Expert Witness · Civil Litigation
Expert opinions on human-trafficking identification standards and the credibility of survivor accounts — the indicators a reasonable actor was positioned to recognize, benchmarked against established international frameworks.
Retained in TVPA / TVPRA and related civil matters where liability turns on what was knowable, and on whether a survivor’s account can be believed.
What the recognized warning signs are, how they present in operational settings, and how my opinion maps to the “knew or should have known” standard.
How credible accounts of exploitation are produced, disclosed, and too often wrongly disqualified — grounded in the mechanics of trauma, memory, and disclosure rather than assumption.
Systemic identification failures assessed against national referral frameworks — the standards a competent actor is expected to meet.
My work sits where two systems meet: how trafficking is identified, and how the accounts of trafficked people are tested for belief. For fifteen years — in tribunals, in national policy, and in scholarship — I have examined how institutions decide whose account of harm counts as credible, and what follows when they decline to recognize it.
That is the same question a TVPA civil jury confronts. Liability for an institutional defendant rests on whether it knew or should have known. Proving “should have known” requires someone who can state, with rigor, which indicators were present, what a competent actor would have seen, and why a survivor’s account holds together even where it is imperfect.
I provide assessments, written reports, declarations, and testimony that are clear, defensible on cross, and anchored in established standards rather than impression.
Straightforward, retainer-based, and structured to respect your timeline.
A brief, no-charge call to confirm fit, identify the opinion the matter needs, and clear conflicts before anything begins.
Engagement on a retainer against an hourly rate. I review the record and frame the opinion against the governing standards.
A written report or declaration, with deposition and trial testimony as the matter requires. Clear, cross-ready, defensible.
Retain or consult
Available for civil litigation, including TVPA / TVPRA trafficking matters, and for case consultation and strategy. CV available on request.