Sexual Assault / Abuse / Molestation / Harassment Expert Witnesses: 20

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:

As a highly professional & credible Expert, Consultant, & Speaker, Jean Seawright has provided trusted advice & HR Consultation to thousands of organizations nationwide. As president of Seawright & Associates, a Human Resource Management-Consulting Firm, Ms. Seawright is widely respected for her knowledge of state & federal employment regulations including, but not limited to FLSA, ADA, FMLA, Title VII, & others.

Since 1987, she has focused on engagements involving hiring, coaching, & terminating employees; regulatory compliance; charges of discrimination; performance management systems; internal investigations (including harassment); employee handbook development; compensation plan design; HR audits; hiring systems; job descriptions; & others. Ms. Seawright is a frequent speaker at state & national trade associations & is the author of numerous articles & publications in the field of human resources, including the popular book, The Employment Genie®, an exclusive hiring, coaching, & termination system for businesses. 

Areas of Expertise:

• Negligent Hiring and Retention
• Discrimination and EEO Compliance
• HR Policies and Programs
• FLSA and Wage and Hour Compliance
• Harassment
• Expert Witness Services for Employment Law Matters
• ADA
• FMLA
• Hiring Procedures
• Title VII
• Employee Handbooks

Ms. Seawright is available for case analysis, case theory evaluation, expert witness reports, depositions, analysis of other expert testimony, and trial testimony.

Dr. Heather L. Manning is recognized Forensic Criminologist and Subject Matter Expert specializing in violent crime, sexual exploitation, domestic violence, and human trafficking. With nearly two decades of experience spanning academia, clinical practice, child welfare, corrections, and law enforcement collaboration, Dr. Manning brings a rare interdisciplinary perspective to the analysis, investigation, and prevention of complex criminal behavior.

Dr. Manning holds a Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology and has extensive expertise in criminal profiling, behavioral analysis, forensic interviewing, and trauma-informed investigative practices. She currently serves as a Professor and Subject Matter Expert at Evidentia University, where she teaches graduate-level courses in criminal profiling, psychological profiling, and behavioral analysis grounded in FBI-aligned methodologies. Her academic work emphasizes offender typologies, victimology, and the behavioral dynamics of violent and sexually motivated crimes. She also works as a cold case investigator and a research IRB board member.

Litigation Support - Providing expert witness consultation and testimony in legal proceedings. Services include case review and expert opinion development, written expert reports, deposition preparation and testimony, trial testimony, and consultation on behavioral evidence, offender dynamics, victim behavior, and trauma impact.

Areas of Expertise

An active scholar and author, Dr. Manning’s research and publications focus on sexual violence, offender behavior, trauma, and systemic failures in protection and response. Her work includes peer-reviewed research, professional conference presentations, and authored books addressing serial violence and survivor experiences.

Dr. Manning is a member of the American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Sciences, and the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology. She is widely respected for her ability to bridge clinical insight, academic rigor, and real-world investigative application—advancing justice, victim-centered practice, and professional excellence across forensic and behavioral disciplines.

View Heather Manning's Consulting Profile.

Dr. Weiss' unique ability to establish exceptional rapport with clients allows for thoughtful, thorough examinations, leaving no stone unturned. As everything affects the psyche, her keen attention to detail with complex medical-legal records enables her to integrate highly complex psychiatric histories and concepts, coming to evidence-based opinions, and providing high-caliber, usable medical-legal reporting and testimony.

Dr. Weiss has decades of diverse experience. Able to view a case through multiple lenses, she must consider what has happened prior to, since, and outside of an accident/incident, as well as uncovering details of the event(s) itself. She must be objective and look at the evidence which has been presented. It is important to consider how a person is functioning, and what is the status of their mental/psychological state. If there is evidence for psychiatric injury/pain and suffering, her ability to articulate a person's perspective, as well as how she, as the psychiatric expert, would understand the issues and their impacts, is unparalleled. 

Ultimately, whether Dr. Weiss' findings strengthen her client's case, or help to uncover weaknesses/deficiencies which need to be addressed, one can be confident that Dr. Weiss will provide a through, detailed psychiatric analysis based on medical evidence. 

Dr. Weiss is a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a Board Certified Psychiatrist, in private practice since 1988. Her expert witness work has involved employment law, concentrating in claims of emotional distress along with pain and suffering. Dr. Weiss provides litigation support in cases related to harassment (sexual/gender-based/racial), PTSD, as well as other personal injury/accident complaints

Psychiatric Areas of Expertise:

Professor Mat Schmalz is an internationally recognized expert on the Catholic Church and New Religious Movements (Jehovah's Witnesses; Scientology). He has served as an expert witness in Religious Liberty cases involving New Religious Movements and has argued that using the word "cult" in a legal context is inflammatory.

He has over 500 media citations--and over one hundred appearances on television. He is able to adapt to multiple audiences and rhetorical contexts.