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Paul Nagle, CPCU, CLU, ARM, CPHRM

Assistant Vice President, Patient Safety and Risk Management

Paul Nagle is the Assistant Vice President of Patient Safety and Risk Management for The Doctors Company’s Region II. Mr. Nagle has worked in patient safety for over 25 years. Previously, he was a Director of Underwriting for a physician insurer. Mr. Nagle has worked extensively with physicians and facilities on their risk issues. He has earned the Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) designation. He served on the Medical Professional Liability Association Risk Management Committee for 10 years and is a Past President of the Ohio Society for Healthcare Risk Managers (OSHRM).

PJ Malnar

Assistant Vice President, Claims

PJ Malnar is Assistant Vice President of Claims for The Doctors Company’s Region II. Ms. Malnar has a background in medical malpractice defense, having spent the majority of her legal career specializing in the representation of physicians and healthcare facilities.

Ms. Malnar uses her background in medical malpractice defense to assess and defend claims for The Doctors Company. She earned her undergraduate degree at Washington and Jefferson College and her law degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Ms. Malnar is licensed to practice law in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

By drawing upon her first-hand experience defending physicians, Ms. Malnar assists the company in meeting its primary mission to advance, protect, and reward the practice of good medicine.

Shelley Spiecker, PhD

Persuasion Strategies

Shelley Spiecker, PhD, has been advising attorneys on case strategy, courtroom persuasion, and jury selection for over 25 years. With a doctorate in legal communication, Dr. Spiecker routinely advises attorneys on case and trial presentation strategies. She is nationally recognized for her work helping to prepare witnesses for deposition and trial. She has extensive experience in the design and analysis of mock jury trial and focus group research as well as mock bench trials and mock arbitrations. Her studies of the tactical use of innuendo in the courtroom, and her analyses of effective opening statements and closing arguments have been recognized as valuable contributions to the trial consulting field. She also enjoys running, hiking, skiing, and spending time with her husband and two children.

John Baker, Esq

Vigorito, Barker, Patterson, Nichols & Porter, LLP

John W. Barker, Esq. serves as General Counsel and as a Managing Partner of Vigorito, Barker, Patterson, Nichols & Porter, LLP. Mr. Barker graduated from the St. John’s University School of Law in 1991, having served as an Associate Editor for the St. John’s Law Review.  He began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, where he tried over a dozen felony cases to verdict, resigning as Senior Trial Attorney in 1995.

Since 1995, Mr. Barker’s practice has focused solely on civil litigation. He has selected over 100 civil juries and has taken over 60 of those cases to verdict. Mr. Barker has practiced extensively throughout the New York metropolitan area, having secured defense verdicts in the Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Rockland, Staten Island, Suffolk, and Westchester County Supreme Courts.

Mr. Barker has long engaged in appellate practice, having prepared numerous appellate briefs and argued before the New York State Appellate Division. He has also given lectures to healthcare professionals, members of the insurance industry, and the legal community on such topics as risk management, quality assurance, products liability litigation, developments in medical malpractice law, trial tactics, and strategy on setting reserves.

He has been selected by his peers to Super Lawyers each year since 2015.