Douglas Brooks, Esq., has practiced law for more than 20 years and is graduate of Suffolk University Law School (J.D.). He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University. He was a Note Editor for the Suffolk University Transnational Law Journal and is a member of the bar for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Brooks is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the American Bar Association (member, Forum Committee on Franchising), and the American Trial Lawyers Association (member, Mandatory Arbitration Committee).

Brooks is based in Massachusetts, but he has appeared in courts across the country, from the U.S. Virgin Islands to California. He is a member of the firm of Gilman & Pastor, LLP. Gilman and Pastor specializes in class action litigation, including cases that involve multi-level marketing and business opportunity scams, as well as securities fraud, antitrust, consumer protection and defective products.

Brooks was one of the attorneys responsible for the landmark decision in Webster v. Omnitrition International, Inc., 79 F.3d 776 (9th Cir. 1996). In this decision the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that in order to avoid being a pyramid scheme, a multi-level marketing firm must not only have, but enforce rules ensuring that the firm's products are retailed to actual consumers who are not members of the marketing plan.

Brooks has provided testimony to the Federal Trade Commission urging the adoption of regulations requiring full disclosure by multi-level marketing companies.

Mr. Brooks has been a frequent speaker at the annual conventions of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers and the American Franchisee Association. He was a speaker at an Annual Forum on Franchising of the American Bar Association.

Flo Conway completed her master's and doctoral work in communication at the University of Oregon, where she pioneered one of the first interdisciplinary programs in communication, drawing upon the social sciences, cybernetics, systems theory and theoretical biology. Conway worked at The Saturday Evening Post and has presented papers before the American Psychological Association and the International Communication Association. Conway and Jim Siegelman are co-authors of the seminal work about cults, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, and the groundbreaking book about fundamentalist extremism, Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our Private Lives.

Conway and Siegelman have testified in Washington at joint U. S. House-Senate hearings on cults and their dangers. They have lectured at more than 40 colleges and universities, and their analysis and commentary have been featured on "Good Morning America," the "Today" show, "The Tonight Show," "Prime Time Live," "20/20," "48 Hours," "Larry King," and other radio and television programs in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Articles by or about them have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, People, Playboy, Science Digest and Yahoo! Internet Life. Their work has been cited in publications as varied as Time, Forbes, Psychology Today, Ladies Home Journal, GQ, and been reprinted in Europe, Japan and Latin America.

Conway and Siegelman received the Leo J. Ryan Award, from the national educational foundation named for the U.S. Congressman who gave his life in Jonestown, Guyana, for their "extraordinary courage, tenacity and perseverance in the battle against tyranny over the mind of man."

John Crawford, Ph.D.

John Crawford, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus of the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. He received his doctorate from the University of Southern California.

His research focus as a scholar has included the management of conflict and negotiation in interpersonal and organizational contexts and the cult phenomenon through a study of recruitment and retention techniques.

As an expert consultant Crawford's work has included conflict management, negotiation and communication styles.

John Crawford is the author of the book "Communication Discovery: A Functional Perspective."

He is a member of the International Communication Association and past chairman of Communication and Law for the Western Speech Communication Association.

Ford Greene, Esq.

Ford Greene, Esq. is a practicing attorney in California, who has specialized in cult related litigation for more than twenty years. Greene is a graduate of the New College of California School of Law and is a member of the bar for the State of California. 

Greene litigated and won the landmark appellate court decision, Molko v. Holy Spirit Association (1988) 46 Cal.3d 1092. In this decision the California Supreme Court held that the First Amendment does not bar civil causes of action for fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress and restitution when a cult uses deception, which subsequently leads to an unsuspecting individual's exposure to thought reform techniques that cause suffering and damages.

In 1998 Greene won a $1.6 million jury verdict in Bertolucci v. Ananda against The Church of Self Realization led by Swami Kiyananda in California for fraud, coercion and sexual exploitation.

The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice named Greene a finalist for its 2003 Trial Lawyer of the Year award. He was chosen by the Washington-based organization for his 22-year legal battle against the Church of Scientology, which resulted in a $8.6 million settlement, paid to a former member for personal injuries.

Greene's experience with cults began in late 1974. He went to a camp run by Rev. Moon's Unification Church to rescue one of his younger sisters, but was instead recruited. Eight months later he walked out.

Before entering law school Greene assisted families through interventions, helping to free others from the Moon organization. His work was the subject of a book Moon Webs, which became the basis for the feature film "Ticket to Heaven."

Skipp Porteous

Skipp Porteous is a private investigator who specializes in researching controversial groups and cults. He is the owner of Sherlock Investigations Inc., a New York City firm.

Porteous previously attended bible college and was ordained as a Pentecostal minister. However, negative experiences within fundamentalism caused him concern and eventually led him to leave the ministry.

Porteous later served as President and National Director for the Institute for First Amendment Studies (IFAS). IFAS was a non-profit organization, which focused upon the separation of church and state.

During his 17 years of service at IFAS Porteous appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs, educating the public about church/state issues. Porteous's investigative research has frequently been utilized by, cited and/or appeared within numerous national magazines and newspapers.

Skipp Porteous's biography is included in "Marquis Who's Who in America."

Robert Rivas, Esq.

Robert Rivas, Esq., is a graduate of the University of Florida. He first worked as a reporter for The Miami Herald. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer and spent three years as a reporter in Central America. Rivas then served as the metropolitan editor of The Palm Beach Post.

Rivas later entered Nova law school and graduated summa cum laude.

Formerly an associate in the First Amendment practice group at the national law firm Holland & Knight, he later established the Palm Beach County-based firm of Rivas & Rivas with his wife, Florence Snyder Rivas. The firm moved to Tallahassee in 1999 and became The Rivas Law Firm in September 2000 when Ms. Rivas was appointed to the bench.

Robert Rivas practices primarily in First Amendment law, particularly defamation defense, prepublication counseling, reporter's privilege, and access to government records and meetings and court proceedings. The firm also represents clients in other civil rights matters and general civil litigation.

In 1998 Mr. Rivas won the 15^th Circuit Florida Bar President's Pro Bono Service award, primarily for his representation of the plaintiffs in Krischer v. McIver, the landmark case on whether a dying patient has a constitutional right to obtain his physician's assistance in his death.

Rivas served as chair of the 20^th Annual Media Law Conference in 1993 and as the chair of the Media and Communications Law Committee of The Florida Bar in 1997-98. He was a member of Class 16 of Leadership Florida in 1997-98 and was inducted into the Independent Florida Alligator "Hall of Fame" in 1998. He received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell in 1998.

Jim Siegelman

Jim Siegelman, graduated from Harvard University with honors in philosophy. He was awarded the Fiske Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge. Siegelman and Flo Conway are co-authors of the seminal work about cults, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, and the groundbreaking book about fundamentalist extremism, Holy Terror: The Fundamentalist War on America's Freedoms in Religion, Politics and Our Private Lives.

Conway and Siegelman have testified in Washington at joint U. S. House-Senate hearings on cults and their dangers. They have lectured at more than 40 colleges and universities, and their analysis and commentary have been featured on "Good Morning America," the "Today" show, "The Tonight Show," "Prime Time Live," "20/20," "48 Hours," "Larry King," and other radio and television programs in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Articles by or about them have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, People, Playboy, Science Digest and Yahoo! Internet Life. Their work has been cited in publications as varied as Time, Forbes, Psychology Today, Ladies Home Journal, GQ, and been reprinted in Europe, Japan and Latin America.

Conway and Siegelman received the Leo J. Ryan Award, from the national educational foundation named for the U.S. Congressman who gave his life in Jonestown, Guyana, for their "extraordinary courage, tenacity and perseverance in the battle against tyranny over the mind of man."

Past Board Members

Margaret Singer, Ph.D.