Ethical Minefields When Lawyers Serve as Expert Witnesses

Adam Telanoff is Senior Counsel at Parker Shaffie LLP, bringing an eclectic and well-rounded background to his litigation practice. Prior to joining the firm in 2024, Adam built a career that combines extensive experience in professional liability and commercial litigation, representing a wide range of clients from emerging businesses to large organizations. He has successfully litigated matters before administrative tribunals, arbitrators, and state and federal courts, primarily in California, with additional litigation experience in Colorado, Connecticut, and Georgia.

In addition to his litigation work, Adam offers a strong business-oriented perspective developed through senior in-house roles. He previously served as General Counsel for GameWorks Entertainment, a national family entertainment center, and for Cascade Finance Partners, a private equity fund. Adam was also the co-founder and General Counsel of Filmhub, an online film distribution startup backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firms. An experienced educator, he has taught law courses at UCLA Extension and Los Angeles Mission College. Adam earned his BA from the University of California, Berkeley, his JD from Pepperdine University School of Law—where he served on Law Review and published in the Pepperdine Law Review—and an LLM from the University of Washington School of Law, focusing on international copyright protection.

Joel A. Osman is Partner and General Counsel at Parker Shaffie LLP, focusing his practice on litigation and trials. He joined the firm in 2014 after a distinguished career in both private practice and in-house leadership roles. Prior to joining Parker Shaffie, Joel was principal of Osman & Associates in South Pasadena and previously managed a related entity that served as staff counsel to Travelers Indemnity Company. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of Travelers’ Southern California liability practice, overseeing a multi-million-dollar budget and managing a team of 54 attorneys and staff handling general liability, automobile, fire, and subrogation matters.

Earlier in his career, Joel was a senior partner at Anderson, McPharlin & Conners LLP in Los Angeles. Over the course of his career, he has represented clients in professional liability, general liability, product liability, construction defect, and commercial litigation, and has tried numerous jury trials to verdict. Joel has devoted significant attention to the defense of lawyers and issues of legal ethics. His professional activities include longstanding service with the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee, where he served as chair from 2008 to 2009, as well as service on the State Bar’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct from 2015 through 2018.