Professional Malpractice (General) Consultants: 83

Joseph W. Burke, MD, board certified, actively participating Diagnostic Radiologist with over 18 years of experience. Dr. Burke has practiced for the last 16 years at Reading Health system which has one of the busiest Emergency Departments on the East Coast and is a Level 2 Trauma Center.

Dr. Burke is a frequent presenter at weekly Tumor, Trauma, Thoracic, and Gastrointestinal Conferences. He served as Chief of the Ultrasound department for several years and currently sits on his group Board of Directors. He offers teaching services, educating radiology technology students, medical students, and residents.

Litigation Support - Dr. Burke provided Medical-Legal forensic case review for attorneys in numerous cases. He has extensive experience in the interpretation of Neurologic and Body Imaging studies and has read in excess of 250,000 images including MRIs, X-Rays, CT Scans, and ultrasounds. Dr. Burke's services are available to counsel representing plaintiff and defendant and include medical record review, written reports, deposition, arbitration, and trial testimony as needed.

Radiology and Diagnostic Radiology Areas of Expertise:

Current Memberships and Affiliations:

• American Medical Association
• Pennsylvania Medical Society
• American College of Radiology
• Radiological Society of North America
• Eastern Radiological Society
• Pennsylvania Radiological Society

Kevin Kucko, MAPT, ATC is a licensed Physical Therapist with over 23 years of experience. His specialty areas include Work-injury Reduction, Outpatient Services Development, and Physical Rehabilitation. 

Background Experience - Mr. Kucko began his career as an athletic trainer working with athletes from college through the NFL. He quickly focused on accelerating recovery times while rehabilitating orthopedic injuries. In 1995, he completed his Masters’ degree in Physical Therapy. Since that time, he has served as Department Director at various rehabilitation facilities throughout the east. 

Litigation Support - With over 13 years of experience performing Functional Capacity Evaluations, Mr. Kucko has helped hundreds of clients resolve cases with the best possible outcome. He provides services to attorneys representing both Plaintiff and Defense. Kevin Kucko offers meticulous review of medical records in preparation for trial and depositions. For cases where therapy and physical rehabilitation are involved, he sets the foundation by explaining medical conditions and interventions in a clear and concise manner that jurors understand. Mr. Kucko has been deposed and/or testified 14 times since 2010. 

Areas of Expertise:

Joel L. Kent, MD, is an expert in all realms of Pain Medicine and has focused expertise in the prescribing and oversight of opioid analgesics. His specialties include acute and chronic pain management, opioid analgesics, interventional pain management therapies, spinal cord stimulation, intrathecal drug delivery, RSD/CRPS and low back pain.

Dr. Kent has provided expert case reviews and testimony for over twenty years.  The majority of his expert work has focused on the standard of care in the practice of Pain Medicine and the use of opioid analgesics.  Dr. Kent has provided expert case opinions in Federal and State civil courts.  He has provided defense support to the US Department of Justice in two cases.  He has served as an expert witness and case reviewer for both Maryland and New York State.  Dr. Kent assisted the District Attorney of New Jersey in prosecuting a case of unlawful prescribing of controlled substances.  He has provided expert case review and litigation support to health insurance carriers seeking restitution for fraudulent expenses related to opioid therapy.  

Over the course of his career, Dr. Kent has developed particular expertise surrounding the use of opioid analgesics.  He has provided over 50 lectures to other physicians regarding the safe and proper use of these medications.   He has been recognized as an expert in both State and Federal Court in cases related to opioid therapy.  He has served on advisory boards helping craft regulatory policies related to opioid medication.  All these accomplishments attest to Dr. Kent’s high level of expertise in the complex and evolving realm of opioid therapy. 

Primary area of expertise: Pain Medicine

Expert consulting experience:

• Authored over 50 expert case reports
• Participated in over 25 depositions
• Testimony experience in civil trials and professional hearings
• Provides litigation support and expert testimony in plaintiff and defense cases

Professional experience:

• Over 25 years of experience in Pain Medicine
• Triple Board Certified
• Practice Director of University Multi-Disciplinary Pain Management Practices from 1998 to 2017
• Program Director of a Multi-Disciplinary Pain Management Fellowship Training Programs from 1998 to 2015
• Professor of Anesthesiology, Palliative Care, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at University of Rochester School of Medicine
• Lectures extensively and published 

Jeffrey S. Lapin, CPM®, has been directly involved in Commercial Real Estate Management, Leasing and Construction for over 40 years. He is recently retired from his position as Vice President of Property Management for a privately held national real estate development firm. 

Consulting - Mr. Lapin provides commercial real estate operations and maintenance expertise to large and small landlords. His background includes roles with institutional landlords including TIAA CREF, MetLife, The New England Life Insurance Company, and Principal Mutual Life, as well as a diverse group of private property owners. His experience is focused on managing, building and leasing all types of property including commercial and multi-family residential, industrial, office, and retail real estate assets. 

Professional Training - Mr. Lapin is an experienced professional trainer specializing in Property Operations, Lease Administration, Cost Recovery, Customer Service, Maintenance Procedures and related topics. Mr. Lapin has conducted over 50 workshops and seminars on these topics. 

Certifications and Instruction - Mr. Lapin is a Certified Property Manager (CPM®), certified by the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM®) and a California licensed Real Estate Broker. Mr. Lapin is a certified instructor for IREM® and for the Building Owners and Managers Institute International (BOMI®), teaching courses for these prestigious international property associations, including courses required by IREM® and by BOMI® for the respective professional accreditations they offer, centered around construction and maintenance topics. 

Education - Mr. Lapin holds an undergraduate Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California as well as a Master’s Degree in Business from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. 

View Jeffrey Lapin's Expert Witness Profile.

Jeffrey D. Diamond specializes in Insurance Coverage Disputes and Litigation. He has established his law firm as one of the premier Insurance Coverage law firms in the Metro Atlanta area on behalf of policyholders, as well as throughout the State of Georgia and, as he was initially admitted to the State Bar of California in 1978, he serves policyholders in California, as well. 

In addition to his full time law practice, Mr. Diamond has served as an Adjunct Professor of Insurance Law since 1995 in both California and Georgia, having joined the Georgia State University College of Law faculty in 2009 as an Adjunct Professor of Insurance Law and, in 2012, he joined Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School in a similar capacity. 

Mr. Diamond  is also a law instructor for the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA), a national educational organization which conducts continuing education programs for financial professionals across the country, teaching in NACVA’s Expert Witness Bootcamp program. Mr. Diamond has been an invited guest speaker on topics of interest at numerous insurance conferences throughout the country. 

Over his 37 year career, Mr. Diamond has successfully represented policyholders, and formerly Insurance companies, in a wide variety of insurance coverage and bad faith actions including:

• Business Insurance Litigation
• Homeowners Insurance Litigation 
• Construction Defect Litigation
• General Business Property and Liability Claims
• Long Term Disability Claims
• Life Insurance Claims

 Litigation Support - Mr. Diamond's experience as an insurance litigator and insurance law professor allows him a unique perspective as a consulting expert witness. His extensive knowledge of insurance law and keen insights into insurance policy interpretation, as well as the covenant of good faith and fair dealing under each State’s insurance related statutes and case law, make him an exceptional consulting expert witness with regard to insurance coverage disputes and issues concerning insurance bad faith issues.

 View Jeffrey Diamond'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.

Lieberman Financial & Consulting Services, LLC provides high quality Financial Planning services and Insurance Investment to advice to clients in all walks of life. Principal, Maurice Lieberman, CLU, ChFC, RHU, LUTCF, has over 40 years of experience specializing in Life Insurance, Annuities, and Health Coverage. 

Mr. Lieberman also offers Financial Planning Workshops and conduct large and small group seminars. He provides individual and family financial counseling sessions to active duty members of the United States Military (all branches.) Mr. Lieberman holds three professional designations from the American College, Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, and Registered Health Underwriter. He is a Life Insurance Training Council Fellow, and a member of the American College of Financial Services Professionals, Forensic Expert Witness Association, and the American College of Forensic Examiners International. 

Background Experience - Mr. Lieberman started as an insurance agent for Metropolitan Life and then advanced in his career to manage brokers. He successfully built agencies for Aetna, and Principal Financial Group. He was later promoted to Regional Director for New England Financial, and CSAA Life. Over the years he mentored hundreds of insurance agents, brokers, financial planners and agency managers to build their own successful careers and agencies. He was also a member of the Million Dollar Round Table and utilized his selling and management experience to train insurance agents, brokers and financial planners in advanced areas of estate, business insurance, and financial planning.

View Maurice Lieberman's Expert Witness Profile.

GRANT D. STIEFEL, ESQ.

• Grant D. Stiefel, Esq. is a nationally-recognized, full time attorney fee consultant, testifying expert and the principal of Litigation Limited, a boutique legal fee consulting firm
• Mr. Stiefel has testified in nearly 100 lawsuits, including matters in federal district courts, California trial courts, JAMS/AAA arbitrations, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, State Bar courts, and attorney-client fee arbitrations
• He has qualified to testify and has testified live at trials and arbitrations as a designated attorney fee expert
• Mr. Stiefel’s methodology for reviewing, auditing and evaluating legal invoices has been cited, approved and adopted by California state and federal courts
• He has been retained as a testifying attorney fee expert by the world’s largest law firms, including Reed Smith; McDermott Will and Emery; Jones Day; Sheppard Mullin; Sidely Austin; Dykema Gossett; Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe; and Littler Mendelson, among many others
• Mr. Stiefel is a member of the California State Bar and is unique among fee experts in that he practiced law for many years at two of the world’s largest law firms (Akin Gump and K&L Gates)
• Mr. Stiefel has managed a multi-billion dollar litigation portfolio and has audited hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees from law firms nationwide since 2008 
• He has developed and implemented outside counsel billing and case management guidelines for Fortune 500 corporations
• He is a California State Bar-approved continuing legal education instructor on attorneys’ fees who has trained hundreds of executives and in-house counsel from a host of Fortune 500 corporations
• Mr. Stiefel is qualified as an attorney-client fee dispute arbitrator with the California State Bar’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration program and as a judge pro tem with the California Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles

SAMPLE ENGAGEMENTS

• Grant Stiefel was the testifying fee expert on a series of fee applications by class counsel in Jones v. Wells Fargo, on behalf of aggrieved California consumers in the first consumer class action brought under the Unruh Act.  Relying upon Mr. Stiefel's testimony regarding the reasonableness of hourly rates and overall work performed, the trial court awarded more than $25 million in attorneys' fees to class counsel
• The district court for the Central District of California adopted and approved Mr. Stiefel's methodology for identifying and quantifying block-billed, vague and redacted billing entries in cutting Plaintiff's fee request by more than sixty percent in CNS v. Planet, from $4.8 million to $1.9 million
• In Vides v. ABM Janitorial Services, the trial court reduced Plaintiff's fee request in a FEHA action by over $1 million based upon Grant Stiefel's expert testimony.  Plaintiff moved for an award of $1,578,232.50 in attorneys' fees, which the trial court reduced to $544,183.12.  Mr. Stiefel's testimony showed that the hourly rates claimed by Plaintiff's counsel were unreasonable under the circumstances, that excessive time was spent on inter-office communications, and that the matter was overstaffed

View Grant Stiefel's Expert Witness Profile.

William Santoro, MD is Board Certified in Addiction Medicine and board eligible in Family Medicine. His professional consultant services are utilized by Pharmaceutical companies to educate doctors on why and how to use medication for substance use disorders. Dr. Santoro also gives talks and seminars to groups on all aspects of addiction medicine.

In addition to being the Chief of the Section of Addiction Medicine at Tower Health System, he was the Medical Director at the Reading Hospital & Medical Center detoxification and rehabilitation program for 36 years. He was also the Medical Director for a Methadone Treatment facility for 22 years where he was responsible for all admission physical examinations and for prescribing methadone to approximately 950 opiate dependent patients.

Dr. Santoro is the Addictionist on staff at The Reading Hospital & Medical Center within the Department of Family & Community Medicine. He is consulted by hospitalists to care for patients admitted to the hospital with addiction complicating their condition. Dr. Santoro runs an outpatient program utilizing buprenorphine and naltrexone maintenance for over 300 patients. With a special interest in Sports Medicine, in 2001, he served as a volunteer physician for the U.S. Olympic Training Team in Lake Placid, New York. 

Professional Services:

• Consultant speaker for Forrest Pharmaceuticals. Responsible for teaching physicians about using Campral for alcohol dependence, 2005 to 2007
• Consultant speaker for Indivior (formerly Rickett-Benckiser). Mentoring program to teach physicians how to appropriately use Suboxone and Sublocade  for opioid use disorder, 2005 to present
• Consultant speaker for Pfizer Labs. Responsible for teaching physicians how and why to use Chantix for tobacco addiction, 2007 to present

View William Santoro's Expert Witness Profile.

Milliman’s Tampa Office provides a variety of Health Insurance, Health Care services, and Pharma consulting services to law firms, health plans, insurance companies, HMO’s, Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans, hospitals and other providers, employers and government agencies. Stuart Rachlin and other staff are experienced actuaries and related consultants.  

We provide support to our clients with all types of health related services including Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug plans (MAPD), Part D plans (PDP), ACA plans, medical, dental, long-term care, Medicare supplement & critical illness.

We assist clients nationwide with forensic actuarial work, rate filings, regulatory compliance, reserve projections, valuations, employee benefit analysis and design, mergers and acquisitions, claim cost analysis, and fee schedule analysis.

These health care services are used in litigation relating to:

• Life care planning
• Contract development and fee schedule analysis
• Pricing & Underwriting
• Senior Services
• New benefit plan design

Moelleken Plastic Surgery offers Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery to clients in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. Procedures are available for the body, breast, and face, and include signature and non-invasive treatments.

Principal, Brent Moelleken, MD, FACS is a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon practicing in Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara. Double board certified, he received his training at Harvard University, Yale University, UCSF, and UCLA. Dr. Moelleken is one of three specialty-trained surgeons in the world to complete the year-long Aesthetic Surgery Fellowship at UCLA. He is an Attending Surgeon and Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Plastic Surgery at UCLA, where he often performs surgeries and teaches residents. Here, he specializes in patients diagnosed with skin cancers in the facial area who require complex, artful reconstructions. 

Dr. Moelleken has innovated various procedures including LiveFill®, autologous fat-fascial grafts; the USIC® & LUSIC® cheeklifts, short incision cheeklifts; the 360 Facelift®, a comprehensive natural appearing facelift procedure; and the Hybrid Tummy Tuck®, a short incision tummy tuck for fit moms. For his expertise, Dr. Moelleken has been selected by Marquis’ Who’s Who in America’s Top Plastic Surgeons in Los Angeles, LA Magazine’s “Top Doctors in Los Angeles”, and is on numerous Top Doctors Lists including Vogue Magazine’s “Top 10 Plastic Surgeons in America”. He has appeared on numerous local and national television segments including Extreme Makeover, as a featured member of the “Extreme Team”; CNN, Extra, BBC, Oprah, E! Entertainment, Discovery Health Channel, MTV, MSNBC, NBC, CBS and numerous local television programs and many print venues including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, People Magazine (2 cover stories), and numerous national and international print stories. He is frequently featured in European and Asian television segments including programs in the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and numerous Spanish speaking channels in South and Central America.

View Dr. Moelleken's Expert Witness Profile.

Muñoz Dispute Resolution (MDR) provides individualized, personal Mediation, Arbitration, and Dispute Resolution Services for lawyers and their respective clients and principals that national firms cannot provide. MDR drills down on key issues and potential obstacles that may impact the efficient resolution of each case.

MDR can comfortably accommodate multi-party cases and are available to travel both within and outside California. They also have the expertise to confidentially and privately accommodate any resolution using virtual technology.

MEDIATION EXPERTISE:

• Professional Liability - Lawyers (legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and attorney-client fee disputes), Real Estate Brokers /Agents / Appraisers, Architect and Engineers, Accountants, Medical, Fiduciaries
• Employment - Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation, Wage / Hour, PAGA
• Probate / Trust Litigation
• Personal injury - Dog bite, Premises liability, Construction Injury, Automobile / Trucking / Motorcycle accidents, Catastrophic Injury / Wrongful Death, Products liability
• Miscellaneous Torts - Defamation, Malicious Prosecution, Lemon Law

ARBITRATION EXPERTISE:

• Professional Liability - Lawyers (legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and attorney-client fee disputes), Real Estate Brokers / Agents / Appraisers, Architect and Engineers, Accountants, Medical, Fiduciaries
• Employment - Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation, Wage / Hour Disputes, PAGA

DISCOVERY REFEREE - MDR provides discovery referee services for all civil litigation matters, offering the parties an avenue to informally resolve their discovery disputes before resorting to law and motion. If the issue cannot be resolved informally, MDR will entertain discovery motions and make rational and thoughtful findings and recommendations to the court.

William A. Muñoz, Esq., is a Civil Trial Attorney Legal Ethics Expert, and Third-Party Neutral with over 20 years of experience defending attorneys, and other professionals such as architects and engineers, real estate agents/brokers, real estate appraisers, and insurance brokers, as well as defending personal injury, toxic torts, products liability, defamation, wrongful termination / harassment, wage and hour and discrimination claims.

Mr. Muñoz is currently a member of the California State Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (“COPRAC”) where the Committee interprets and issues opinions regarding legal ethics and the California Rules of Professional Conduct. Mr. Muñoz also serves as an arbitrator for the State Bar’s Mandatory Fee Arbitration program.

Mr. Muñoz previously served as the Chair for the Legal Malpractice Law Advisory Commission for the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization responsible for preparing and grading the legal malpractice law legal specialization examination as well as assessing the qualifications of potential applicants seeking the legal malpractice specialization designation and recertification.

View William A. Muñoz's Legal Malpractice Expert Witness Profile.

Dr. Farr Ajir, MD, MBA, FACS, CIME, is a Board Certified Neurosurgeon with more than 35 years of experience in the treatment of disorders of the Brain, Spine, and Peripheral Nerves. He is also certified by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners.

Dr. Ajir has been staff neurosurgeon at Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Systems.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS),  Congress of Neurological Surgeons, and California Association of Neurological Surgeons. He is a Certified Physician Executive (CPE) with many years of leadership and administrative experience in healthcare delivery.

Litigation Support - As an expert neurosurgeon with decades of experience, Dr. Ajir offers services to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant. He is certified by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (CIME), performs IMEs, and provides expert reviews and medical-legal opinions. Dr. Ajir holds medical licenses in California, Montana, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin, and Utah. 

Areas of Expertise: 

Brain

Spine

Non-Surgical Orthopaedics, P.C. was established in 1993. Specializing in Spine Care and Pain Management, the practice has developed into one of the premier non-surgical orthopaedic practices in the southeast, and an industry leader for the non-invasive treatment of back and neck pain. Non-Surgical Orthopaedics P.C. offers a wide variety of Non-Surgical options to Treat Pain and Musculoskeletal Injuries. Their goal is to eliminate pain with a strong emphasis on injury prevention and rehabilitation. Services include:

• Pain Management
• Orthopaedic & Sports Injuries
• Workers’ Compensation
• Auto Injuries
• IME's & Disability Evaluations

Video: Non-Surgical Orthopaedics, P.C. | The Overview

Arnold J. Weil, MD has over 29 years of experience specializing in Non-Surgical Orthopaedics and Pain Management. A Diplomat of the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Chief Executive Officer of Non-Surgical Orthopaedics, P.C., one of the premier orthopaedic practices in the metro Atlanta area. 

Dr. Weil's practice focuses on conservative, non-surgical care of orthopaedic injuries, including the spine and extremities, with emphasis on spine rehabilitation, functional restoration, pain management, and ergonomic modifications. He treats patients with back and neck pain and a variety of other orthopaedic conditions. Focusing on acute and chronic pain management through an advanced Non-Surgical approach, 

Dr. Weil has become one of the leading experts on Spine Care and Disability Management. Dr. Weil has been a Clinical Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. An active lecturer, Dr. Weil speaks nationally and internationally on the nonsurgical management of back and neck pain as well as new advances in pain management. He also provides practice management to small-medium sized medical practices.

View Dr. Weil's Expert Witness Profile.

• Thoracic Surgery - The surgical treatment of diseases affecting the heart, lungs, and other organs within the thorax (chest).
• Vascular Surgery - The surgical management of diseases of the vascular system (arteries and veins), including standard surgical and minimally-invasive (endovascular) techniques.
• Non-invasive Vascular Testing
• Management of Venous disease - Radiofrequency ablation, microphlebectomy and sclerotherapy for venous insufficiency and varicose vein disease.