Workplace Investigation Expert Witness

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

I am an employment lawyer, and I specialize in workplace investigations. I have over 25 years of experience. I conduct complex workplace investigations including those crossing international borders, involving C-Suite leaders, Boards of Directors, multiple complainants and/or respondents, and those involving contentious workplace relationships. Hartrick Employment Law & Investigations (HELI) also focuses on training and executive coaching associated with workplace investigations. I am also General Counsel for a global executive coaching firm. My background includes five years managing a team of investigators as Deputy Commissioner for the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) discrimination agency. I am a former law firm partner/litigator, and I taught employment discrimination at Loyola University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois. I successfully performed corporate officer positions in the legal and human resources functions for over 15 years, with global, publicly traded corporations. In those roles I conducted and/or managed workplace and corporate compliance investigations. At one publicly traded company, I oversaw a team of 34 workplace investigators as the Human Resources Vice President of Employee Relations. I combine over 35 years of employment law expertise with extensive training in investigations, mediation, and executive coaching. I have been a volunteer mediator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), and the Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR). I am an elected Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (CLEL), a recognition by colleagues of sustained outstanding performance in the profession that exemplifies integrity, dedication, and excellence. I have been an Illinois Super Lawyer for many years, and have a Martindale-Hubbell "AV" rating, the highest ranking in legal ability and ethical standards as determined by lawyer peers. I serve on the Board of the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education (IICLE), and am former co-president (and Board member) for local Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) chapters, NISHRM and NIHRC. In the area of workplace investigations: > I am a sustaining member of the Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI) - see https://www.awi.org/page/Membership_Directory. I have been a certificate holder for workplace investigations (AWI-CH) since April 2018, after I successfully completed AWI's accredited week-long training institute for workplace investigators (the "Institute"). > After becoming an AWI-CH, I accepted the invitation to become a faculty member for the Institute where the purpose is to teach the core knowledge and skills necessary to successfuly perform impartial workplace investigations. Core knowledge includes addressing bias, planning, law, evidence, credibility, ethics, and post-investigation processes. Core skills include interviewing, analysis, and report writing skills. > I have been a faculty member for the accredited AWI Training Institute eight (8) times since 2018, including most recently in May 2025 and October 2025. > I am co-convenor for the Chicago-area AWI local circle. > I am a member of the AWI Training Institute Committee. > I was part of a selected pilot group to attend and provide feedback on AWI's Advanced Workplace Training Program in March 2025. I frequently speak and write on a variety of employment law subjects, including workplace investigations, leave issues, sexual harassment, respect in the workplace, executive coaching, workplace violence, and other topics. My law degree is from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where I served on the law review (and was published). My BBA is from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. You can contact me at KHartrick@HartrickEmploymentLaw.com.