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 Melissa Bailey, Partner, Copeland, Stair, Kingma and Lovell
Melissa represents her clients in complex trial and appellate litigation across Georgia and serves as the Chair of the CSKL Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Practice Group and Co-Chair of the General Liability Practice Group. A large portion of her practice focuses on coverage and bad faith issues, both advising clients in pre-suit matters and litigating those issues in courts statewide. Melissa also has an active general liability litigation practice with an emphasis on premises liability, wrongful death, and catastrophic injury claims. She has tried numerous cases and successfully represented her clients in appeals at all levels of Georgia state and federal courts.
Melissa recently completed a two year term as a barrister in the Joseph Henry Lumpkin Inn of Court. The Inn’s members, made up of judges and lawyers of distinguished experience, select ten barristers each year, seeking to identify lawyers in their first eight years of practice who possess the potential to move into the top echelon of the bar. The Inn focuses on fostering relationships between those who are both recognized as the ablest in the profession and also exhibit excellence in professionalism, ethics, and civility.
Since 2019, each year Melissa has been named on the Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star® list, an honor given to less than 2.5 percent of attorneys. She is an active member of The CLM, including serving on the Extra-Contractual Committee. She earned her Advanced Claims Professional designation from the CLM in 2018. Melissa is a frequent lecturer both in-house and at conferences on good faith claims handling and avoiding extra-contractual exposure.
Robert Cox, Shareholder, Glassman, Edwards, Wyatt, Tuttle & Cox, P.C.
Robert Cox is a shareholder in Glassman, Wyatt, Tuttle & Cox. He is a trial lawyer that leaves no stone unturned when helping his clients. Robert’s commitment to his clients goes beyond his passion and dedication during the litigation process. Not only does he help educate his clients on each step of a particular matter and evaluate the matter using his over 25 years of experience, he stands ready to go into the field whenever needed to give his clients the upper hand. Robert’s commitment may range from on the scene accident observation and investigation, to wearing work boots in many environments, to appearing before a jury to argue on behalf of his clients. Helping clients in the Tri State Area, Robert is licensed in and has tried lawsuits for clients in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. He regularly handles some of the firm’s largest matters, including complex transportation litigation, business litigation and contract review, serious personal injury and premises liability litigation, nursing home litigation, professional malpractice, and more. Robert is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell, the highest professional rating that can be achieved through peer ratings and reviews. He is also rated by Best Lawyer’s in America.
Jennifer Crow, Partner, Scheer.Law PLLC
Jennifer practices in the areas of construction defect, premises liability, personal injury, professional liability, insurance coverage, and commercial litigation. She maintains an active defense practice while also serving as coverage counsel for numerous insurance carriers. Jennifer is licensed to practice in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. She has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in both Oregon and Washington. Jennifer received her J.D. degree from the University of Oregon School of law in 2010. She received her B.S. in Finance from Oregon State University in 2005.
 Lars Daniel, Practice Leader - Digital Forensics, Envista Forensics
Lars is the co-author of the book Digital Forensics for Legal Professionals: Understanding Digital Evidence from the Warrant to the Courtroom, published by Syngess, an imprint of Elsevier Publishing. He is also co-author of the book Digital Forensics Trial Graphics: Educating the Jury Through Effective Use of Visuals, Published by Academic Press, 2017.
His forthcoming book, "The Attorneys Field Guide to Digital Forensics: Mobile Phones, will be released in the third quarter of 2021.
Lars is an EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE), a Cellebrite Certified Operator (CCO), a Cellebrite Certified Physical Analyst (CCPA), a Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist (CTNS), Certified Wireless Analyst (CWA), a Certified Internet Protocol Telecommunications Specialist (CIPTS), and a Certified Telecommunications Analyst (CTA).
He spoke at the largest and most prominent annual digital forensics conferences, the Computer Enterprise and Investigations Conference (CEIC), in 2011 and 2013, and the EnFuse Conference in 2016 and 2019.
Lars has qualified as an expert witness and testified in both state and federal courts, qualifying as a digital forensics expert, computer forensics expert, cell phone forensics expert, video forensics expert, and photo forensics expert. He has testified for both the defense and prosecution.
Lars has attended over 500 hours of forensic training and has worked on hundreds of cases involving murder, sexual exploitation, terrorism, rape, kidnapping, intellectual property, fraud, wrongful death, employee wrongdoing, and insurance losses, among numerous other types of cases.
He provides dozens of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and Continuing Education (CE) training classes for attorneys and claims professionals across the United States every year.
Curt DeVries, President, Fraudsniffr
Curt DeVries is a 32 year claim professional. He spent 20 years in a carrier context and 10 years managing TPAs for jurisdictions across the country in both W/C and general liability. In 2013, he launched his own company, Fraudsniffr. This company developed proprietary software to follow social media profiles of injured claimants for the life of the claim. He has been a pioneer in eliminating the “one and done” mentality from claims handling while simultaneously integrating claims management tools into the products he develops.
 Robert Edmondson, Discipline Lead, Civil/Structural Engineering, SEA Ltd.
Mr. Edmondson is a Senior Project Engineer, civil/structural, in the Atlanta, Georgia office performing examinations and evaluations of existing structures to determine the presence, extent and/or cause of damage to building components as a result of partial or full collapse, storm damage, water intrusion, fire, vibration, blasting, or other phenomena.
He provides investigation and consultation for a variety of projects including structure and building envelope failures, means of egress, code compliance, and potentially defective construction and design.
Mr. Edmondson has numerous years of experience in the structural engineering industry and possesses an extensive knowledge of building construction including structural steel, reinforced concrete, post-tensioned concrete, cold-formed steel, concrete masonry and load-bearing wood.
Mr. Edmondson has been a registered Professional Engineer since 1998 and holds licenses in numerous states. He received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from The Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from The University of the South.
He is a member of the American Welding Society (AWS), the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). He is listed with the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES).
Mr. Edmondson has provided expert testimony in several cases, including court testimony.
 Sarah Hansen, Partner, Burden, Hafner & Hansen, LLC
She is a litigator in Buffalo, New York who represents clients in the areas of trucking and automobile accidents, employment law, labor law, municipal law/governmental liability, premises liability, products liability and general negligence matters. Ms. Hansen handles cases throughout New York in both State courts and the Western and Northern District Courts of New York, including appellate practice before the New York State Appellate Divisions and Court of Appeals, and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Brendan Keeley, Founding Partner, Baumann, Gant & Keeley, P.A.
Brendan Keeley is a founding partner of Baumann, Gant & Keeley, P.A. and he serves as the managing partner of the Firm’s North Florida office located in Jacksonville, Florida. Brendan’s primary areas of practice include wrongful death, transportation and trucking liability, premises liability, construction defect litigation and professional liability litigation.
Brendan is a member of the Florida Defense Lawyers Association (FDLA), The Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), Themis Advocates Group, and The Jacksonville Claims Association. He is a Certified Litigation Management Professional (CLMP) obtained through the CLM Litigation Management Institute Program (LMI).
Brendan is admitted to practice in all Florida State Courts and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida.
Brendan regularly presents accredited seminars on topics such as Florida bad faith analysis and claims handling, Florida claims adjuster ethics, and Florida construction defect claims handling and defense strategies.
Brendan received his undergraduate degree from St. Thomas University (Miami, Florida) and his law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law (Miami, Florida). He served as an Articles Editor on the Law Review of the St. Thomas University School of Law.
 Paul Sperry, Managing Partner, Copeland Stair Kingma & Lovell
Paul is managing partner of the Charleston office where he concentrates his practice on construction litigation and general liability matters. He represents general contractors, subcontractors, developers, material suppliers and owners in lawsuits involving construction related disputes. Paul has experience defending architects and engineers in design defect claims, site work design and more. Furthermore, he provides non-litigation support for construction clients, including contract review and advice related to payment and industry issues. In addition to construction litigation, Paul handles premises liability matters where he defends clients against claims for injuries sustained on private and public properties.
Paul frequently presents at seminars, teaching a wide variety of construction law topics, including mechanical liens, delay claims and construction contract clauses. Along with serving as the Chair of the Construction Practice Group and Charleston managing partner, Paul was named to South Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Stars® in 2013, where no more than 2.5% of attorneys are named. Paul was nominated by his peers and was honored as one of the top construction attorneys in the area by Charleston Business Magazine’s Legal Elite Feature in 2018 and 2019.
 Eric Steinhoff, Shareholder, Lind, Jensen, Sullivan & Peterson, P.A.
Eric’s practice is devoted entirely to litigation, and he has represented clients in state and federal courts in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota in all types of litigation. Eric represents business for claims brought against them for conduct of their employees, including negligent entrustment and supervision claims. He also focuses on representing doctors and lawyers in malpractice claims. Eric’s goal is to provide a clear path for quick and efficient resolution of his client’s problems with unique and creative ideas.
Rachel York Colangelo, National Managing Director of Jury Consulting, Magna Legal Services
Dr. Colangelo has a doctorate in legal psychology from Florida International University and a B.A. in psychology and sociology from the University of Virginia. Her education involved extensive coursework and research training, specifically in the area of jury decision-making.
Dr. Colangelo has over 15 years of experience in litigation consulting and has provided insights on a variety of civil and criminal matters across the country in the form of jury research, including focus groups, mock trials, damages assessment studies, and community attitude surveys, as well as other trial preparation strategies such as case analysis and theme/storyline development, voir dire consultation, jury selection, witness preparation, shadow juries, trial monitoring, and post-trial juror interviews.
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