Legal Depositions in Sports Medicine

Frank A. Chernak is a partner in Montgomery McCracken’s Litigation Department and Chair of the Labor and Employment Department.

In October 2019, The Philadelphia Business Journal selected Frank to its Best of the Bar: Philadelphia’s Top Lawyers list for Employment Litigation. In November 2023, Frank tried a traumatic brain injury case for two defendants in Suffolk County, Massachusetts to a successful result. The trial took 30 days with over 30 witnesses testifying, including 18 expert witnesses. In 2019, Frank tried cases to verdict in federal courts in Baltimore, Md. (a “Me Too” sexual harassment case), Philadelphia, Pa. (a criminal records class action trial), and Chicago, Ill. (a race, age, disability discrimination and retaliation case). Frank’s practice focuses on defending entities in personal injury matters (including traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases) and employers and municipalities in constitutional, Title VII, race discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation, reverse-gender and retaliation, age discrimination, national origin, hostile work environment, FMLA, and ADA cases. He also counsels and trains clients on all employment and civil rights matters, including compliance with ADA, FMLA, FLSA, and EEO laws, hiring and firing practices, harassment investigations, and non-compete litigation. He also trains lawyers on jury trial persuasion.

In March 2020, Frank was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and only after careful investigation to those experienced trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds, who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility, and collegiality. Membership in the College cannot exceed one percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province.

Frank received his J.D., cum laude, from Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, his M.S. from the University of Arkansas, and his B.S. from the State University of New York at Cortland.

University of Georgia Senior Associate Athletic Director Ron Courson, long-time director of sports medicine, was promoted to Executive Associate Athletic Director in February, 2021.

Serving at UGA since 1995, Courson most recently helped navigate the Athletic Association, and especially the football program, through the nation-wide Pandemic serving and supporting the development of policy and protocols at the local, Southeastern Conference, and NCAA levels.
 
Prior to joining the UGA staff in 1995, Courson served as Director of Rehabilitation at the University of Alabama from 1991-1995 and Director of Rehabilitation with Samford University from 1989-1991. He received his undergraduate degree in education/physical education from Samford University, performed two years of graduate work at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and graduated with honors from the Medical College of Georgia with a degree in physical therapy. Courson is a national registered advanced emergency medical technician as well as a certified strength and conditioning specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

During his career in sports medicine, Courson has also been involved in many athletic training activities including work as an athletic trainer with the U.S. Olympic Team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea; 1990 Goodwill Games; 1987 World University Games, 1987 Pan American Games and the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. He served as the chief athletic trainer for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials as well as the chief athletic trainer for track and field for the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games (ACOG).

Courson is active in his profession, having served as the president of the SEC Sports Medicine Committee, chairman of the College and University Athletic Trainers' Committee of the National Athletic Trainers' Association and as a member of the NCAA Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports committee. He is a past medical liaison to the American Football Coaches Association and serves currently on the NFL Health and Safety Committee and the USA Football Medical Advisory Board.

Ron received the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer award in 2005 from the National Athletic Trainers' Association and was inducted into the Southeast Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Fame in 2011 and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2013. Most recently, Courson was inducted into the Georgia Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame in January, 2018.
 
Courson serves as an adjunct instructor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Georgia, teaching in the nationally accredited athletic training education program. He is active in research and education in the field of sports medicine, having authored a textbook, "Athletic Training Emergency Care", a number of professional papers and text chapters and presents frequently at regional and national sports medicine meetings.

Courson is married to the former Eileen O'Connell of Waycross, Georgia. Ron and Eileen have four children, John, Anna, Luke, and Will.

Stanley A. Herring, MD, is senior medical advisor and co-founder of The Sports Institute at UW Medicine, Co- medical director for Orthopedic Health and Sports Medicine for UW Medicine, and co-medical director of the UW Medicine Sports Concussion Program.

Dr. Herring is one of the team physicians for the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Mariners. His clinical practice focuses on the diagnosis and non-operative management of neurological and musculoskeletal injuries, particularly focusing on spinal disorders in active people and athletes as well as sports-related concussions.  

Dr. Herring is a clinical professor in the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, and Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington, Seattle and holds the Zachery Lystedt  Sports Concussion Endowed Chair. His philosophy is to provide kind and compassionate care that focuses not only on the relief of pain and suffering, but also helps patients return to activities that give them quality of life.

Education and Training
UW - Dept. of Rehabilitation Medicine - Residency, 1982, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Univ. of Texas Southwestern - Medical Education, 1979
UW - Dept. of Rehabilitation Medicine - Teaching Appointment

Board Certifications
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 1983, American Board of Physical Medicine & Rehab

Kevin M. Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC began in UNC Chapel Hill's Department of Exercise and Sports Science in July 1995, and was appointed Department Chair in July 2005. Dr. Guskiewicz heads the sport concussion program at UNC, while also serving as the Director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory and Research Director for the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes. His teaching responsibilities include Cadaver Anatomy, Therapeutic Modalities, Human Anatomy, and Research Methods & Statistics in Sports Medicine.

Dr. Guskiewicz’s research is focused on the assessment of sport-related concussion and the long-term effects of concussion. He has been the recipient of over 15 funded research grants on this topic, and has published over 45 journal articles and five textbook chapters related to concussion in sport. He serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Athletic Training, and is on the editorial boards of two other journals. Kevin was the recipient of the 1997 Kenneth Knight Outstanding Research Manuscript for the Journal of Athletic Training, the recipient of the 1999 NATA-REF New Investigator Award for Athletic Training Research, and the 2006 Medal for Distinguished Athletic Training Research. He was awarded Fellowship in American College of Sports Medicine in May 2003, and was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education in September 2006. He and his wife Amy have four children: Jacob, Nathan, Adam, and Tessa.