Janet Dolan is a Registered Nurse and Certified Nurse Life Care Planner with extensive clinical experience now specialized in Life Care Planning and Medical Cost Projections in both the defense and plaintiff arenas.

After 25 years of practice in Critical Care and Cardiac Nursing, Jan entered the medical-legal arena. She began as an in-house Legal Nurse Consultant. She started her own Nurse Consulting business in 2014 and specializes in Nurse Life Care Planning and Medical Cost Projections

My childhood dream was to be Perry Mason. Always up for a fight, always got the last word, solving puzzles and winning. I initially went into nursing thinking that it would make me a unique applicant to law school.

When the time came, I decided to pursue graduate education in nursing. I earned my BSN and MSN degree with honors from the University of Pennsylvania; my work at Penn reinforced a strong work ethic and core values my family taught me.

From the start of my varied nursing career, I held consulting positions developing healthcare programs and speaking at seminars. This led me to a nurse manager position in a rehabilitation hospital involving business development and marketing, which I loved, and where I developed business skills.

While I was home having babies, I stumbled on a brochure for a seminar on legal nurse consulting and thought this would be a great niche for me since it added a little Perry Mason to my nursing skills. It worked.

I kept current clinically through working in Home Care and attending seminars. In my first experience as an expert witness, my report resulted in a $500,000 settlement. I was hooked.

I joined the American Association for Legal Nurse Consultants and eventually became their President and earned the credential Legal Nurse Consultant, Certified. This prestigious credential was earned by meeting an experience requirement and passing a rigorous test administered by the American Legal Nurse Consultant Certification Board.

I love being in business and I love being a legal nurse. The best things about legal nursing for me are the combination of nursing, medicine, and the law; the flexibility of an independent practice; and that every case presents a new and different challenge.

This profession has opened doors for me to develop personally and professionally, to give back to the profession I so love, and to be a little like Perry Mason.

Darren Penn is an Atlanta trial lawyer who handles a wide variety of tort and business litigation in state
and federal courts across the United States. His practice ranges from medical malpractice, extensive
products liability, trucking and auto collisions, wrongful death to business tort, entertainment and
intellectual property cases.

Darren began his career in 1994 as a trial lawyer for the State Farm Insurance Companies. His cases
included automobile accidents, premises liability, intentional torts, fire claims, theft claims,
homeowners’ claims, insurance bad faith, and coverage disputes. While at State Farm, he tried well over
a hundred bench and jury trials as lead counsel.

After leaving State Farm in 1997, Darren was a founding member of Penn & Pate LLP where he built a
successful trial practice exclusively representing plaintiffs in a variety of personal injury and business tort
litigation. His extensive experience with the insurance industry was pivotal in the development of a highly
successful practice, and in 2000 he merged his practice into the firm that became known as Scherffius,
Ballard, Still & Ayres LLP.

After six great years with that firm, Darren and two other partners formed Harris Penn Lowry LLP in 2006.
The firm successfully litigated and secured more than $750 million in verdicts and settlements, secured
seven number-one verdicts in Georgia, achieved more eight-figure verdicts than any other firm in the
state over the ten years the firm was in practice and was the only firm to be inducted twice into the Daily
Report’s “Georgia Verdicts Hall of Fame.”

Most recently, Darren formed his latest adventure in the practice of law, Penn Law LLC. Founded on his
passion for representing injured persons against formidable opponents as well as his determination to
take complex cases to trial and win, Darren has one goal in mind: to make a difference in the lives of his
clients.

Always taking a creative and passionate approach to his cases, he gives each one his very best and that
effort is reflected in his results. Over the years, he has attained hundreds of favorable verdicts for his
clients, influenced critical changes in safety regulations, legislation, and manufacturing and business
practices in this country, which have positively impacted the lives of countless families, consumers and
business owners.

Darren is past President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA), a member of the Board and
past Chair of the Georgia State Bar’s General Practice & Trial Law Section– known as “Georgia’s Largest
Law Firm,” the past Chair of the Civil Justice PAC of Georgia where he still serves on the Board, served
several years as Legislative Chair or Co-Chair for GTLA, is a long-time member of GTLA’s Executive
Committee, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and served as Co-Chair of the popular Auto Torts
Seminar for more than ten years.

He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta Bar Association, Georgia Trial Lawyers
Association, Lawyers Club of Atlanta, American Association for Justice, Leader’s Forum, American Bar
Association, Southern Trial Lawyers Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, AIEG, and
Gridiron.4200 Northside Parkway, NW, Building One, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30327
(404)961-7655 Telephone/Fax www.pennlawgroup.com

Darren is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell, is consistently named to the peer-nominated Super Lawyers
list of distinguished practitioners in Georgia, Georgia Trend magazine’s Legal Elite, the Top 100 Trial
Lawyers in America and Georgia, a Million Dollar Advocate, Multi-Million Dollar Advocate and is a
frequent speaker at CLE seminars on topics related to trial tactics, case investigation, legal theory, auto
cases, trucking cases, road defects, products liability, insurance, subrogation and liens, commercial
disputes, evidence, medical malpractice, discovery, mediation and settlement, jury selection/voir dire,
opening statements, closing arguments, pre-trial motions, post-trial motions, appeals. He is a member of
the Verdicts Hall of Fame and has received awards for his service and dedication to the civil justice
system, including the “Civil Justice Award.”

An avid Georgia Bulldogs fan, Darren earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University
of Georgia where he served as Executive Articles Editor of the Georgia Journal of International and
Comparative Law and participated in the Moot Court.

Darren lives in Atlanta with his wife Laura, six children, Taylor, Tori, Wade, Hayes, Thomas and Henley
and four dogs, Hughie, Sammie, Shasta and Coco. When not working for the benefit of his clients, he can
most often be found cheering his kids on at any number of sporting events, coaching youth football,
participating in school activities, or enjoying the outdoors with his family.

Breean Walas is a trial lawyer with a passion for justice and protecting the constitutional rights of all persons. While she primarily serves as a behind-the-scenes brief writer for other trial lawyers, she isn’t afraid to step into the courtroom to try the case. Breean recently tried the first post-Covid civil trial in the District of Montana, Butte Division courthouse. During that trial, she learned effective ways to try a lawsuit while maintaining the social distancing necessary to protect jurors, witnesses, litigants, lawyers, and the courtroom staff from potential exposure to Covid-19.

It also provided an opportunity to see how technology and the use of alternative rooms for sidebars should continue to be used as we move forward in trying cases. Breean started Walas Law Firm in 2014, and maintains an office in North Little Rock, Arkansas and Bozeman, Montana. More information regarding her trial experience and practice is available at www.walaslawfirm.com. Breean is the incoming Vice President for the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association, and is active in the American Association for Justice serving on the amicus committee and as a member of the LGBT and Women’s Caucuses. Outside of the courtroom, Breean enjoys fly fishing, hiking with her wife and German Shepherd, and exploring our National Parks.

Author of the “Litigating Bus Crash Cases” chapter of the West Publishing treatise
Litigating Truck Accident Cases, Robert is also the Past Chair of the AAJ Trucking Litigation
Group, Past Founding Chair of the AAJ Bus Litigation Group, Past Chair of the AAJ Motor
Vehicle Collision, Highways and Premises Liability Section and served as 2021 Chair of the
Board of Regents of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys.

Robert serves as a Member of the Board of Regents of the Academy of Truck Accident
Attorneys and is Secretary of the AAJ TBI Litigation Group.

A prosecutor and litigator for many years, Robert has tried truck and bus cases for
over four decades from coast to coast, served as plaintiffs’ class counsel in multiple death
bus/truck crash cases, and served as court-appointed plaintiffs’ class counsel with Irving
Younger in the first mass tort, wrongful death class action in the US — the Kansas City
Hyatt Skywalk Disaster — representing 113 wrongful death cases and hundreds of injury
cases.

Robert maintains an active trial docket in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio and California in
state and federal courts. He has tried cases in several states.
Having served for several years on the Texas State Bar Disciplinary Committee,
Robert served as Chair of that committee and serves as an expert witness on lawyer ethics
and attorney fees. He also served as the State Bar of Texas Trial Rules Sub-Committee
Chair.

A Diplomate and past member of the Board of Trustees of the National College of
Advocacy, Robert created and served as course advisor of the AAJ Trucking Litigation Skills
College, and he has served as Course Advisor for the AAJ Jazz Fest Seminar and various
seminars for AAJ, the State Bar of Texas, and the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys.
Robert lectures and teaches regularly about traumatic brain damage and trucking cases
around the country

Trial Consultant:

Katherine James is a trial consultant who specializes in live communication skills based in the discipline of theatre, Katherine James has been working to make attorneys and witnesses better courtroom communicators since 1977. Over 40,000 attorneys have taken ACT of Communication™ workshops that she developed with co-founder Alan Blumenfeld. She has helped take over 2,500 matters to trial and helped prepare literally thousands of witnesses, including experts of every stripe. She coaches witnesses and their lawyers to reach, persuade and activate jurors. She has taught for AAJ (formerly ATLA) ABTL, ABA, NITA, DRI, CICA as well as many private law firms and bar associations.

Over 40,000 lawyers have taken her workshops. Over the past 15 years more have purchased her Online/DVD series “What Can Lawyers Learn From Actors?™”. She has just released another Online CLE – “How To Make Your Witness A STAR” encapsulating her unique witness preparation system. She has also developed “GoodLawyer/BadLawyer™ Hats” for attorneys to use in witness preparation. She has been widely published and her articles can be read in the Knowledge Tank on the ACT of Communication™ website.

She and her co-founder and husband, Alan Blumenfeld, are proud members of The American Society of Trial Consultants. She is an active theatre artist who performs and directs regularly and is writing a new musical based on a plaintiff’s case she worked on: “Headcase”. She holds a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University and an MFA from The American Conservatory Theater.

Her older son, Jordan Blumenfeld-James, is a plaintiff’s lawyer with Simon Greenstone, Panatier. Her younger son, Nathan Blumenfeld-James is the Founder and Executive Director of BLKMKTMUSIC, composing original music and supplying music to the film and television industry.

For a list of clients, testimonials and organizations with whom Katherine has worked please click here.

Author:

AAJ Press has published their first book on Witness Preparation. They chose ACT of Communicationtm’s Katherine James to write this book.

After over 40 years of working with lawyers and their witnesses, Katherine has codified her approach in a ground-breaking system in her book, HARVESTING WINTESSES’ STORIES: How to get your client the Second Best Life in the World by Maximizing Human Damages. Divided into two sections, TALES and TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES, Katherine offers stories of actual clients and their cases. Each story presents the unique challenges of particular people and how Katherine, working with the attorney, finds ways to help, adjust and fix “the problem”. Tools and techniques based in the craft of the actor, writer and director—as well as rooted in the study of how people learn and process information—are employed to maximum effect.

The second section, identifies and goes into more depth about the tools and techniques Katherine has adapted for the particular needs of the lawyers and their witnesses. One of the lessons for lawyers is that while a particular case might not be in your “area” of practice, the application of the tools and techniques can be used in all kinds of cases for all kinds of witnesses.

Actor:

Katherine James and Alan Blumenfeld will be performing The Gin Game in the fall of 2018 at the Sierra Madre Playhouse, which Katherine is excited to return to after completing her run as the iconic Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, directed by Christian Labano, and her performance as Dorothea in Eleemosynary, written by Lee Blessing in 2016.

Katherine and Alan, with Christian Lebano directing, mounting a new production of The Gin Game in 2019 at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. It was selected as a LA Times Critic’s Pick and their work was highly praised.

In 2014 and 2015, Katherine played Capulet and “Sister” Laurence in Mine is Yours Theatre Company’s R&J, a gender-reversed production of Shakespeare’s classic, Romeo and Juliet.

In 2013, Katherine shared the stage with Alan Blumenfeld in renowned author Joyce Carol Oates’ play, Tone Clusters, as Emily Gulick.

During the summer of 2012, at the Theatricum Botanicum, Katherine played Nurse Guinness in Heartbreak House to much critical acclaim.

Katherine has also acted in several play readings as part of her longtime collaboration with the Seedlings Group at the Theatricum Botanicum, including Tiffany Antone’s Twigs and Bone in 2009 and Hoyt Hilsman’s Family Values in 2007. Katherine’s involvement in the Seedlings Group has sharpened her awareness of her surroundings and talents as an actor.

Playwright:

Katherine is currently working on two scripts that are ready to be workshopped: Willing Suspension of Disbelief and Teatro Boscobel – a political romance that echoes the comedies of Shakespeare as it explores the fine line of commerce and art. She is also working on first drafts of Head Case – A Dark Musical About Justice and Just Visiting.

Amongst Katherine’s many full-length and 10-minute plays that are ready for production is Olympus, an exploration of the mythology of motherhood using Greek myth and music. Olympus has enjoyed its first workshop production and is ready for its first production, along with Love Through The Cracks Of Time, Common Ground, Little Pink Lies, and Play for Jimmy; a semi-autobiographical comedy about coming-of-age in the theater as a 17-year-old during the summer of 1969.

Katherine’s plays have been selected and featured in many festivals across the US in recent years, including Zero-Six-Two-Eight, which was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Little Black Dress Ink Female Playwrights Onstage Festival, The Plan which was presented at the Hall Pass Festival and was a semi-finalist in the 2016 Little Black Dress Ink Female Playwrights Onstage Festival and in May of 2018, will be a part of The NYU Youth Theatre Ensemble production of Hall Pass. Other festivals have included her plays Love Through The Cracks of Time, which kicked-off the seventh annual Summer Playwrights Festival in 2016 at The Road Theatre Company, The Old Salt, which was a finalist in the 2014 and 2015 Little Black Dress Ink Female Playwrights Onstage Festival, and She Says, She Says, which was produced at the 2012 Little Black Dress Ink Female Playwrights Onstage Festival.

Director:

In the fall of 2017, Katherine directed Ashes to Ashes, written by Debbie Bolsky. Presented by The Athena Cats, a collective of Southern California female playwrights and directors, the madcap romantic comedy opened as a visiting production at the Odyssey Theatre and enjoyed a highly celebrated holiday run.

Katherine directed a series of 10 minute plays for The Athena Cats New Works Festival in the spring of 2017 as well as several entries for Little Black Dress Ink in the past several years.

Katherine has also directed several play readings at Theatricum Botanicum, Jonathan Goldberg’s How to Shoot a Bullmoose in 2009, Henry Murray’s Monkey Adored in 2008, and Tira Palmquist’s Lost Nation in 2007.

And directed plays for Free Association Theatre including, Sholem Aleichem: Laughter and Tears and Ellen Terry.

Artistic Director:

Katherine James is the artistic director of Free Association Theatre. Founded in 1977, Free Association Theatre unites powerful, compelling stories with the richness of live performance to uncover dramatic insights and truths, and the intrinsic comedy of it all for both audiences and actors to enjoy.

LAFPI

Katherine is a proud member of Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative. The movement is dedicated to the concept “50/50 by 2020” – 50% of new plays produced, written by women by 2020. As a national organization, there are FPI’s springing up all over America.

Katherinejamesplays.com

Katherine’s website will give you a fuller understanding of her work as a theatre artist. Click here to visit her website.

In the early 1990’s Ben served in United States Army Intelligence. Following two years of Arabic studies at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, he was an Arabic Linguist in Fort Gordon, near Augusta, Georgia. Upon completion of military service, he attended Augusta State University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1999 with a degree in Political Science.

After receiving his undergraduate degree, Ben worked as a disability advocate representing Social Security applicants in hearings before federal judges. His six years of concentrating on medical issues enables him to give clients a better understanding of the issues surrounding their injuries and how the injuries will affect their ability to work.

Ben graduated Cum Laude with a Juris Doctorate from Georgia State in 2005. While in law school Ben was active in Jessup International Moot Court Competition and was the president of the International Law Society. Ben has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since passing the bar examination in 2005.

After graduating from law school, Ben worked for a law firm where he represented insurers and employers in workers’ compensation and liability cases. In 2008 he began representing injured clients while working for a private law firm in Sandy springs before opening his personal practice.

Dr. Alan Maloon is a Board Certified Neurologist. Dr. Maloon completed his residency in both internal medicine and neurology at the Johannesburg General Hospital South Africa. He then completed a three-year neurology fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA. Dr. Maloon has been in practice as a neurologist since 1989.

His areas of interest include chronic headache, multiple sclerosis, seizures. He also treats conditions such as chronic neck and back pain, and chronic fibromyalgia. He also sees patients who have chronic Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and memory impairment. Dr. Maloon is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, American Medical Association, and American Headache Foundation.

Kelsey C. Burke is an Attorney at Felice, Ehrlich & Naparstek. She is fluent in Spanish and represents clients in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, auto negligence, premises liability, and work-related accidents.

Ms. Burke was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and moved to Florida at the age of 10 years old. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Communications and a minor in Sociology from Florida Atlantic University as a Bright Futures Scholarship Recipient while working full-time.

In 2012, Ms. Burke started law school at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College of Law in Orlando, Florida. As a law student, she served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Fay L. Allen and Research Associate in Constitutional Law. She was also a member of the International Environmental Moot Court Team. During law school, Ms. Burke worked as a legal research intern for LatinoJustice PRLDEF, which protects opportunities for all Latinos.

In 2017, Ms. Burke was one of thirty attorneys in Florida selected as a fellow in the Florida Bar Wm. Reece Smith, Jr. Leadership Academy, Class V.

Ms. Burke has been recognized by LatinoJustice PRLDEF with their inaugural Rising Star Award, which honors individuals who champion and embody diversity and Latino advancement. She is also a recipient of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County Giraffe Award, for her time and efforts to make a difference for women in the workplace and in the community.

Ms. Burke served as the 2020 President of the Palm Beach County Hispanic Bar Association. To get in touch with Ms. Burke, contact us at (561) 444-8822.

BAR ADMISSIONS

Florida, 2015

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, 2016

U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, 2016

EDUCATION

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, 2010 | Bachelors of Arts

Florida A&M College of Law, Orlando, Florida, 2015 | Juris Doctorate

Research Associate in Constitutional Law

LANGUAGES

Spanish

HONORS & AWARDS

LatinoJustice PRLDEF Rising Star, 2016

El Sol Legal Volunteer of the Year, 2017

Young Professional Giraffe Awards Recipient, 2017

The Public Service Leadership Award, 2019

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

The Florida Bar

American Association for Justice

Palm Beach County Hispanic Bar Association – President, 2020

Palm Beach County Justice Association – Young Lawyers Section (YLS) Board Appointee, 2016

Florida Association for Women Lawyers – Palm Beach County Chapter

Palm Beach County Bar Association – Young Lawyers Section (YLS) Board Member; Law Week Committee Chair, 2017 – Present

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT / VOLUNTEER

El Sol Jupiter’s Neighborhood Resource Center

Lake Worth High School Dollars for Scholars Alumni Association

Quantum House

Women’s Chamber of Palm Beach County