2015 Annual Conference Speakers

DAVE RAPOPORT & ELLIE BARCZAK - Cross Examining Electronic Medical Records: An Update on EMR Discovery & Uses at Trial

David Rapoport is the founding and managing partner of Rapoport Law Offices, P.C. in Chicago.  In over 32 years as a full time plaintiff’s personal injury and wrongful death trial and appellate attorney he has won and collected numerous multimillion dollar jury verdicts and settlements for his clients. Dave is Board Certified* in Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys  Board Certified* in Medical Malpractice. Dave is also a fellow of the invitation only American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA); Martindale-Hubbell, has consistently ranked him AV® Preeminent; Thompson Reuters has designated him an Illinois “Super Lawyer” every year since the inception of the program; and AVVO rates Dave 10.0 Superb.

Currently Dave is serving as President of the National Board of Trial Advocacy and its parent organization the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification. He has been a leader of the movement to encourage board certification for trial lawyers for more than twenty years. Recently Dave wrote: "In this era of Wild West style minimally regulated lawyer advertising, it has never been more important for the public to have easy and reliable means of identifying members of the small fraction of practicing attorneys who truly have substantial experience trying cases. Board certification programs help consumers of legal services make more informed choices. Too many lawyers are out there claiming to have substantial trial experience when in truth they have never tried a case. Board certified trial lawyers have proven their substantial trial experience in ways the public can trust."
Mr. Rapoport earned his law degree with high honors in 1981 from Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago Kent College of Law, where he served on the law review. He is licensed to practice law in all federal and state courts in Illinois and Wisconsin; and has been admitted to practice law pro hac vice in at least ten other states. On July 14, 2000, Mr. Rapoport was sworn in and “duly admitted and qualified as an Attorney and Counselor of the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Dave Rapoport is a member of the President's Club and Leader's Forum of the American Association for Justice. He is also a member of the Injury Board and state trial lawyer associations in Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky. Mr. Rapoport is also a member of the invitation only Economic Club of Chicago.

 Ellie Barczak is a founder and principal of EMR/Discovery,  an Electronic Medical Record consulting firm that specializes in uncovering hidden data in the medical record. Ellie and her company strive to make the discovery process easier by simplyfing and analzying cumbersome patient medical records. Ellie is an expert in electronic  clinical workflows.

She began working at Epic Systems Corporation (the largest Electronic Medical Records system vendor) after finishing a degree in Politics and Government from Northwestern University. During her time at Epic, Ellie managed the installation of Epic's Clinical Documentation module which sits at the heart of the EMR and makes  up the majority of a patient's electronic record. Also while at Epic she subspecialized in Epic's use in prisons.

JOHN ROMANO Understanding Persuasion in Medical Malpractice Litigation & Trials & how to effectuate the Comparative Strategies of the “MMM-RULE” (Minimize Medical Minutia) & the “WMB-RULE” (Wrongdoing-Morality-Betrayal)----i.e., More Often Than Not for Plaintiff or Defense “IT AINT ABOUT THE MEDICINE”

John F. Romano is a senior partner in the West Palm Beach, Florida, law firm of Romano Law Group.  He is a former President of both the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and the Southern Trial Lawyers Associa­tion.  Mr. Romano is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.  He was chosen to Florida Trend Magazine’s 2006 and 2007 “Legal Elite” naming Florida’s top one percent of lawyers in various specialty areas.  He has served as former Chairman of the National College of Advocacy and former Chairman of the AAJ Criminal Law Section.  He is board certified by both the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a civil trial advocate.  He has lectured and authored exten­sively on trial advocacy, litigation techniques, demon­stra­tive evidence, and more.  He has authored several books, including the textbook Strategic Use of Circumstantial Evidence; The Deposition Field Manual, and Opening Statement: Winning the Jury.

Romano has received numerous awards, including recently the Al J. Cone Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Florida Justice Association, the Tommy Malone Golden Eagle Award presented by the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, and the Annual Clarence Darrow Award presented by Mass Torts Made Perfect.  He received the prestigious Perry Nichols Award presented by the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers (FJA) (as its highest honor) in 1997.  John Romano previ­ously served as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps.  John Romano lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, with his wife, Nancy.  Nancy and John have four children and ten grandchildren.   John and Nancy are the co-founders of Vive Verde, Inc., the entity which owns and developed the “world’s first living office building” – an environmental wonderland office building in South Florida which is “green” and “LEED-certified” and “living” (water purification systems).

JOHN P. BLUMBERG

John P. Blumberg has been practicing for 38 years, specializing in medical and legal malpractice cases. He is AV-rated, Board Certified as a Trial Lawyer by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Board Certified in Medical Malpractice by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys, and a Certified Specialist in Legal Malpractice by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He was accepted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in 1991 and has earned the rank of Advocate with over 50 jury trials to verdict. He serves on the ABOTA. National Board of Directors and also is the Parliamentarian on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. Mr. Blumberg has published over three dozen articles on advocacy and persuasion.

HEIDI BARCUS- TBD

Heidi A. Barcus, a London Amburn partner, has been involved in complex litigation involving the areas of professional negligence, medical defense, health care law, long term care, prison health and a wide range of insurance matters in Kentucky and Tennessee state and federal courts. She Co-Chairs the firm's Medical Malpractice Defense practice group and Chairs the Nursing Home and Long Term Care Defense practice group. She has successfully defended physicians, nurses, chiropractors, medical directors and midlevel providers in trial and mediation. She is certified as a specialist in Medical Malpractice by the Tennessee Commission on C.L.E. and Specialization and the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys.

DOMINIQUE A. POLLARA - Licensing Boards for Medical Professionals:  Questionable liability, consenting to settlements and what goes into the process.

 

 

 

RANDALL SCARLETT - Medical Negligence giving rise to brain injury

Mr. Scarlett is a President’s Club Member of the American Association for Justice and is a past Chair and current Board Member of the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Section of the American Association for Justice. Mr. Scarlett also serves as a member of the Leaders Forum of that organization. Mr. Scarlett is a member in good standing of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, the Western Trial Lawyers Association, the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association (out of state member), the Bar Association of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. In addition to having been nominated for Trial Lawyer of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (2006), Mr. Scarlett also serves on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (2007). Mr. Scarlett is a member of the Board of Directors and is past president of the BELLI SOCIETY. Mr. Scarlett is also Board Certified in the area of professional negligence and serves on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys (ABPLA). Mr. Scarlett is also a member of Public Justice, and is a member of the Academy of the Trial Advocacy.

EUGENE J. BROWN

Eugene Brown, Jr.’s practice emphasizes complex civil litigation, including products and premises liability, commercial, labor and employment, and environmental and toxic torts.  He has also defended public entities in actions alleging civil rights violations such as police excessive force, age and race discrimination, and sexual harassment.
Mr. Brown is an exceptional trial attorney, having successfully tried to verdict in excess of 100 complex actions in California, as well as in jurisdictions throughout the United States.  He has appeared before the Supreme Court of New York and the United States District Courts in New York, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi.  

DR. FRANZ FOGT

 

 

 

HARRY J. PLOTKIN- Understanding your juror's expectations about professionals... and what to do about them.

Harry Plotkin is a nationally-renowned jury consultant and leading voice in the field of juror decision-making, psychology, and persuasion. He specializes in the understanding of complex juror decision-making, assisting trial attorneys in jury selection and persuasive trial presentation, and has helped shape the outcome of hundreds of civil trials across the country. He consults on every kind of civil trial on the spectrum, from personal injury to commercial and employment trials on behalf of both employees and employers, plaintiffs and defendants, and individuals and businesses, but devotes most of his attention to representing plaintiffs

JEFFREY S. RAYNES - TBD

Mr. Raynes is among the most recognized trial lawyers in the United States.  He is one of approximately 500 attorneys currently admitted to the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and has been designated a “California Super Lawyer” every year since 2006.  Mr. Raynes has also been recognized by his peers, having been awarded both, the prestigious California Trial Lawyer of the Year by the American Board of Trial Advocates, and Trial Attorney of the Year by the Consumer Advocates Inland Empire Chapter.  With more than thirty-seven years of courtroom experience, Mr. Raynes has successfully achieved some of the largest complex injury verdicts and settlements in the state of California, including fifteen verdicts or arbitration awards in excess of one million dollars.  For examples of Mr. Raynes’s previous achievements, click here.

Mr. Raynes has been a presenter, guest speaker and/or faculty member for the National Inns of Court, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the San Bernardino and Riverside County Bar Associations, the Southern California Defense Counsel Association, and the Consumer Attorneys of California.  He has repeatedly participated as a Masters in Trial panelist and he has been a faculty member for national and international medical/legal seminars on more than twenty-five occasions in ten states and Canada.

FREDRICK H.L. MCCLUREI am not your lawyer... Oh yes you are! What steps to assure you are no longer the attorney of record.

Fred McClure is an experienced trial lawyer with a concentration in complex product liability, consumer protection, employment, commercial and insurance coverage, and bad faith single plaintiff and class litigation, having tried many such cases to verdict in both bench and jury trials as lead counsel.

In addition to his active trial practice, Fred maintains an active appellate practice, successfully arguing in multiple jurisdictions.

MIKE WOREL

Michael A. Worel has 32 years of experience in handling catastrophic personal injury cases and is a shareholder with Dewnsup, King & Olsen, the leading plaintiff’s trial firm in Utah. One of the nation’s premier plaintiff’s personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers, Mr. Worel's most recent jury verdict was $4 million dollars for a part time farm worker that was severely injured by an auger while digging post holes. The owner of the farm had instructed the day laborer to hold on to the auger as it was digging which was a violation of known safety standards.

LEE SCHLENDER- Scientific Reasoning & Methodology: Expert Testimony

 

 

 

DAVID E. BOYD

David's practice emphasizes defense of attorneys, accountants, insurance and real estate professionals, business litigation, and litigation involving engineering, architects and construction disputes. He is admitted to practice in California and has appeared before state and federal courts throughout the United States. David is certified as a specialist in legal malpractice law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He frequently serves as a judicial arbitrator, a settlement conference attorney, and a mediator. He has taught Advanced Torts at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and has written numerous articles for various legal journals, particularly in the areas of trial practice and ethics. David has been active in state and local bar activities including the Sacramento Bar Council, the Professional Responsibility Committee of the Sacramento County Bar Association, the Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct of the State Bar of California (COPRAC), Sacramento County Liaison to the State Bar Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct, the Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations, the American Bar Association and numerous trial lawyer organizations. David is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

 

BENNETT WASSERMANN - Legal Malpractice: Getting the most out of your Expert Witness

His practice focuses on the law governing lawyers, with emphasis on legal malpractice, professional ethics, lawyer advertising, billing disputes and the fiduciary duties of practicing lawyers. He has been involved in more than 1000 such cases, prosecuting, defending and consulting on substantial claims in these areas. Lawyers, Law Firms and Professional Liability insurance companies frequently call upon Ben to serve as their strategic consultant and expert witness on liability and causatlon issues in legal malpractice litigation. Public and private corporations seek him out when they have been damaged by the substandard legal representation in major commercial transactions and litigations. Several important reported court decisions in state and federal courts have cited Ben’s expert opinions as the basis for their decisions. He is credited with recently getting his client, a publicly traded corporation, one of the largest settlements against a major international law firm.

Since 1990, Ben has served as Special Professor of Law at Hofstra University School of Law, where he has taught a full semester course in Lawyer Malpractice. He has also been a guest lecturer at other law schools at home and abroad and has served on the faculty of continuing legal education programs in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Ben is the lead author of the New Jersey Law Journal’s Annual Review of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decisions in the areas of legal ethics and malpractice. He is the Editor of the Legal Malpractice Law Review, a popular internet based blog.