Expertise Description
I have more than 30 years experience in language-related civil and criminal cases. My expertise includes: forensic linguistics, meaning of contracts, disputed authorship, language libel, forgery, conspiracy, plagiarism, threat assessment, letters, emails, confessions, recorded speech, and sociolinguistics. I have consulted for the FBI and many other law enforcement agencies, as well as defense attorneys, Federal Public Defenders, and civil attorneys. I have over 25 years expert witness experience with consultations, deposition, and courtroom testimony.Areas of Expertise
Expert Witness
My expert witness experience includes: Evidence analysis in any type of case containing material language evidence; Trademarks; Meaning of contracts; Meaning of statutes; False and other invalid confessions; Intercepted communications in criminal and counter-terrorism cases; Murder-related letters; Perjury testimony; Letters threatening sitting judges and members of Congress; Courthouse bomb-threat calls; Solicitation to murder; Espionage; Bribery; General threatening communications.
Relevant Experiences
I specialize in the areas of word history (etymology), presentation in dictionaries (lexicography), base meaning (semantics) and use in context (pragmatics, sociolinguistics, dialect variation).
I have extensive experience in the question of genericness in trademarks, including being a linguist representing major tech companies, along with a number of other cases. I have scientifically analyzed the linguistic evidence, written reports and declarations, etc., been deposed, and testified at trial.
I also have extensive experience opposing Butters, who has often been given to, as the attorney gently puts it, presenting “his conclusion as stronger than the evidence suggests.” I have been on the opposing side from him in, I believe, some seven trademark cases, as well as in a triple homicide case.
Education
| Degree | Subject | Institution | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PhD | Linguistics | Columbia College | ||
| M.Phil | Linguistics | Columbia College | ||
| MA | Linguistics | Columbia College | ||
| BA | Sociology | Columbia College |
Licenses Certifications
| Qualified as an Expert in Linguistics in numerous state and federal courts. |
| Advanced Linguistic Training |
| Linguistic Society Institutes |
| Thai Language |
| American University Alumni Association |
Awards & Affiliation
Primary Affiliation
International Association of Forensic Linguists
Partial List of Consulting Expert Witness Cases
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