Our Team.

One of the original and most influential leaders of our company, his education, guidance, and general counsel background and expertise were critical in our initial development and will continue to be so in our efforts to serve the nation’s higher education community.

Jim has over 30 years’ experience providing legal advice and counsel to complex organizations, including over 20 years’ combined service as the General Counsel for the University of Kansas and subsequently for the University of Nebraska. As such, he served as the principal legal advisor to the universities’ chief executive officers and other senior administrators. Both universities are comprehensive research universities with academic medical centers and student populations ranging from 28,000 to 51,000 on multiple university campuses. Faculty and staff employees ranged from 7,000 to 16,000. His duties included supervision of 10 or more attorneys and support staff and responsibility for legal advice on all university operational matters, including investigations covering student affairs, labor and employment matters, Title IX compliance, and intercollegiate athletics.

Prior to his university career, Jim was a career Army officer. His 25-plus years in in the Army were served primarily in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. He served as the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) for the 10^th Mountain Division and Ft. Drum, New York, where he had a staff of 21 attorneys and more than 50 support personnel to assist more than 10,500 soldiers and 2,000 civilian employees. He also served as the Deputy SJA for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York providing legal services that included employment law, sexual harassment law, labor law, student discipline, intercollegiate athletics, and intellectual property law, as well as advice and oversight on investigations for staff and students. He has held above top secret security clearances and been involved in sensitive investigations during his career.

Jim is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in general engineering. He is also a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law where he was the Articles Editor of the Kansas Law Review and a member of Moot Court Council. Jim earned an M.A. degree in national security and strategic studies, with highest distinction, from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and he holds an LL.M., with distinction, in Administrative Law from The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Finally, in addition to graduating from the resident course of the Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he earned an M.A. degree in human resource management from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Bruce is a co-founder and Executive Director of BartlettJames LLC. Bruce is a seasoned Title IX decision maker. He oversees the daily operations of the firm and chairs our Executive Committee. Bruce and co-founder Bert Nunley designed our nationally-regarded team with broad-based investigative capabilities, specifically tailored to address the increasing needs for transparent, in-depth and thorough investigations for institutions of higher learning. Bruce’s vision, enthusiasm and tireless work ethic shapes the strategic trajectory for the BartlettJames team in its engagements around the nation and the globe. Bruce is based in South Carolina.

Bruce is a retired federal Administrative Law Judge, having most recently completed service of 11 years with the Department of Homeland Security in 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has presided over innumerable hearings involving sensitive and highly-classified matters relating to national security, including several highly publicized trials involving ranking government officials, major air carriers, and licensed maritime officers. He is also a retired U.S. Air Force pilot and Judge Advocate, having served 21 years as a decorated aviator, military prosecutor, investigator, and Military Judge on active duty and in the reserves. Among his many military and civilian awards is the prestigious Award for Trial Advocacy presented by the New York City Bar Association.

In the course of his employment as a Judge Advocate and Administrative Law Judge, Bruce has conducted numerous highly classified investigations into sensitive matters of national security and interpersonal relationships both in the United States and abroad. His military duties included serving as a senior legal counsel on a variety of topics, including employee discipline, adherence to civil rights, and oversight of federal and state law enforcement conduct, including use of force cases.

Bruce is an Honor Graduate from the Washburn University School of Law and served on the board of editors of the Washburn Law Journal. He holds an LL.M. in International Law from the Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army, located in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Laura serves a member of our Executive Committee. She has conducted numerous highly sensitive Title IX investigations. Her expertise in institutional risk management is a benefit to our higher education clients. Laura served as legal counsel in the insurance industry for more than thirty years, and she has held the coveted CPCU designation while an active practitioner of insurance risk management. Her seasoned insights and experience from the world of insurance and risk management routinely proves invaluable to the BartlettJames portfolio of clients. Laura is based in Iowa.

Laura has more than 35 years of experience in business, insurance, and collegiate teaching, while a practicing attorney. While a member of a private law firm, she was a trial attorney focusing on commercial and contractual litigation in both state (Iowa) and federal court. Her cases included clients in the banking, manufacturing, insurance, and retail insurance industries. While working as an attorney for a national property casualty insurance carrier, Laura worked investigations from the ground up in sexual misconduct, personal injury, and employment for both commercial and personal policyholders. She also developed and taught risk management programs for company employees and policyholders. Finally, Laura was responsible for hiring and managing outside counsel and participating in mediations across our country.

As a college professor, Laura has taught multiple courses in business, insurance, medical ethics and law. She has also developed courses for use at the university level and she has served on the Iowa State Ethics Board hearing cases involving attorney ethics complaints that resulted in disciplinary resolutions by the Iowa Supreme Court.

Laura is a graduate of Drake University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and the Drake University Law School, where she participated in the Moot Court program.

Bert is one of the two co-founding members of BartlettJames LLC. He serves on our Executive Committee. In addition to serving as an experienced Title IX investigator and administrative decision maker, Bert is also responsible for administration of the firm’s personnel and fiscal matters. He enjoys a national reputation as one of the preeminent trial attorneys in America, with vast courtroom and jury experiences that few can equal. He has served more than 35 years as a prosecutor, defense counsel or judge in administrative, civil and criminal matters involving the military, state and federal courts, and courts overseas. Bert is based in North Carolina.

Bert is retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served for 22 years as a career infantry officer and judge advocate. Upon his retirement, he served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of North Carolina, before going into private practice in 2000. He has participated as either the prosecutor or defense counsel or judge in more than 750 jury trials and in more than 14,000 criminal cases, while he has supervised subordinate counsel and judges in many thousands more matters. As a military judge, he presided over several highly-publicized trials of national and international interest, including the 1998-99 court-martial of a Marine pilot for the deaths of 20 people in the Italian Alps, after a jet flew through a gondola cable and dropped them 356 feet to their deaths. Bert was also retained by the Associated Press to help defend Bilal Hussein, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist held by the U.S. military in Iraq as a terrorist. He and his team fought those allegations in the Central Criminal Courts of Iraq in Baghdad, ultimately securing Mr. Hussein’s release in April, 2008.

Bert has held above top secret clearances in the military and has participated or lead multiple investigations with Congressional and/or National Command Authority (NCA) interest. He is also a frequent lecturer on ethics, professionalism, and trial advocacy, and he has participated in more than 20 officer-involved-shootings (OIS) investigations.

Bert is a Distinguished Graduate of the University of Kansas with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Political Science and a Distinguished Graduate of the University of Kansas School of Law (Order of the Coif), where he served as an editor on both the Kansas Law Review and the Kansas Criminal Procedure Review. He holds an LL.M., with distinction, in Military Law with a Criminal Law Specialty, from The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Bert was also the Distinguished Graduate of the 38^th Military Judges Course.

Michele is a member of the BartlettJames Executive Committee and serves as a highly respected Title IX investigator. She provides a wealth of executive legal experience and seasoned judgment from her 24-year career in legal education and the myriad positions she held as a practicing attorney in other organizations. She has a distinguished background in diversity leadership and affirmative action matters. Michele is based in North Carolina.

Michele began her legal career with positions as an Associate Attorney General for the State of North Carolina in Raleigh, North Carolina, as a staff attorney for the United Auto Workers-General Motors Legal Services, as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Shreveport, Louisiana, and as a Supervising Attorney for The Public Law Center at Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Married to a now-retired U.S. Air Force officer, she found herself moving to accompany her husband as his career required him to relocate around the country.

Settling into legal academia, Michele became the Assistant Dean of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Diversity Affairs at the Loyola University School of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana. There she served as the school’s diversity officer and routinely counseled students on diversity issues, complaints, and concerns while planning multicultural activities. She additionally advised the Law School Dean on diversity issues as they arose and drafted the Affirmative Action Statements for the ABA accreditation process, including a statistical analysis of student bodies regarding diversity. Michele also managed the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid while also serving as a member of the Administration, Staff, and Faculty Diversity Committee, as an advisor to the Black Law Student Association, and as an advisor to the Student Diversity Committee. She did this while managing an annual budget of more than two million dollars and meeting strategic recruitment and enrollment goals each year.

Michele received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She earned her Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University of Law in Durham, North Carolina, where she was an Honor Graduate and a member of the North Carolina Central University Law Review.

Bruce serves our clientele as a highly experienced Title IX Decision Maker and informal resolution mediator. His talents as an investigator and analyst were honed over the course of his distinguished 38 year career as an Assistant United States Attorney, an Assistant State Attorney General in North Carolina, and as a highly-regarded Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force. Bruce is based in Florida.

After law school, Bruce prosecuted cases in the Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Princeton, West Virginia for four years. Bruce left West Virginia to join the U.S. Air Force as a Judge Advocate, where he served on active duty for eight years, including a tour as a Circuit Counsel prosecuting dozens of courts-martial at over 20 bases in multiple states. After leaving active duty, Bruce served five years as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of North Carolina, assigned to the Mental Health Section of the Division of Health and Human Services. While there he represented the state in state and federal courts in contested personnel cases and in alleged civil rights violations and whistleblower retaliation allegations, among many complaints. Bruce then joined the U.S. Attorney’s office in Orlando, Florida, where he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 16 years prior to retirement. While there, among many complex cases, he lead a multi-agency task force that prosecuted a Ponzi scheme operator who bilked thousands of investors out of more than $200 million dollars and convicted 42 members of a multi-level cocaine smuggling conspiracy. He also successfully prosecuted two federal correctional officers for bribing a federal inmate to assault another inmate, resulting in the latter’s death.

After leaving active duty in the Air Force and concurrent with his civilian career, Bruce continued to serve as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was an instructor and featured lecturer at the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School for over a decade in the 1990s, teaching basic and advanced litigation courses each year, and he served a tour as a military judge. He also earned extensive management experience while serving as the Senior Reserve Judge Advocate in three major commands (Special Operations Command, Space Command, and Air Combat Command) where he supervised scores of junior military attorneys at bases throughout the country. In 2012, Bruce was hand-picked to serve as the Chief of Staff and Staff Judge Advocate at U.S. Central Command’s Office of the Defense Representative for Pakistan, located in the U.S. Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan. While there, Bruce was the leader of a U.S. inter-agency team negotiating an agreement with the Government of Pakistan to permit the transit of U.S. and NATO supplies into and out of Afghanistan across Pakistan territory. For his significant accomplishments during this last tour, the Secretary of Defense awarded Bruce the Defense Superior Service Medal, the second highest peace-time award in the Department of Defense.

Bruce graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, with Honors, majoring in Political Science and History. He is a graduate of West Virginia University College of Law.

Kat serves as an investigator and white collar/financial analyst, whose skills are of particular value to college and university general counsel. She served this nation for more than 20 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where her expertise spanned the entire spectrum of specialties requisite for service to BartlettJames clients—from HUMINT (human intelligence), to surveillance, to technical programs, to TS/SCI national security programs. Kat is based both in Virginia and in France.

Kat served in the FBI from 1998 to 2018, when she retired as a Supervisory Special Agent. In addition to her normal duties and training as a Special Agent during her career, from 2006 to 2008 Kat was responsible for all SES-directed special projects for 76 overseas FBI field offices, including the FBI’s regional training and overseas coordination concerning cyber crime, counterintelligence, counterterrorism and other programs. From 2008 until 2017, she served as an Assistant Legal Attache or Legal Attache in Belgium, France, Mali, and Switzerland, where she was the American representative for all FBI programs and international training, including investigative coordination, between France, Monaco, Interpol, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, NATO, and the European Union. Prior to joining the FBI, Kat was an Assistant Vice President for Bank of America in Norfolk, Virginia.

Kat is fluent in French and carries a U.S. Intelligence Community Joint Duty Certification. She amassed extensive world-wide deployment experience in Northwest Africa and Europe. Kat maintains a Top Secret security clearance with a Sensitive Compartmented Information designation.

Kat graduated from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Management.

Rebecca is a nationally-recognized expert on legal matters pertaining to veteran's educational rights and trauma-informed, sexual-misconduct investigations. She has conducted numerous highly sensitive Title IX investigations. Rebecca is based in Louisiana.

Before law school, Rebecca was employed as a counselor to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking, and later as a victim’s advocate, for the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her extensive experience working with victims of domestic and sexual violence garnered her significant community recognition. Following law school, Rebecca worked at the Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Mount Vernon, Washington, in both the civil and criminal divisions. Her experiences there included civil and criminal bench and jury trials, appellate advocacy in support of several serious felony convictions, and juvenile legislative advocacy, which earned her national media attention.

Rebecca also serves as the Communications Director for the Military Spouse J.D. Network, an attorney bar association for military spouses. Additionally, she is engaged in private practice serving military veterans seeking Veterans Affairs disability compensation benefits, and she is still a Senior Appellate Attorney for the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program. Finally, Rebecca is a volunteer through The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program where she represents veterans at no cost to them before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

Rebecca has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Masters of Social Work from Tulane University, with a specialized certificate in disaster mental health. She has a Juris Doctorate with a certificate in International Law from Loyola College of Law in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she competed on the national moot court team and earned induction into the Order of Barristers, while also serving as a member of the Maritime Law Journal.

Donna is regarded as one of the leading Title IX Decision Makers in America. Donna trains and oversees the BartlettJames team of retired judges who provide hearing assistance around the nation. Donna’s enviable 35-year career as an attorney and Military Judge marks her as one of the true leaders of our organization. She is superbly experienced in administrative, environmental, personnel, and contract law. Donna is based in Florida.

Donna served on active duty with the U.S. Army as a Judge Advocate for over twenty years, including 11 years on the bench as a trial judge, presiding over a thousand courts-martial. She presided over innumerable cases involving murder, sexual assault, drug trafficking, larceny and a wide variety of felonies. Earlier in her career, she served as both a prosecutor and a defense counsel. In the latter capacity, she was often requested by name by female service members who appreciated the sensitivity and skill she brought to her position. Donna has been published extensively on the practice of military justice and developed pattern jury instructions for other military judges to use. She was hand-picked to conduct a sensitive pretrial hearing into sexual assault allegations against the highest-ranking enlisted Soldier in Europe, a case with wide-spread media attention.

Donna retired from the Army as a Colonel and went on to advise the Army as a civilian attorney in several positions, culminating in her role as the Division Counsel for a regional headquarters for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Through her background as a litigator, she has developed outstanding interviewing skills and has been trained to relate to special victims, such as women and children in sexual assault situations. Donna has also worked extensively with underrepresented minority groups during her career.

Donna was in the first class of women to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY in 1980. That experience has given her a unique perspective on gender dynamics, especially as they relate to women facing a challenging and hostile environment. She later graduated from Villanova University School of Law, with Honors, and subsequently she earned an LL.M. in Military Law, with a Criminal Law Specialty, from The Judge Advocate General’s School, U.S. Army, in Charlottesville, Virginia and an MBA from Hawaii Pacific University.

Terry’s extensive and distinguished career in both private practice and government service is the bedrock of BartlettJames’ ability to serve our HBCU clients’ needs. He possesses exceptional training and experience at the highest level of government and he is routinely the bedrock of every investigation in the BartlettJames HBCU portfolio. Terry is based in Maryland.

Terry served for more than 27 years as a member of the U.S. Air Force’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, retiring as a Colonel after serving in multiple assignments at numerous bases across this country and abroad. His final active duty tour was in Washington, D.C., where he served as the Inspector General for the National Guard Bureau’s Air National Guard Readiness Center at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.

While in service in the Air National Guard, Terry served as the U.S. Air Force Deputy Director of the Complaints Resolution Directorate, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C. He was the program manager who brought online and made operational the Air Force Inspector General’s first web-based data tracking system for complaints. Terry also played a key leadership role in managing and leading a diverse group of military and civilians in a cultural assessment of the Air National Guard human relations environment. His team conducted interviews, sensing sessions, and surveys of Air National Guard personnel in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. in response to the numbers of hate crimes that were affecting the lives and careers of uniformed service members. Terry authored the team’s report of findings that were distributed to the 54 National Guard jurisdictions across the country for use in their awareness training.

In addition to his active duty and civilian work for the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, Terry has also worked for the U.S. Small Business Administration in their surge program, providing loans to families and businesses affected by floods and hurricanes. Terry currently has a limited private practice in estate litigation. He is licensed in Washington, D.C. and in Mississippi.

Terry is a native of Pascagoula, Mississippi and he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi. Thereafter, he graduated from Howard University’s School of Law in Washington, D.C.

Gene leads our background vetting team. His more than 36 years of federal investigative experience routinely proves invaluable to BartlettJames clients. Not only has he conducted background vettings for some the most prominent recent hires in collegiate sports, Gene has also performed a series of sexual assault investigations on behalf of a globally-prominent sports organization. Gene is based in Ohio.

Gene served the United States for more than 20 years as a Special Agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. In leadership roles, he conducted and supervised multiple special agents involved in over 5,000 investigations encompassing all major crimes, including multi-million dollar fraud investigations, nationally sensitive counterintelligence investigations, and lifesaving force protection investigations. Gene was specifically tasked to write the Air Force policy providing oversight for the Air Force Counterintelligence investigative missions. He also served as the Counterintelligence Staff Officer for the United States Forces, Korea. In that role, Gene was the counterintelligence point-person for the joint Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps missions conducted in South Korea.

Most recently, Gene has spent the past 16 years conducting federal investigations for the nation’s federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies. He’s either directed or personally conducted more than 5,000 classified federal investigations, many including concerns related to terrorism.

Gene played football for and graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. He also earned an M.A. in Public Administration from Troy State University and an M.A. in Education from Fort Hays State University.

Ray enjoys as global reputation for excellence due to his unequaled counter-terror and security law enforcement expertise. He has over 35 years of experience, including 23 years of federal law enforcement/counterterrorism duties. Ray has conducted security vulnerability assessments for numerous Fortune 500 companies and government organizations and he has developed strategic security plans and training programs designed to improve and enhance security and safety. Ray is based in both Utah and Rhode Island.

Ray was the former Acting Section Chief of the Counter Terrorism Operational Response Section at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He has served in leadership roles in numerous post-9-11 initiatives both domestically and abroad. Additionally, Ray was the FBI’s point man from 1996 to 2006 for a wide range of major political, sporting and other events. He has extensive experience in crisis management and tactical operations, including serving in key leadership roles in the resolution of numerous hostage and other crisis incidents while assigned to the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team. He served as the FBI’s senior representative to the transition planning office for the design and strategic implementation of the new Department of Homeland Security.

Ray served as FBI Olympic Security Coordinator for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, and was responsible for all FBI counterterrorism planning and operational management involving 1,400 FBI personnel supporting the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Ray was the Deputy On Scene Commander for all FBI Counterterrorism operations in support of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Other major sporting events in which Ray has held, or holds, key security roles include: the 1998 Super Bowl, San Diego, California; the 1998 World Commonwealth Games, Malaysia; the 1998 World Cup, Paris, France; the 2000 World Cup, Seoul Korea; the 2007 Pan American Games, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; the 2007 World Boxing Championships, Chicago, Illinois; the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, Doha, Qatar; the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, Jakarta, Indonesia; the 2011 FIFA Under 20 World Cup, Bogota, Columbia; and the 2015 Pan Am Games, Toronto, Canada. Ray was the Security Director for the 2016 Copa Centenario Soccer Tournament held in the United States.

Ray graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology/Psychology. He has a M.A. degree in Psychology from Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island. Ray is also a graduate of the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia and he has been awarded both the FBI Medal of Merit and the FBI Shield of Bravery.

Chris provides nationally recognized expertise from over 35 years in corporate security, and finance. His skills as a forensic accountant have proved invaluable to college and university general counsel in a variety of investigatory and assessment matters. In his 26 years at the FBI, Chris served in many high-profile positions and operational roles. A CPA by trade, Chris began his FBI career by successfully investigating complex white-collar crime and corruption. He was also the case agent for the Office Independent Counsel’s investigation of the U.S. Secretary of HUD. After serving in the Financial Crimes Section at FBIHQ, Chris was chosen as the white-collar crime squad supervisor in Jacksonville, Florida. Under his leadership, the squad uncovered the long-term, multi-million-dollar compromise of the McDonalds Corporation’s promotional games. A 2020 Emmy-nominated documentary series, HBO’s McMillions prominently features Chris in all episodes.

In 2003, Chris was selected by the FBI Director to open and run the first FBI Office in Milan, Italy, where he was the sole FBI representative for northern Italy. Upon returning to the U.S., he continued to serve in important and challenging roles, including as a key member of a multi-agency team prosecuting terrorism detainees, supervising the Jacksonville Joint Terrorism Task Force, and as the Chief of the FBI’s Intellectual Property Rights enforcement program at the National IPR Center.

Upon retirement from the FBI, Chris joined United States Steel where he conducted and supervised all sensitive corporate security investigations. From 2016 to 2021, Chris was the Assistant Vice President of Security at one of the nation’s premier mall opener operators and led the company’s security strategy, developed its crisis management program and threat assessment protocol, and managed a multi-million-dollar private security contract.

Chris has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Loyola University in Baltimore. Upon graduation, he worked as a CPA/senior auditor at KPMG International and as the Assistant Controller for a large federal government contractor. In addition to a CPA Certificate, Chris is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Dennis specializes in campus police oversight and auditing. Dennis served the people of California for more than 39 years as a police officer and leader. He is possessed of extensive knowledge and experience in all phases of the science of forensic investigation, the California Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights, policy making, training, police operations, internal affairs investigations, supervision and management. Dennis is based in California.

Dennis served with the Fresno (California) Police Department (FPD) for 39 years, retiring as the Southwest District Commander (one of four districts in the city). Fresno is the 34th largest city in America, and the fifth largest city in California. During his time with FPD, Dennis worked a wide variety of assignments including patrol, training, investigations, undercover work and as a member of the department’s tactical team. Dennis was promoted to the rank of Sergeant where he supervised a wide range of sections and details within the agency. Later, he was promoted to Lieutenant and served as a Field Commander, followed by five years as the Administrative Aide to the Police Chief, then six years as the Internal Affairs Bureau Commander and then one year as the Southwest District Commander before retiring from the department.

Dennis is a tenured Criminology Professor at Reedley College in Reedley, California, where he teaches five courses per semester and he oversees the Criminology Department. His classes include Police Ethics, Criminal Evidence, Multiculturalism in Policing and Criminal Law. Dennis was recently selected by the City of La Mesa, to serve as a part of our audit team, as an Independent Police Auditor for the

Civilian Police Oversight Board, and he has worked on other background and sexual misconduct investigations for us.

Dennis earned a Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree in Criminology and honors as a graduate with a M.S. degree in Criminology, both from California State University, Fresno. He is also a graduate of the prestigious California Peace Officers Standards and Training Command College.

Pete provides guidance on all matters pertaining to collegiate athletics. Pete has more than 25 years of diversified experience representing a wide array of corporate, institutional, and individual clients in a host of different litigation and transactional matters. Pete is based in North Carolina.

Following law school and before entering the world of intercollegiate athletics, Pete was engaged in private practice in both big firms and a solo practice. While working as an associate at Stinson, Mag & Fizzell (now Stinson LLP) in Kansas City, and later as a senior associate at Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles, Pete represented many large corporations and his litigation practice was diverse and included matters such as employment discrimination, oil and gas explosions, commercial litigation, and theft of trade secrets. Pete also managed a successful solo practice focused on plaintiff’s employment discrimination and personal injury litigation. He personally investigated and built hundreds of plaintiff’s cases, including those involving child abuse, sexual assault and harassment, and discrimination based on race, color, sex, age, disability, and pregnancy. Pete never lost a case on a motion to dismiss, a motion for summary judgment, or at trial as a solo practitioner.

Pete served as Associate General Counsel at Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas, for 11 years. His practice focused on intercollegiate athletics, Title IX, Title VII, the ADA, and complex transactional work. He guided hundreds of internal discrimination investigations and regularly provided training for internal investigators. Pete also successfully defended discrimination claims, including disability and sex discrimination matters. He has been a repeat guest speaker for an intercollegiate athletics class at Columbia University’s Sports Management program, and he has presented at the National Association of College and University Attorney’s national conference on Title IX matters. Pete continues to work in intercollegiate athletics.

Pete graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Biology. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.

Margaret has conducted countless Title IX investigations. The wisdom and experienced she earned during her highly-distinguished career routinely proves invaluable to our higher education clients. She enjoyed more than 30 years of service as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, as a renown legal educator and law school administrator, and as a staff member for a United States Senator. She has also served on multiple boards of directors and engaged in a private law practice representing clients before state and federal administrative agencies. Margaret is based in North Carolina.

For more than 30 years, Margaret served the Campbell University School of Law in myriad capacities. She taught a wide variety of subjects with immediate relevance to clients of BartlettJames, while also serving as the Associate Dean for Academic, Student and Administrative Affairs, as an Assistant Dean for External Relations, and as the founding Director of Campbell’s nationally-recognized Externship Program. Margaret has served as lead investigator in numerous Title IX investigations for numerous university clients. Likewise, she has presented Title IX educational programs to several higher education clients. She has also conducted specialized investigations into matters involving the sexual mistreatment of minors.

Of significant note, Margaret was appointed by the President, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina for five years—a position as the chief federal attorney for civil and criminal matters in 44 out of the 100 counties in North Carolina. Subsequent to that position, she has continued her federal work by serving in the National Association of Former United States Attorneys (NAFUSA) for the past three decades, including several terms on its Board of Directors and all the offices in its leadership chain, culminating with President in 2003-2004.

In addition to her work in legal education and as a United States Attorney, Margaret has also served for the past ten years on the North Carolina Rules Review Commission, including stints as the Chairman and First Vice-Chairman. The Rules Review Commission is the state agency created by the General Assembly to review and approve rules adopted by State of North Carolina agencies. She further serves or has served on multiple Boards of Directors for the North Carolina Bar Association and the Wake County Bar Association/10^th Judicial District Bar, while also serving on and chairing the Wake County Board of Elections. In recognition of her exemplary service to the State of North Carolina and her community, Margaret was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the most prestigious award conferred by the Governor of North Carolina.

Margaret received her undergraduate education at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and graduated, with Honors, from the Campbell University School of Law, currently in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she was a member of the Campbell University Law Review Editorial Board. Margaret also has engaged in graduate legal studies at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Rick is the Team Leader for the BartlettJames Campus Police and Security Oversight team. Throughout his distinguished career as a Supervisory Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he amassed a wealth of investigatory experience, frequently in matters of national security and high-profile criminal investigations. Risk’s experience serves as the foundation for his oversight of all of our background investigations and police audit capabilities. Rick is a nationally-known expert on law enforcement policies, procedures and investigations. He has served for more than ten years in civilian police oversight/auditing roles around the nation. Rick is based in Utah.

After graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Rick then completed flight school and became an F-16 fighter pilot. In his ten years of active service, he was an F-16 flight leader and he was also an instructor pilot in the T-38 aircraft. After the Air Force, Rick joined the FBI as a Special Agent where he remained for more than 22 years in a variety of high-profile assignments. He participated in thousands of successful criminal investigations as both a field agent and in leadership roles. As a Supervisory Special Agent of the FBI’s violent crimes/major offender squad, he designed and initiated the first Violent Crimes Task Force, consisting of agents and officers from six different agencies and departments. His example later became the model for tasks forces nationwide. He also investigated and supervised more than ten major kidnappings and numerous drug, gang, robbery, fugitive, extortion, and other violent crime cases, while also conducting multiple internal affairs investigations. As a field agent, he also periodically worked in undercover roles for the Bureau. Perhaps most noteworthy, Rick was selected to be the Supervisory Special Agent for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was responsible for the implementation of the FBI’s Olympic Security Plan and coordinated and led more than 1,400 FBI employees, and an additional 2,800 federal law enforcement officers from other agencies such as the Secret Service, the Defense Security Service, and the ATF.

Since retiring from the FBI, Rick has become a nationally recognized, NACOLE-certified, practitioner of police oversight. With more than 30 years of law enforcement related experience, and more than 17 years of direct oversight experience, he is sought out by police agencies and their oversight boards for his input on policies and procedures and auditing practices. He currently serves as an administrator with the Salt Lake City Police Civilian Review Board (for the past 13 years) and, before that, he served as a police auditor for the City of Fresno, California for four years. He has provided training to United States and international personnel on police oversight and auditing.

Rick graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He has additionally completed or graduated from numerous specialty training courses related to his service with the FBI and the U.S. Air Force.

Laurel is a highly experienced Title IX investigator. She also serves as one of our most respected Title IX decision-makers. Laurel is an attorney by training. Her career spanned 21 years in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where she served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, a criminal prosecutor, and in various other positions in administrative law, family law, and on the Army staff in policy positions at the Pentagon. Laurel served as a legal advisor to Department of Defense School Boards and as the Chief of Recruiting for Army lawyers at law schools throughout the United States.

After retiring from the military, Laurel proved herself an astute and highly successful business professional. Her business acumen is a frequent source of insight to many of our clients. She served as an Area Representative for a national franchise and purchased and co-owned the Oklahoma and Northern Texas territories and the rights to develop Marco’s Pizza Franchises in those areas. Laurel was responsible for opening/selling 40 stores in the area in five years. She owned/operated seven Marco’s Pizza Franchise Stores with annual sales exceeding $6 million dollars in revenue with 285 employees and supervised 12 other franchisees operating within the market. Laurel was named: Best AR/Franchisee of the Year – 3 three years, Top Sales in Franchise – two years, and Top Veteran Franchise Owner in the U.S. -- one year.

Laurel was based in Colorado from 2015 until November 2023. She served on the Summit County Seniors Foundation Board and on the board for the Summit 50 Plus organization (a 1200-member nonprofit that serves older adults in the community.) She delivered Meals on Wheels and worked for and supervised the Mountain Safety Patrol at Copper Mountain throughout the winters.

Laurel earned her business degree and law degree at the University of Georgia. She also holds an L.L.M. and an M.A. in national security and strategic studies.

Laurel currently resides in Tennessee.

Jennifer serves as a highly respected Title IX decision maker. Jennifer is a former Federal Administrative Law Judge who retired after 37 years as a judge. She began her legal career as a trial attorney for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission where she litigated class action employment discrimination cases, reviewed proposed consent decrees, and monitored and enforced Title VII consent decrees.

She began her judicial career as an administrative judge with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board hearing cases involving personnel appeals filed by federal employees. She heard cases involving performance and disciplinary personnel actions ranging from suspensions to removals, reductions-in-force, denials of security clearances, disability retirement disputes, overpayment of retirement benefits, discrimination complaints, and whistleblower complaints.

She was appointed by the California Supreme Court in 1989 to a 6-year term as one of the first hearing judges on the California’s State Bar Court. In that role, she heard cases involving attorneys in California who were being prosecuted for misconduct before the State Bar Court for discipline ranging from a private reproval to disbarment, petitions filed by disbarred attorneys who were seeking reinstatement, appeals by individuals who found unsuitable for admission to practice law in California and motions to immediately suspend an attorney immediately who presented a danger to the public.

She also spent two years as an Administrative Law Judge with the California Department of Insurance hearing insurance regulation cases, and one year as an Administrative Law Judge with the Social Security Administration hearing cases involving claimants for Social Security disability benefits.

She spent the last 17 years of her judicial career with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges, including 12 years as the District Chief Judge for the OALJ’s San Francisco District Office which covered the entire western United States. In that capacity, she heard cases under over 80 different Federal statutes, regulations, and Executive Orders including such diverse subjects as whistleblower complaints involving corporate fraud and violations of transportation, environmental and food safety statutes, alien labor certifications, working conditions of migrant farm workers, workplace discrimination by government contractors, minimum wage disputes, child labor violations, mine safety issues, and recordkeeping violations under ERISA.

She has been very active in the National Association of Women Judges, serving on its Board of Directors from 1997 to 1999. In 2011, she was awarded the NAWJ Mattie Belle Davis award as a member who had gone above and beyond her role as a member and volunteer to make a difference in the NAWJ.

She has been on the faculty of the National Judicial College since 1994, teaching classes for administrative law judges about decision writing, bias, self-represented litigants, ethics, case management, and hearing techniques. In 2018 she was awarded the National Judicial College’s Robert Payant Award for teaching excellence. She served on the Faculty Council of the National Judicial College from 2014 through 2019 and served as its secretary.

She has made presentations at conferences for the American Bar Association, the California State Bar, NAWJ, the National Association of Hearing Officers, the Federal Administrative Law Judge Conference, and the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary on a variety of topics, including ethics, handling self-represented and difficult parties, and judicial and case management skills.

Jennifer is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in computer science and earned her J.D. at Berkeley Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ralph provides professional services as a Hearing Officer/Decision Maker, Investigator, Claimant/Respondent Representative and Mediator on matters including employee misconduct and/or performance, harassment complaints under the Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, and discrimination complaints under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Ralph served 29 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, first as a combat engineer officer and then as a judge advocate. Before his retirement from the military, Ralph served in billets including platoon commander, engineer detachment commander, prosecutor, defense counsel, staff judge advocate, and military judge. During seven years as a military judge Ralph presided over more than 500 courts martial and served as the first Chief Judge of the U.S. Military Commissions Trial Judiciary in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. While assigned to the Army’s Judge Advocate General School (TJAGSA) at the University of Virginia, Ralph served as Professor of Law, teaching evidence, criminal procedure, and trial advocacy.

Following retirement from uniformed service, Ralph accepted an appointment in the Navy's Office of General Counsel. During 13 years of Federal Civil Service Ralph served as a Special Assistant, U. S. Attorney, prosecuting Federal Employment Compensation Act fraud cases, defending the DON against Equal Employment Opportunity claims, and representing the DON regarding misconduct and performance action appeals by Federal Employees to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

Ralph is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (BS), the Delaware Law School of Widener University (JD), TJAGSA (LLM) and the U. S. Naval War College (MS).

Ronette is a highly experienced Title IX administrator and Clery Act compliance coordinator. As an attorney with fifteen years of experience in higher education, she began her university career as an Associate General Counsel, primarily responsible for student and employee grievance processes, educational training, and contract negotiations. Ronette specializes in creating and administering policies and educational training programs that ensure compliance with Title IX, the Clery Act, and VAWA. Her experience includes investigating sexual misconduct allegations, conducting educational programming, report writing, and managing campus safety reporting and statistics.
Ronette's influence extends beyond her immediate role, as she has conducted numerous Title IX and Clery Act training sessions for other institutions. Her expertise has been shared at conferences and webinars for Campus Safety and NACCOP, where she has made impactful and instructive presentations. Her legal career began as a trial attorney, providing consultation and client representation in a wide range of legal matters.
Ronette earned her Bachelor’s degree in history from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and her Master’s degree in public administration and also a Juris Doctor degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
She presently is a Doctoral candidate in higher education leadership at The University of North Carolina at Wilmington.