CS&P Operates In More Than 80 Countries Around The World.

DataChasers, Inc. is a select, exclusive Computer Forensics and E-Discovery company. With Computer and Cell Phone Forensics and E-Discovery as their core focus, they offer strategies and provide alternatives so that clients are aware of all options to make more informed decisions.

DataChasers, Inc. provides an initial evaluation at one rate regardless of hourly time/rate that includes a review of the initial reports, search warrants, written evidence, and a consultation regarding the strengths and weaknesses of each case.

Services

Cell Phone and Device Forensics Forensic Computer Examinations E-Discovery Exams - Electronically Stored Information Intellectual Property & Copyright

Employment Law & Civil Rights Cases Family Law Criminal Law Probate

Computer Forensics Training - DataChasers, Inc. also provides California State Bar approved MCLE presentations for MCLE credits.Topics include Computer Forensics, Intellectual Property, Criminal Defense, Family Law, and Computer Forensics Presentations, Presenting Electronic Evidence at Court, and How to be an Expert Witness.

Matthew Albee, CFCE, EnCE, SCERS is a Computer Forensics expert with over 20 years of experience in his field. He currently serves as project manager and lead examiner on computer forensic and e-discovery cases for DataChasers, Inc.

Background Experience - Since 1996, Mr. Albee has been a Special Agent for the State of California Franchise Tax Board and the Board of Equalization where his responsibilities include equipping and maintaining the computer forensic laboratory, and conducting investigations that involved financial and computer crimes. Since 2012, he has served as a Course Evaluator /Subject Matter Expert for the Office of Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA), Diplomatic Security Service, United States Department of State.

View Matthew Albee's Expert Witness Profile.

PRACTICE AREAS AND EXPERTISE: Peacemaking, mediation and conflict management of difficult community, business and interpersonal conflicts.

From 1978 to 1998, trial lawyer with demonstrated success in complex, difficult, or unique cases. Experienced in both state and federal trial and appellate courts. Experienced in AAA commercial and construction arbitration and SEC/NASD arbitration. Broad range of knowledge, including construction, business, contract, finance, constitutional law, commercial law, and insurance law.

With over 22 years of experience, Mr. Noll has litigated and arbitrated diverse and complex cases before state and federal juries, judges and administrative tribunals. His practice is now devoted to resolving business and interpersonal conflicts without litigation. He has mediated over 400 difficult and complex conflicts including employment disputes (gender discrimination, racial discrimination, wrongful termination) construction defect cases, complex commercial and industrial construction disputes, CERCLA claims, partnership dissolutions, water rights disputes, shareholder disputes, intellectual property litigation, constitutional law cases, land use disputes, financial and commercial disputes, crop losses, estates and trusts litigation, and insurance disputes.

Douglas Noll is a distinguished author of numerous articles and most recently a book entitled: Elusive Peace: How Modern Diplomatic Strategies Could Better Resolve World Conflicts.

Retained by 95+ law firms, Rhonda Harper MBA has provided consulting and testimony in cases involving trademarks and trade dress, advertising, branding, promotion, consumer privacy, consumer perceptions and behavior, innovation, product development and product launches, market analysis, market research, share and size, marketing effectiveness, corporate and marketing strategy, media relations, public relations, communications, and packaging.

Ms. Harper is routinely retained to formulate expert surveys, conduct rebuttal critiques, or construct rebuttal surveys to show the potential difference in results with properly designed and executed surveys. She has extensive experience and a deep understanding of survey design, sampling, question construction, data analysis, and methodological pitfalls that introduce bias or systematic error.

Located in Dallas, TX, Ms. Harper is a former Fortune 100 C-Suite Executive in marketing, branding, consumer research, strategy, licensing, public relations and advertising. Also a former Adjunct Marketing Professor, she has been retained by more than 95 law firms since 2005. She has conducted  50+ intellectual property Lanham Act surveys, produced 75+ reports, been deposed 50+ times, and served in 20+ trials and arbitrations.

Janice A. Ramsay founded the law firm of Ramsay and Johnson, ALC in 1984. She merged her practice and that firm with Berger Kahn LLC in 1999. Since the late fall of 2007, she has primarily worked independently as an expert witness and consultant to other attorneys.

During her career, Ms. Ramsay has given advice on coverage questions, underwriting procedures, rescission rights, claims handling, and insurers legal and policy obligations. She is experienced with both commercial and personal lines policies. Ms. Ramsay is familiar with the business of insurance and the legal framework of that business and has performed the procedures that are unique to the claims process such as examinations under oath, and appraisals. She has drafted or revised insurance policies for several insurance companies and has handled coverage litigation.

Litigation Support - Ms. Ramsay has been retained in over 150 matters as an expert work during her law practice beginning as early as 1989. She has testified frequently in both deposition and trial on the standards and practices of the insurance industry. She has testified for insurers, insureds,brokers, and agents.

Types of Losses:

Fire Losses Organized Insurance Fraud Landslides Earthquakes Water Damage / Mold Defective Construction

Latent Defects Riots Acts of Civil Authority Business Interruption Suit Limitation Issues Mortgagee Rights

Speaking Engagements - Ms. Ramsay has frequently been a speaker and/or panelist for the Orange County Bar Association, PLRB Annual Conference, the Combined Claims Conference, and many more. She has also given in-house seminars for several insurers.

Gordon Kamisar, Esq., is a certified expert in Executive Recruiting, who has placed hundreds of different executives in the past 27 years in a variety of industries, and who also has a sub-specialty in Attorney Recruiting. A Duke Law School graduate who received his B.A., with distinction, from the University of Michigan, Gordon Kamisar is President of his own executive search firm.

Litigation Support - Mr. Kamisar has been deemed qualified as an expert in trial court, and was found in a recent court opinion to be a "credible and knowledgeable" expert on the subject of executive and attorney placements and compensation, testifying for the defendant employer. Mr. Kamisar has experience testifying in depositions and at trial. He is available to travel nationally and within the past two years has testified in cases in San Francisco, Dallas, and New York City.

Mr. Kamisar has served as an expert witness on the subjects of:

Executive and Attorney Employability Executive and Attorney Compensation Executive and Attorney Marketability Executive and Attorney Earning Capacity

Executive and Attorney Job Search Analysis Executive and Attorney Hiring Practices Executive and Attorney Recruitment Plaintiff / Employee Mitigation of Damages

Recent Cases

• Presently retained in a federal New York City case involving an associate attorney at an AmLaw100 law firm alleging termination was in retaliation for reporting ethical concerns
• Served as an expert for plaintiff on the subject of executive and attorney employability, job search analysis and mitigation of damages in federal district court in San Francisco (N.D. Cal.) case of Wadler v. Bio-­ Rad Laboratories, Inc. where plaintiff was awarded approximately $11 million in damages plus attorneys fees when the jury found violations of Whistleblower protections in the retaliatory firing of the company's Executive Vice President, General Counsel
• Served as an expert in a Dallas case on the subject of the employability of dismissed Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager

Guy O. Kornblum has specialized as a trial and appellate lawyer for 40 years. He is certified in Civil Trial Advocacy and Civil Pretrial Practice Advocacy by the prestigious National Board of Trial Advocacy, and is a Fellow of the American College of Certified Attorney Specialists.

Mr. Kornblum has handled over 4,000 litigated matters to conclusion and has several million dollar plus cases to his credit. He has represented hundreds of clients, small businesses, individuals, and large Fortune 500 corporations during his 40 plus years of practice in his practice. He is highly regarded for his courtroom and appellate skills, and his representation of his clients in mediations, where he has a strong track record of successful settlements.

Areas of Practice:

Personal Injury Wrongful Death Insurance Law Insurance Coverage / Bad Faith Claims Medical and Legal Malpractice

Punitive Damage Actions Commercial Disputes Class Actions Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse Elder Abuse

Guy Kornblum is a Life Member of the Multi-Million Dollar and Million Dollar Advocate’s Forum, for those attorneys who have achieved multi- million dollar awards or settlements for their clients. He is also a Charter Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America Trial Lawyer Honorary, a Platinum Member of The Verdict Club, recognized for his “professional excellence in litigation,” and is a Legends Society “Top Lawyer” in the personal injury field and a Silver Member of the Elite Lawyers of America.

Mr. Kornblum is the author of: Negotiating and Settling Tort Cases: Reaching the Settlement, published by the Thomson West Publishing Company and American Association for Justice, Second Edition, 2013; and co-author of Litigating Insurance Claims: Coverage, Bad Faith and Business Disputes (Wiley & Sons, 1991); and the California Practice Guide: Bad Faith (The Rutter Group, 1986). He also is a contributing author to the California Continuing Education of the Bar’s “Alternative Dispute Resolution in California,” which was published in 2005. He has authored over 200 published articles on trial practice, discovery, civil procedure, and insurance law and related topics.

View Guy Kornblum's Expert Witness Profile.

Attorney, Lawrence H. Jacobson received his Bachelor's degree in political science in 1964 from U.C.L.A and his Juris Doctorate in 1967 from the U.C.L.A. School of Law. While at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, Mr. Jacobson was a senior editor of the U.C.L.A. Law Review and graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif. Mr. Jacobson is the former Vice-President of Legal Affairs for the California Association of Realtors, legal counsel to several Boards of Realtors, California Counsel to an international real estate brokerage firm, and legal counsel to numerous mortgage brokerage firms and related real estate service providers. He is also a Past President of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He has served as a judge pro tem for the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Municipal Court Systems as well as having been an adjunct professor of law in the area of real estate secured transactions and administrative law, earning a lifetime Community College Instructor Credential in the area of Law.

Legal Practice - In his 50 years of practice, Mr. Jacobson has counseled and represented both private and publically held clients in the following:

• Selection of Business Entities
• Formation and Restructure of Corporations
• Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies
• Purchase and Sale of Business
• Succession Planning
• General Advice on Finance, Employment, Intellectual Property, Taxation, Antitrust, and Securities Laws

Lawrence Jacobson has written and lectured extensively on business, real estate and ethics related matters including having taught for the U.S.C. Broker Development Program and Graduate Realtors Institute of the California Association of Realtors, as well as having lectured for the California Continuing Education of the Bar, and is the recipient of the California Continuing Education of the Bar's 2011 "Spirit of CEB" Award.

View Lawrence Jacobson's Expert Witness Profile.

Hanny Lightfoot-Klein is an acknowledged expert on the topic of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Forced Marriage and Honor Killing of women in Africa. She now devotes a considerable part of her time to making the knowledge and insights she has accumulated over the past 25 years of service as an Expert Witness in Immigration Court (in the United States and Europe.)

Ms. Lightfoot-Klein provides written affidavits, telephonic testimony and/or court appearance for asylum seekers threatened with removal back to their own countries, where they and/or their daughters may be subjected to:

Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Honor Killing

Forced Marriage

Rape and other forms of Physical Abuse

Ms. Lightfoot-Klein has published her research findings in four books an has won an award for "Outstanding Ethnographic Scholarship in Sexology" for her book entitled "Prisoners of Ritual". She was also a finalist for the "June Roth Memorial Book Award for Excellence in Writing on Health and Medicine", presented by the American Society of Journalists and Authors for A Woman's Odyssey into Africa.

Ms. Lightfoot-Klein received her Masters of Arts degree in Social Psychology from the American University in Washington, D.C. in 1959 and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1950.

Between 1979 and 1984, she spent a total of 32 months of self-motivated, concentrated field research in Sudan, Kenya, and Egypt, studying female genital mutilation (FGM). The geographic area of her most intensive research was northern and central Sudan, where the practices are particularly severe and ubiquitous. A considerable portion of this time was also devoted to researching the practices in Kenya.

M.K. Wickens, PLLC, is a Health Care Fraud and Compliance company. Principal, Mary Wickens, JD, CFE has over 35 years experience in the Healthcare Insurance, Managed Care, and Compliance Industry. Her experience includes advising and counseling health care providers, insurers, government contractors, and others in compliance, ethics, fraud and abuse, Medicare, Medicaid and Federal Employees Plan, managed care, and other matters.

Consulting Services:

• Internal Investigations - As a highly experienced investigator, Mary Wickens is available to provide swift and thorough review of potential compliance and ethics issues. She is seasoned at handling potential whistleblower concerns, C-suite investigations, and reporting for self-disclosures. She provides comprehensive, understandable reports and recommendations to executives, audit committees, and auditors.
• Compliance Consulting - Ms. Wickens is experienced in providing site reviews, red team reviews, and independent compliance reviews. She has in-depth knowledge developing and implementing effective corrective action plans and extensive experience in responding to government and commercial audits and investigations.

Background Experience - Ms. Wickens is a former compliance officer for a major health insurer and former legal and compliance specialist for a CMS Medicare Program Safeguard Contractor. Also a former operations director for government programs (Medicare Part C, Medi-gap, and FEHBP) for a major HMO, she is experienced with government audits and investigations, commercial audits, as well as self-reporting and internal investigations.

Ms. Wickens has decades of experience as in house counsel to HMOs and health insurers. She has drafted, developed, negotiated, and implemented numerous healthcare provider-payor contracts, and developed and implemented codes of conduct, ethics programs, compliance programs and numerous corrective action plans. Ms. Wickens has authored numerous professional publications and presentations on health care fraud and compliance, government and commercial audits, compliance programs, and healthcare contracting.

View Mary Wickens' Expert Witness Profile.