Law Related Specialties Expert Witnesses: 20

William (Ned) McLeod, Esq., has been a party to many Licensing Arrangements as an attorney specializing in Intellectual Property in the Entertainment Industry (“IP”), both on the licensor and the licensee side of the table, in different matters from hard media historical archives to blockchain based creations, and, as a non-attorney producer, both as owner / licensor and, alternately, as user / licensee.

As an entertainment attorney for more than 30 years, Mr. McLeod has personally negotiated hundreds of licenses, and reviewed and evaluated hundreds more. He has studied or taught over 400 hours of Continuing Legal education courses, from historical copyright status analysis to blockchain mechanisms, dissecting project content as different as movie scripts and royalty contracts. Mr. McLeod has designed a college course curriculum for international university students entering the resort and theme park entertainment fields. His handling of licenses have covered a broad scope of venues and clientele, including:

The Rockefeller Center (NYC), the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and The Navy Pier (IL), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (TX, with 8 associated museums), Graceland (TN), Niagara Falls (NY), The Smithsonian, the Kennedy Space Center (FL), Port of Los Angeles (CA), National Harbor (DC), Leadership Conference of Women Religious (“Catholic Sisters,” MD), the Tupperware Center (FL), Gatorland (FL), the Orlando Ballet (FL), Bob Ross (painter), Cousteau family ventures, 7 years of the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade (live and televised), and others.

Areas of Expertise:

Litigation Support - In Ned McLeod's 40 year capacity as producer, consultant, or attorney, he has negotiated, constructed, analyzed, attacked, or defended hundreds of business entertainment contracts, licenses, and litigation claims; and served as either consultant or expert witness on such matters.

As counsel (or, on occasion for a personal project, as producer), Mr. McLeod has obtained and operated licenses regarding Content, Properties, Brands, Venues, Likeness, Life Story, etc.) from Universal Music, Walt Disney Company, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, SONY, the Getty Images, Warner Bros. Music, TED Talks, Discovery Channel, ABC News, The Cousteau Society, Ford Motor Company, the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Collection, National Geographic, Jerry Lewis Films, The Beach Boys, Irving Berlin Music, Estate of Marvin Hamlisch, Richard Petty, Random House Books, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, the United States Air Force, NASA, Estate of Yuri Gagarin, Arkham House Books, and others.

Mr. McLeod has been the expert consultant and reviewer for licensing documents litigated against major industry icons SONY Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, National Enquirer, Mad Magazine, and others involving the review of thousands of pages of licenses from domestic and international records. In songs alone, Mr. McLeod has licensed hundreds regarding films, musicals, and film clips.  

View Ned McLeod's Consulting Profile.

David Wolowitz, JD is an Education Law Attorney with over 45 years of extensive experience advising schools and youth-serving organizations on the standard of care for the protection of minors from harm by educators and other trusted adults.

Expert Witness: Mr. Wolowitz serves as an expert witness nationally for plaintiffs and defendants on the current and historical standard of care for child safeguarding in schools and youth-serving organizations. He has been qualified as an expert on the adequacy of policies, procedures, investigations, and remediation, relating to the protection of minors. He has also provided expert opinions on the adequacy of employment practices, including hiring, training, and supervision. These cases have involved claims against teachers, administrators, coaches, mental health professionals, and religious advisors. Issues in these matters often involve whether the employer should have recognized red flags indicating misconduct so that the harm could have been prevented. 

Mr. Wolowitz has followed social science research and other literature about preventing and responding to child sexual abuse since the 1970s. He is able to testify about the evolution of the standard of care for child protection measures from the 1970s to the present.

Litigation Support: Mr. Wolowitz is also able to serve as a consulting expert. Mr. Wolowitz has significant civil and criminal trial experience in federal and state trial and appellate courts in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He was an invited guest instructor of the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School for 29 years.

 Areas of Expertise  

View David Wolowitz's Consulting Profile.

George Zeitler, MSc, has over 30 years of experience in the Marine Industry in various regulatory, management, and consulting roles. He is an Accredited Marine Surveyor (Y&SC) by the Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors and a Member of the International Institute of Marine Surveying.

Background Experience - Mr. Zeitler served 18 years as a USCG Marine Inspector / Casualty Investigator, and 7 years as a Class Society principal surveyor (DNV).  He then spent 1 year as VP of Operations for a niche cruise line. Mr. Zeitler went on to serve 5 years as a technical consultant for various segments of the marine industry, including 2 years as third party environmental auditor for criminal pollution cases. He has been an Accredited Yacht and Small Craft Surveyor for over 15 years. 

In 2002, Mr. Zeitler formed Zeitler Marine Services (ZMS), using his experience and knowledge to offer condition and valuation (pre-purchase and insurance) and damage survey services to the yachting and recreational boating communities in south Florida. He is currently the Director of the Chapman School of Seamanship Yacht and Small Craft survey course.

Litigation Support - Mr. Zeitler uses his vast experience verifying Compliance with Applicable Maritime Laws / Regulations through on site surveys and audits of client's vessels. His years of operational and regulatory enforcement help provide clients with a unique perspective that is key in identifying vulnerabilities onboard vessels as well as gaps in policies and procedures. He functions as a Court Appointed Monitor in situations where vessel operators are negotiating a plea agreement for a DOJ-approved Environmental Compliance Programs.

Areas of Expertise:

• Vessel Design and Construction
• Vessel Compliance with International and US Laws and Regulations
• Compliance with Federal and Voluntary (ABYC) Standards for Yachts and Small Craft
• Casualty Investigation
• Vessel Operations
• Cruise Ship Management, Operation, and Safety
• Environmental Compliance and Auditing

Larry Lowenthal is a nationally recognized Real Estate Expert Witness who has been retained by dozens of attorneys across the United States since 2003 to analyze failed or troubled real estate transactions. 

Based in North Central Florida, he is also retained to help with substantial commission or fee disputes.

Insurance Defense attorneys retain Larry when their broker clients are charged, while plaintiffs and their attorneys retain him when charging real estate brokers with improper conduct. 

Dong Wang, Esq. is an Expert Witness on Chinese Law and Lawyer with a current practicing certificate in China. He is an enrolled barrister and solicitor in New Zealand and Member of Arbitrators' and Mediators' Institute of New Zealand Inc.

Chinese Law Expertise: Divorce, child-support payment, dividing up relationship properties conveyance (including for foreign clients in China), validity of adoption, overseas property disposition, foreign exchange quota rule, Chinese civil procedural law, rules of conflict of laws, forum of non-conveniens, recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards or court decisions, criminal law (white collar crimes), intellectual property law - copy right, trademark infringements, patent litigations