Schools Expert Witnesses: 8

Dr. Erika Simmons’ work as a Certified Life Care Planner is distinguished by more than 20 Years of experience in Education, Special Education, and Educational Leadership, combined with doctoral-level training and real-world systems oversight. This background uniquely positions Dr. Simmons to serve as both a life care planning professional and a credible expert witness, particularly in cases involving children, adolescents, and young adults with educational, behavioral, and developmental needs.

As a former principal, district director, and adjunct professor in special education, Dr. Simmons brings an applied understanding of how services are designed, delivered, documented, and evaluated within public and private educational systems. This enables her to develop life care plans that are not only comprehensive, but realistic, evidence-based, and aligned with how supports are actually implemented in schools and related service environments.

Dr. Simmons’ expertise in IEP Development, Functional Behavior Assessments, MTSS, and Progress Monitoring allows her to clearly articulate educational and behavioral needs in a manner that withstands legal scrutiny. She is able to explain complex educational concepts, service delivery models, and future support needs in clear, accessible language for judges, juries, and attorneys—bridging the gap between educational practice and legal standards.

Areas of Expertise:

• Forensic review of educational records, evaluation of IEP development and implementation, and analysis of progress monitoring practices to determine whether students were provided a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
• Examination of the legal and procedural integrity of Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA), Behavioral Intervention Plans, accommodations, and related services, assessing alignment with statutory requirements and established professional standards.

Having served in leadership roles responsible for compliance, program evaluation, and assessment at the district level, Dr. Simmons understands the legal and regulatory frameworks governing special education and related services. This perspective strengthens her expert testimony by grounding opinions in established standards, data-driven decision-making, and accepted professional practices.

In expert witness settings, Dr. Simmons is experienced in reviewing records, identifying service gaps, projecting future educational and functional needs, and supporting opinions with documentation, research, and professional standards. Her testimony reflects a balanced, objective approach rooted in professional experience, methodological rigor, and a clear understanding of the long-term educational and life impacts of injury or disability.

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.

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. 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:

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.

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.

Dr. Jane K. McNaught, PhD is a locally and nationally recognized Forensic Psychological Expert specializing in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with adults and children. Over the course of her more than 35 years of practice, she has worked with both Defense and Plaintiff attorneys and has also been a Court appointed expert.

Dr. McNaught has administered more than 1700 psychological test batteries and testified on over 500 occasions as a forensic expert in the areas of: Civil, Criminal, and Family Law. She also provides trial consultation for attorneys. Dr. McNaught has  been qualified and testified as an expert in PTSD, for both the U.S. Army as well as the U.S. Navy. In addition she has testified as an expert in both District and Federal court. Dr. McNaught practices in the areas of Civil, Criminal, and Family Law cases involving trauma to both adults and children.

In the Civil area, Dr. McNaught is frequently hired as an expert when there are allegations of Emotional Damages involving Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Dr. McNaught has been hired in cases of alleged sexual misconduct within institutional settings such as: Schools, Churches, Treatment Centers, Hospitals, Residential Centers for the Handicapped, Jails and other Police alleged violations.

The following are cases where Dr. McNaugth has been an expert:  PTSD cases involving veterans;  injuries related to Motor Vehicle Injuries/Death; Dog Bite; Amputation; Burns; and Electrocution. Dr. McNaught has also been an expert in  Medical Malpractice Cases,Wrongful Death, and Infant Death cases. Employment Law Experience in cases  involving Age or Sexual Harassment where PTSD is alleged. 

In the Criminal area, Dr. McNaught is hired by both the Prosecution as well as Defense in cases involving Sexual Misconduct. She also conducts evaluations of Defendants in criminal cases where Underlying Psychological Conditions may impact sentencing. She has also  been obtained as an expert to evaluate the reliability of statements obtained from alleged victims of sexual assault. When doing so, Dr. McNaught addresses the following: Recantation, Memory Research, and the Standard of Care for Interviewing Victims of Sexual Assault. 

In the area of Family Law, Dr. McNaught specializes in High Conflict Divorce and and provides consultation in issues related to:  Relocation; Endangerment; Factitious Disorder by Proxy; Parental Capacity; and Parental Alienation. Dr. McNaught is also frequently obtained as an expert to critique other evaluator's reports.

View Dr. McNaught's Consulting Profile.

Dr. Randy Atlas AIA , CPP is a Registered Architect, NCARB certified, and he practices Criminal Justice Architecture and Environmental Security Design. Atlas is a certified protection professional (CPP) with the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), and is an appointed member of the ASIS Security Architecture and Engineering Committee. Atlas has his doctorate in criminology and a masters of architecture. Dr Atlas is a Fellow  member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Dr. Atlas has taught CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design) and criminal justice courses at Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Miami, Keiser University, and he is a trainer with the National Crime Prevention Institute at the University of Louisville. Dr. Atlas has been a technical Assistance consultant with the National Institute of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, and the Florida Department of Corrections and U.S. HUD Drug Elimination CPTED Program.

He has conducted ADA accessibility compliance audits for private and public sector clients, and served as an expert witness on over 200 premises liability lawsuits.

Dr. Atlas has been a speaker and trainer at security conferences from New Delhi, India to Seattle, Washington and has written over 200 articles in various publications on security, safety, and counter terrorism issues.