Expert Details
Legal, Business, Professional, Organizational, and Non-profit Ethics and Compliance; Harassment
ID: 725261
Virginia, USA
USAID sent him to the Republic of Mongolia twice to assist in the judiciary’s conversion to a U.S.-style ethics system. In addition to legal ethics training and consulting, he has worked as a trainer and consultant for Fortune 500 companies, colleges,, business schools, and associations of various professions, including actuaries, accountants, theater professionals, corporate board members and more. He serves as an ethics expert in various litigation.
One special area of expertise is in non-profit organization ethics, arising out of Expert's many years a board member, executive director, manager, general counsel and fundraiser for non-profit organizations devoted to the arts, public policy, legal services, and education. For two decades he has taught the legal ethics section at the Washington Non-Profit Legal and Tax Conference, and in many of those years the non-profit accounting sections as well. He also has presented ethics programs for the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and the United Way.
He is recognized as one of the foremost legal ethics teachers and commentators in the country, having launched award-winning seminars for bar associations, law firms, corporate legal departments, international legal departments, and legal staffs of federal agencies. He has also developed specialty programs focusing on specific areas of practice, such as criminal, real estate, intellectual property, bankruptcy, environmental law, administrative law, tax, insurance, prosecution, government law, estate planning, family law, energy, and government contracts.
Expert has written expert reports and been an expert witness in a variety of matters, including fee reasonableness and compliance with Rule 1.5, malpractice, and conflicts of interest. He reviews developments in legal ethics daily, and specializes in the comparative ethics of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions as well as specialty bars and the Federal Bar.
He has worked with such fortune 500 companies as Altria, the Gore Corporation, Phillip Morris and others, some in conjunction with the Ethics Resource Center, and non-profit organizations such as the United Way of America, to develop and present interactive, high-impact ethics training sessions that actually change employee conduct and identify areas of concern for management intervention. These programs covered ethics issues in executive and line management, international acquisitions, IT, personnel and human resources, disbursements, finance, research and development and legal. The Altria program was so successful that it formed the foundation of an entire over-haul of the company's compliance approach, and was "loaned out" to other corporations as well as modeled before the Compliance Officers Association.
He has created innovative sexual harassment training programs for government agencies, national associations, for-profit and non-profit organizations and corporations, usually using actors and interactive, challenging scenarios followed by discussion. His focus is on ethical conduct as opposed to pure legal compliance, and he includes principles of fairness, diversity and leadership. His seminars are known for engaging participants and receiving strong positive evaluations from all attendees.
He developed a series of training modules for the judiciary, prosecutors and defense lawyers of the Republic of Mongolia, implementing them in three visits to the capital 2004-2006.He worked with the Compliance and Integrity Department of Altria USA to develop the live training program ("The Compliance Zone") adapted to multiple departments throughout the corporate family. He developed innovating training programs in sexual harassment for the Pope Group, whose clients included the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon. He consulted with the DC Bar to overhaul its monthly training program for new admittees to the bar, developing a successful two hour monthly seminar that far exceeded the evaluations of of its predecessor. For the Inter-American Development Bank, he developed a special in-house training program to expose social inclusion problems among the staff.
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
---|---|---|---|
Year: 1975 | Degree: JD | Subject: Law | Institution: Georgetown University Law Center |
Year: 1972 | Degree: AB | Subject: American Government | Institution: Harvard College |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
---|---|---|---|
Years: 1997 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: President | Department: |
Responsibilities:He is the founder and president of this ethics training and consulting firm. He creates and teaches innovative ethics seminars for various professions, organizations and associations, including government agencies, universities, Fortune 500 businesses and bar associations, and consults with law firms, non-profits, government agencies and businesses on ethics issues. He also give ethics commentary in the media, and on his website, "Ethics Alarms." |
|||
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1994 to 2001 | Employer: The Halpern Group | Title: Director of Marketing | Department: Marketing |
Responsibilities:He designed marketing and advertising for the development of a litigation support organization, and was the strategic advisor to Pres. Richard Halpern on tactical, ethical and business development matters. |
|||
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1987 to 1994 | Employer: The Association of Trial Lawyers of America | Title: Director of Member Services | Department: Member Services |
Responsibilities:He was responsible for creating and developing a full range of member services and profit centers, including the Atla Exchange (research), the library, publications, video and audiotapes, meetings and conventions, Continuing legal educations, Sections and litigation groups, among others. |
|||
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1984 to 1986 | Employer: Healthfare USA | Title: President and CEO | Department: Headquarters |
Responsibilities:He engineered the successful transition of a national health fair organization into an entirely locally based regional operation. |
|||
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1979 to 1984 | Employer: The US. Chamber of Commerce | Title: Executive Director/Vice President | Department: National Chamber Foundation |
Responsibilities:He was responsible for designing, funding and operating public policy studies on topics of interest to the Chamber and its members, in the areas of product liability, transportation, education, the minimum wage, immigration, and Hispanic business, among others. |
|||
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1975 to 1979 | Employer: Georgetown University | Title: Director of Development/Assistant Dean | Department: The Law Center |
Responsibilities:He was responsible for developing the Law Center's first capital fundraising program as well as advising the Dean on various matters related to alumni and student affairs. |
Government Experience
Years | Agency | Role | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Years: 2010 to 2010 | Agency: EEOC | Role: Trainer, Legal Ethics | Description: He developed and taught the two hour seminar for the annual EEOC meeting. |
Years: 2000 to 2004 | Agency: FDIC; SEC | Role: Trainer, Legal Ethics | Description: He developed and taught the three hour seminar "Ethics and the Government Lawyer" for agency attorneys |
Years: 2001 to 2001 | Agency: Merit Protection Board | Role: Trainer, Legal Ethics | Description: He developed and taught the three hour seminar "Good Judgement: Ethics in the Balance" for agency judges. |
Years: 2000 to 2000 | Agency: U.S. Interior DEPT. | Role: Trainer, Legal Ethics | Description: He developed and taught the three hour seminar "The Exceptional lawyer" for agency judges. |
International Experience
Years | Country / Region | Summary |
---|---|---|
Years: to 2004 | Country / Region: Nigeria | Summary: For the International Bar Association, he developed and delivered an address on the value and use of rules of professional conduct. |
Years: 2004 to 2006 | Country / Region: Mongolia | Summary: Assisted USAID in its Judicial Reform Project for the Republic of Mongolia. |
Career Accomplishments
Associations / Societies |
---|
Member DC Bar (inactive); Massachusetts Bar (active). Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers |
Licenses / Certifications |
---|
Licensed to practice law MASS. (ACTIVE), DC (INACTIVE). |
Professional Appointments |
---|
Adjunct Professor of Legal Ethics, Washington College of Law, American University 2006-2008. |
Awards / Recognition |
---|
ACLEA Award for innovative CLE seminar ("The Sound of Ethics"). |
Publications and Patents Summary |
---|
Co-author of a book with Ed Larson (Pulitzer Prize-winning historian). 6 articles, 1 blog, 1 play, writer/editor of 5 pieces |
Additional Experience
Expert Witness Experience |
---|
He has written expert opinions on a variety of topics for law firms in Florida, Massachusetts, D.C., and Arizona, and has been listed as a testifying expert in two cases (none of which made it to court, and were settled.) A. D.C. Rule 5.4 firms, organization, and compliance B. Firm and individual lawyer consulting and opinion letters on fees, fee-splitting, experts, conflicts, professional standards, conflict of law, trial practice ethics, marketing, websites, unauthorized practice, more C. Expert witness on business codes of conduct, non-profit ethics, corporate governance ethics, employment ethics. |
Training / Seminars |
---|
He has created and taught over a hundred diverse and entertaining ethics seminars for over 20 bar associations, law firms, judicial groups, government agencies, non-profits, professional associations, accounting firms, large and small businesses and the Government of Mongolia. |
Other Relevant Experience |
---|
He is a lawyer, expert public speaker, professional writer, actor, and professional stage director. |
Fields of Expertise
legal ethics, attorney's fee, business ethics, compliance analysis, corporate compliance, corporate responsibility, medical ethics, nonprofit organization, organizational development, sexual harassment, harassment, motivation, professional sexual misconduct, adoption, advertising ethics, bioethics, business management, organizational behavior, human resources