Our human factors and user experience experts advise clients throughout the product lifecycle.
JERICHO, N.Y., October 1, 2024 -- The global consulting firm, proudly celebrating 50 transformative years, has gathered a curated collection of experts who together form Human Factors & User Experience at J.S. Held. These visionaries understand the intricacies of their fields and have conducted, and overseen user experience research at companies like Google, Microsoft, and Siemens. Their combined academic and industry credentials are notable and distinguish the J.S. Held team among human factors and user experience experts.
J.S. Held’s expertise in human factors, product safety, and user experience is proactive, focused on the product development process, and reactive, providing forensic human factors and product failure analysis to support investigations and dispute advisory. In-house experts advise clients throughout the product lifecycle, from ideation and interaction design through validation, which distinctly qualifies our experts to assess subject allegations and render expert opinions based on scientific evidence and firsthand experience.
The highly collaborative team includes published and credentialed specialists in healthcare, automotive, and children’s products and benefits from collaboration with an in-house biomechanist and human behavior specialist, who brings over a decade of experience in research strategy and execution across academic and industry settings to generate quantitative user experience insights through the combined analysis of human motion and physiological signals (including neural, muscular, and cardiovascular measures).
Human factors experts at J.S. Held investigate and testify in myriad cases, including automotive accidents, premises liability, product liability/failure to warn, medical device failures, class action lawsuits, and Proposition 65 litigation. At J.S. Held, we understand that legal matters often involve complex technical, scientific, and financial issues – areas where our specialized knowledge in forensic investigations, econometric analysis, and related teaching vs telling approach to expert testimony strengthens the trial team.
Across J.S. Held’s experts, user research is informed by insights gleaned from alleged product failures on the reactive side of their work, while expert witness testimony is given with the authority of experts who are actively engaged in the evaluation and development of products and services. Whether the client’s need is proactive or reactive, understanding where things go wrong and why uniquely positions J.S. Held as a trusted advisor in product safety and user research - helping clients develop products and services that are effective, user-friendly, and safer.
Dr. Robert Rauschenberger, Ph.D., oversees a team of predominantly Ph.D.-level researchers with academic backgrounds in cognition, perception, developmental psychology, human factors, biomechanics, and kinesiology, with degrees from notable institutions such as Harvard, Notre Dame, and Johns Hopkins. Dr. Rauschenberger has over 25 years of experience conducting research on topics of visual attention and distraction, the organization of perceptual information, product design, user experience, risk communication effectiveness, and consumer decision-making. He leverages this experience in legal cases across industries for which he has testified in deposition and at trial. Dr. Rauschenberger has cultivated specific expertise in the evaluation of mixed reality (MR) products. His professional background also disposes him toward the evaluation of healthcare products and services.
Select members of Dr. Rauschenberger’s team include:
Dr. Alexander Stamenkovic, Ph.D. - Biomechanist
Dr. Blake Pellman, Ph.D. – User Experience
Dr. Joe Pauszek, Ph.D. – Healthcare Human Factors
Dr. Robert (Bobby) Sall, Ph.D. – Automotive Human Factors
Dr. Rosie Aboody, Ph.D. – Children’s Products
Dr. Sam Franco-DeWitt, Ph.D. - Physiological Data Recording
J.S. Held User experts are retained to work with in-house product development engineers, user experience executives, in-house and outside legal counsel, and claims adjusters. To support the work of experts, J.S. Held owns and operates User Research Laboratories in New York City, Phoenix, Arizona, and Redmond, Washington, and utilizes advanced technology and specialized capabilities, such as optometry, motion capture, eye tracking, physiological data recording, and balance measurement to collect scientific measures and evaluate a wide range of topics.
J.S. Held clients benefit from expertise across the enterprise, as the Human Factors and User Experience team works with toxicologists and industrial hygienists on product liability cases, with accident reconstructionists on vehicular accidents, with mechanical and electrical engineers on product liability cases, with nurses and MDs on medical device and pharma litigation, with the intellectual property (IP) team on product marketing and IP theft cases, and across these and other areas of expertise advising companies throughout the product lifecycle.
The expertise of the J.S. Held Human Factors and User Experience team results in client work that is not just theoretical but grounded in real-world experience and innovation. Examples of our expert contributions to client challenges include:
Learn more about the dedicated and entrepreneurial experts like Robert, Joe, Bobby, Rosie, Blake, Alexander, and Sam, who help transform J.S. Held, explore our story, and celebrate this momentous milestone, our 50 & Forward celebration, with us at jsheld.com.
About J.S. Held
J.S. Held is a global consulting firm that combines technical, scientific, financial, and strategic expertise to advise clients seeking to realize value and mitigate risk. Our professionals serve as trusted advisors to organizations facing high stakes matters demanding urgent attention, staunch integrity, proven experience, clear-cut analysis, and an understanding of both tangible and intangible assets. The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services, products, and data that enable clients to navigate complex, contentious, and often catastrophic situations.
More than 1,500 professionals serve organizations across six continents, including, 81% of the Global 200 Law Firms, 70% of the Forbes Top 20 Insurance Companies (85% of the NAIC top 50 Property & Casualty Insurers), and 65% of the Fortune 100 Companies.
J.S. Held, its affiliates and subsidiaries are not certified public accounting firm(s) and do not provide audit, attest, or any other public accounting services. J.S. Held, its affiliates and subsidiaries are not law firms and do not provide legal advice. Securities offered through PM Securities, LLC, d/b/a Phoenix IB, a part of J.S. Held, member FINRA/ SIPC or Ocean Tomo Investment Group, LLC, a part of J.S. Held, member FINRA/ SIPC. All rights reserved.