Communication & Professional Skills Expert Witnesses: 7

Margaret M. van Naerssen, PhD, (Applied Linguistics - language development and sociolinguistics) is an Expert in Second Language Development and Language Assessment, as well as Language in Social Contexts. Since 1997, she has done consultant work in forensic contexts, focusing primarily on cases involving non-native English speakers.

Dr. van Naerssen brings her over 50 years of world-wide experience (US and 47 other countries) to legal cases involving non-native English speakers. She has strong language skills in Portuguese and Spanish, and range of functional skills in Dutch, French, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and some exposure to German, Malay, Cantonese, Russian, Samoan, Arabic, and Urdu. This gives her valuable insights on what it is like to be a non-native speaker and to function in different cultures. She has also specialized in workplace and professional communications especially in science and technology.

Since the early 1990s she has also been an English language specialist in short-term assignments through the US Department of State, the US Agency for International Development, the Asia Foundation, and the US Fulbright Commission. Assignments have been in South America, Asia, North Africa, and two independent consultancies in Taiwan and a consultancy in northern France. 

Dr. van Naerssen has taken a semester-long citizens' police academy course. She's made presentations at the FBI Academy, at a Florida Association of Defense Lawyers CLE, and at The Smithsonian Institute in a forensic sciences series. She was also was opening plenary speaker at a Pennsylvania State Trial Judges Conference. 

Litigation Support: 

Dr. van Naerssen has primarily consulted and testified in Forensic Linguistic cases involving non-native English speakers. She’s worked with both defense and prosecution primarily in criminal cases including murder, rape, drugs, money laundering, telecom fraud, robbery, illegal arrests, coercive interrogations, terrorist conspiracy, and violations of the Federal Individual Disabilities Act. Civil cases have included contract and plain language guidelines, slander, and medical malpractice.  

Dr. van Naerssen has worked primarily on cases in Daubert jurisdictions with one Frye exception, a state hearing in Pennsylvania. Her other 7 state cases (Daubert) have been in Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia (mixed Daubert & Frye). 

Federal cases in which she has provided expert support have been in the US District Court jurisdictions of Western District of Oklahoma, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, District of Southern California, Southern District of New York, District Court in Waco, Texas, and the District Court of Hawai’i. Three federal cases also involved the US Military, two of which proceeded to hearings and then to one testimony in a court martial trial (US Navy:  San Diego and Great Lakes). Another federal case involved the US Department of Labor.

Dr. van Naerssen has testified in 5 federal courts, in hearings, depositions stipulated by judge, and in bench trials. 

Rose Porterfield Group (RPG) has over 30 years of experience providing Business Performance and Human Resource services. As experts in human behavior, we provide litigation support strategy and testimony for attorneys and corporations. Offering unbiased, detailed, and objective expert opinion on all aspects of human behavior in the workplace, we can help determine the facts, motivations, and human factors involved in the case. Forensic and Expert Testimony Cases Include:

• Sexual Harassment
• Workplace Injury
• Discrimination
• Retaliation
• Wrongful Termination

 Robyn W. Porterfield, PhD - Managing Principal at RPG, spent over ten years in sales and marketing prior to completing her PhD in Industrial Psychology. While completing her PhD, Dr. Porterfield served as Director of Client Services for a Texas-based on-line psychological testing firm, consulting to management on such issues as individual and team fit, conflict resolution, hiring, coaching, and management succession planning. As a consultant, 

Dr. Porterfield has assessed executives in such diverse industries as financial management, food service, telecommunications and retail. For five years Robyn and Bob co-wrote a column for the Dallas Business Journal titled, C-Level Coach. Robyn is also a professional mediator and currently mediates for Dispute Resolution Services of Tarrant County, Texas.

Robert G. Rose, PhD, Principal at RPG, received his PhD from Florida State University. Since 1976 he has served as consultant to organizations in virtually every industry including health care, retail, IT services, manufacturing, construction, aviation, and many others. In his over 30 years as a consultant, 

Dr. Rose has encountered virtually every problem that an organization can experience, and has seen that good teamwork - from hiring to development - always benefits both the individual and the company. Bob is the author of numerous articles on communication, crisis handling, and conceptualizing purpose and culture within organizations, and his books on consulting are required reading by major corporations.

View RPG's Consulting Profile.

Paul T. Fogle, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, has been a Speech-Language Pathologist since 1971, working extensively in acute, subacute, and convalescent hospitals. He has maintained a private practice since 1980, specializing in children and adults with neurological disorders, stuttering, voice disorders, and cleft lip and palate.

Background Experience: Dr. Fogle was a university professor for 35 years (now Professor Emeritus), teaching primarily graduate courses in Neurology and Neuropathologies of Adults and Children, Swallowing Disorders / Dysphagia, Gerontology, Voice Disorders, Cleft Lip and Palate, and Counseling Skills for Speech-Language Pathologists. He has made almost 150 presentations at state, national, and international conventions and conferences, and has presented all-day seminars and workshops on a variety of topics in cities throughout the U.S. and in several foreign countries.

Dr. Fogle has authored or co-authored five textbooks (currently working on his sixth, Traumatic Brain Injury in Infants, Children, and Adolescents) and four therapy manuals that are used in universities, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and clinics throughout the U.S. and other English-speaking countries.

Litigation Support: Dr. Fogle has worked as an expert witness for either plaintiff or defense on over 30 medical-legal cases and a few criminal cases. He has provided testimony in at least 15 depositions and a few court trials. He has attended trainings and seminars provided by attorneys and judges on writing IME reports and testifying in depositions and court trials. Dr. Fogle is available for telephone consultations and conferences, reviewing documents, and testifying in depositions and court trials. He will travel as needed.

With broad education, training, and experience, Dr. Fogle has the unique ability to work with a great variety of speech, language, cognitive, and swallowing disorders of children and adults, from neonatal intensive care units (NICU) to the last moments of life, and in numerous settings (schools, hospitals - [acute, subacute, convalescent], rehabilitation centers, clinics, and private practice).

Dr. Fogle has considerable expertise in reviewing large amounts of medical-legal documents (depositions, physician and hospital reports, educational records, and other documents), testifying in depositions, and some expertise in testifying in court trials. Of particular interest to him are challenging cases involving a neurological disorder, attention deficit disorder, stuttering, voice disorder, or cleft lip and palate. His cases have also included criminal, in which the person currently has or has had the need for services of a speech-language pathologist.

Areas of Expertise

View Dr. Fogle's Consulting Profile.

Prudence L. Gourguechon, MD, is a clinical Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst with over 35 years of in-depth experience diagnosing and treating patients with Trauma, Depression, and Anxiety Disorders. She is a nationally known leader and educator in the field and is frequently sought out by the media as an expert commentator on human behavior. 

Dr. Gourguechon is Yale and Michigan-educated and Northwestern-trained. She is Past President of the American Psychoanalytic Association, former Northwestern Faculty, and former Dean of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Gourguechon has clinical expertise in trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, moral injury and other types of emotional injury, and psychological damage due to trauma, discrimination, accidents, abuse (including the effect of childhood abuse in adulthood) and harassment.

Litigation Support - Dr. Gourguechon has over 10 years of experience as an expert witness and independent medical examiner, and has worked with both plaintiff and defense attorneys. As an expert in the Psychology of Leadership and Decision Making , she is interested in the conditions leading to and the consequences of executive malfeasance, or “Leadership Malpractice,” and its effects on victims and survivors, a particular kind of emotional damage known in psychiatry as “moral injury.” 

Leadership malpractice is one way of describing the neglect by institutional bystanders who fail to act and protect when informed of abuse by their employees. The ideal client for her expertise is an individual who was subject to sexual abuse by a doctor or coach within the context of an institution that failed in its duty to protect, or covered up the abuse.

Areas of Specialization:

View Dr. Gourguechon's Consulting Profile.

Michael T. Motley, Ph.D. has over thirty-five years of experience in the fields of Communication & Psycholinguistics. Dr. Motley serves as an expert witness for opinions on the  clarity, lack of clarity, and most likely interpretation of common messages such as  warning labels, instructions, advertising, contracts, waivers, and so forth. He has served on over 30 cases; about 2/3 for plaintiff and 1/3 for defense. Dr. Motley is a Professor Emeritus of Communication at the University of California at Davis. He has authored almost 200 books, articles, and research papers in communication and psycholinguistics. He has won eighteen excellence awards for his research and was recognized as among the "Top 1%" of communication scholars of the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. Areas of Expertise:

• Communication Messages: Meaning, Ambiguity, Likely and Alternate Interpretations, Communicative Intention
• Adequacy/Inadequacy of Messages: Product Warnings, Instructions, Waivers, Advertisements
• Male / Female Misunderstandings: Sexual Consent/Resistance, Date Rape

Services Offered:

• Expert testimony & Consultation
• Opinion on Adequacy of Communication Messages
• Opinion on Likely Consumer Interpretation of Warnings, Instructions, Advertising
• Opinion on Likely Intrepretation of Sexual Resistance/Consent Messages and Behaviors
• Social-scientific testing of expert opinion (his and others')

View Consulting Profile.

Frank Carr has extensive background and experience as an Investment Industry Employment and Compensation Expert Witness, especially Investment Management Firms, Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds, Wealth Managers, and Broker-Dealers. Mr. Carr is a former corporate banker, investment firm Chief Financial Officer and a 20 year veteran of executive search for the Investment Management industry. He has written articles for and has been frequently quoted by publications such as Bloomberg News, CNN Money, Fund Fire, Ignites, Absolute Return, Hedge Fund Alert, and Hedge Fund Manager Week. Prior to entering the executive search field, he was the Chief Financial Officer of a Connecticut-based hedge fund and Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA). Mr. Carr started his career in commercial bank lending, initially with Citigroup in their Wall Street Commodities division and later specialized in financing independent feature film producers, TV producers, and television station owners on behalf of European American Bank in New York. 

Litigation Support - Frank Carr is an Investment Industry Employment and Compensation Expert Witness who has been retained by both plaintiffs and defendants for American Arbitration Association, JAMS and FINRA arbitration, mediation, and federal court litigation. Mr. Carr has over 30 years of experience in Financial Services, Investment Management, and Banking and his areas of coverage include Traditional and Alternative Investments – Equities, Fixed Income, Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, and Managed Futures. Specialist in Wall Street Divorce. 

Areas of Expertise:

Prior Expert Witness Assignments:

• Represented a hedge fund portfolio manager as an expert rebuttal witness in a high profile hedge fund employment/compensation lawsuit. Prepared a rebuttal opinion letter submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
• Represented a $12 billion Texas-based SEC Registered Investment Adviser and leading global alternative credit manager in a JAMS arbitration regarding a terminated employee. Prepared a rebuttal expert witness report and provided live testimony at the JAMS arbitration hearing.
• Represented a financial advisor in a FINRA arbitration against one of the top 5 U.S. wealth management firms. The scope of the opinion included projected career advancement, compensation analysis and calculation of lost earnings.
• Represented a portfolio manager/ investment analyst in a wrongful termination action against one of the largest U.S. Broker-Dealers with over $600 billion in assets. The scope of the opinion included projected career advancement and compensation analysis. Prepared an expert witness report and provided live testimony at the FINRA arbitration hearing.

Education - Mr. Carr is a graduate of Williams College where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Economy. He completed the Management Training Program at Citigroup in New York, including courses in accounting, finance, and capital markets. He has previously held FINRA licenses, Series 3, 6, and 63 and has completed Level I of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) program.

View Frank Carr's Consultant Profile.

Aaron T. Olson, has decades of experience in the field of Police and Human Resources. His breadth of knowledge comes from many years in Law Enforcement, as an expert witness, consultant, and trainer.

Mr. Olson's company, A.T. Olson Consulting, LLC,  is certified by the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) as a Verified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB); and the State of Oregon's Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID) as a Service-Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (SDVBE) and Emerging Small Business (ESB).

Background Experience: Mr. Olson has over 26 years of police experience managing assignments in communications, recruitment, and patrol. He supervised and evaluated both police and non-police employees. He was a member of the OSP Procedures and Rules Advisory Committee and worked with Oregon's Department of Justice in rewriting and validating OSP's trooper and cadet applicant hiring process. Mr. Olson had the honor of being a member of the first Oregon State Police Affirmative Action Recruiting Team. 

 As a patrol supervisor, Mr. Olson directed major crime scenes and traffic crash investigations. He reviewed and approved administrative, police, and use of force reports. He also investigated allegations of police officer misconduct, conducted background checks, and participated in specialized tasks in community policing, dignitary protection with the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies. In his law enforcement, career he had experience in the use of physical and deadly force. In reaching out to new immigrants and refugees, Mr. Olson initiated the "Police and Emergency Services" workshops at the Immigrant Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) in Portland, Oregon. 

Mr. Olson is regular adjunct professor at Portland Community College (PCC), Portland, Oregon, and Eastern Oregon University (EOU), La Grande, Oregon. At PCC, Mr. Olson currently teaches cultural diversity online and campus criminal justice classes. He also teaches an online class on civil liability in criminal justice. At PCC, he has lectured on police use of force and facilitated the Police Use of Force Accountability Panel. At EOU, he teaches an online multiculturalism in emergency services course. He established history by designing the first cultural diversity courses and curricula for PCC's criminal justice program in 2001, fire protection program in 2009, and EOU's fire service administration program in 2011.

Mr. Olson is a published co-writer of Multicultural Law Enforcement: Strategies for Peacekeeping in a Diverse Society, 7th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, and Multicultural and Diversity Strategies for the Fire Service, Pearson Prentice Hall.

Litigation Support: Mr. Olson meets the criteria of an expert witness as outlined in the Federal Rules of Evidence. He also meets the criteria of an expert witness as outlined in the Oregon Revised Statutes. He has been deposed as an expert witness several times. Mr. Olson's services are available to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant and include diagnostics, thorough reporting, depositions, arbitration hearings, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

View Aaron T. Olson's Consulting Profile.