• Commercial Real Estate
• Landlord/Tenant
• Lost Profits
• Property Management
• Real Estate Broker
• Real Estate Damages
• Real Estate Leasing
• Residential Real Estate
• Retail Real Estate
• Shopping Center/Mall Real Estate

Q: Please list your professional accreditations, degrees, licenses, and certificates granted:

A: • Bachelor of Arts, Elon University, 2003
• Certified Property Manager (CPM®), Institute of Real Estate Management — Current; certification examination passed October 2007, Management Plan Skills Assessment passed January 2008; designation held since 2008
• Accredited Residential Manager (ARM®), Institute of Real Estate Management — Current; certification examination passed April 2006; designation held since 2006
• Certified Apartment Portfolio Supervisor (CAPS), National Apartment Association — Previously held; designation is no longer active
• Licensed Real Estate Broker — Ohio
• Licensed Real Estate Broker — Georgia
• Licensed Real Estate Broker — North Carolina
• Licensed Real Estate Broker — Virginia
• Licensed Real Estate Associate Broker — Pennsylvania
• Licensed Real Estate Salesperson — West Virginia

Continuing education and professional development
My continuing education includes repeated fair housing and nondiscrimination training across renewal cycles, ethics, brokerage management and supervision, property management, and license law. I also completed IREM’s Train the Trainer: Outstanding Facilitation program and passed its facilitation assessment. This study complements my operating experience and informs my evaluation of management practices, training, and oversight.

IREM professional education (per IREM transcript): Property Maintenance and Risk Management (MNT402, 2007); Successful Site Management (RES201, 2006); Human Resource Essentials for Real Estate Managers (HRS402, 2006); Ethics for the Real Estate Manager (800, 2007); Marketing and Leasing: Multifamily Properties (MKL405, 2005); Investment Real Estate: Financial Tools (FIN402, 2007); Investment Real Estate Financing and Valuation (ASM603–605, 2006–2007); Property Management Plans: The IREM Model (BDM602, 2007).

Corporate training, national retail REIT (enclosed-mall management):
• Crisis communications and media relations: media inquiries, spokesperson responsibilities, interview preparation, crisis messaging
• Crisis planning and response: notification procedures, response-team roles, activation and post-incident responsibilities
• Emergency coordination and business continuity: coordination with emergency services, communication plans, restoring operations
• Security management and public safety: security staffing, contractor oversight, patrol procedures, access control
• Property inspections and maintenance: inspection practices, common areas, parking lots, snow removal, maintenance contractors
• Risk management and insurance administration: claims procedures, insurance requirements, contractor agreements, loss prevention

Emergency preparedness and active-threat response:
• Active-shooter and biological-threat preparedness training: response options, threat awareness, and coordination with police, fire, and EMS
• Terrorism-awareness and emergency-preparedness coursework: mass-notification use, evacuation, and shelter-in-place procedures


Media crisis training and why it matters to my expert work: This training covered how an on-site management team receives and routes media inquiries during an incident, who is authorized to speak, how to prepare for on-camera and print interviews, and how to deliver approved crisis messaging that is accurate, timely, and consistent with what the operations team is actually doing. It also covered the sequence a property follows when an incident occurs: notification, activation of the response team, coordination with police, fire, and emergency medical services, communication with tenants and the public, and post-incident documentation and follow-up. As a property-management expert, I use this background in two ways. First, it gives me a practical basis for evaluating whether a management organization was prepared for an incident and whether its response, escalation, and communications matched its own procedures and the conditions on the ground. Second, it shapes how I communicate as a witness: measured, factual, responsive to the question asked, and limited to what the record and my operating experience support.

Q: Please list your affiliations or memberships in any professional and/or industry organizations:

A: Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) — Member; active Certified Property Manager (CPM®) and Accredited Residential Manager (ARM®) designations. National service includes the IREM Governing Council (ARM Governing Councillor, 2011–2012 and 2014–2015; Regional Vice President, Region 13, 2015–2016; elected Governing Councillor for the 2027–2029 term); Chair of the Membership & Credentialing Committee (2013–2014) and Vice Chair (2012–2013); Vice Chair of the ARM Enhancement Committee (2011–2012); Member of the Presidential Executive Committee (2011–2012); Member of the Foundation Scholarship and Grants Committee (2012–2013); and Member of the Conference Advisory Board (2016–2017). Through the Membership & Credentialing Committee, I served in the governance of the national credentialing program by which property managers earn the CPM and ARM designations. I am a member of the IREM Academy of Authors and a published author in the Journal of Property Management. Recognition includes the Journal of Property Management's Top 30 Leaders Under 30, the IREM Professional Achievement Award (2013), and IREM Chapter #56 CPM of the Year (2012).

Apartment Association of North Carolina (AANC) — Member during my regional multifamily leadership in the Piedmont Triad market, participating in state-level apartment industry education and professional programming.

Piedmont Triad Apartment Association — Member; recognized as Regional Manager of the Year.

National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI) — Completed the Certified Apartment Portfolio Supervisor (CAPS) coursework track and passed the associated examination. The designation has since lapsed and is listed here as prior education and training only, not as a current credential.

State Real Estate Regulatory Affiliations — Licensed real estate broker in Georgia (Broker of Record), Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina; associate broker license in Pennsylvania; real estate salesperson license in West Virginia.

City of St. Clairsville, Ohio — Planning and Zoning Committee member.

Rotary International — Member, Rotary Club of Belmont (District 7680). Member and President-Elect, Rotary Club of St. Clairsville

Q: Please list any teaching or speaking experience you have had, including subject matter:

A: Teaching and instructor development

Her teaching background includes service as Real Estate Instructor / Adjunct Faculty at Belmont College (2015–2020), where she taught real estate principles, law, finance, and appraisal in classroom and online formats. This experience supports her ability to explain complex property-management concepts clearly and systematically.

Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM®) — Instructor Development
Train the Trainer: Outstanding Facilitation, Chicago, Illinois (2014)

Completed IREM classroom instructor-development and facilitation training; subsequent instructor-development assessment successfully completed in 2015.

Investor and Owner Group Presentations

Author and regular presenter of "Basics of Property Management," an instructional program delivered on an ongoing basis to real estate investor and ownership groups. The program addresses site management operations, staffing and human resources administration, leadership and supervision, workforce planning, and the responsibilities and decision authority of the on-site property manager. Presentations pair recognized industry practice with direct operating experience so that owners and investors can evaluate management performance against realistic operating expectations rather than assumptions.

Conference Speaking

Invited member of the speaking faculty, Information Management Network (IMN), The Inaugural Multifamily Property Management & Operations Forum, Dallas, Texas, March 21–22, 2019. Served as panelist on "Cost of a New Tenant vs. Raising Rent — Revenue Management Best Practices: Evaluating Unit Rate Pricing Optimization Tools."

In that session and in other national conference panels, my contribution has consistently involved testing published industry benchmarks and prevailing practice against my own portfolio-level operating results. Rather than presenting benchmark data as settled standards, I have explained where a benchmark held true in live operations, where it did not, and what property, market, staffing, or ownership conditions accounted for the difference. That approach reflects how I evaluate operating performance generally: industry data establishes the expected range, and direct operating experience determines whether a particular result falls inside or outside it and why.

Additional panel subject matter has included organizational structure for out-of-market operations, multi-state and remote property management, staffing models, centralization versus decentralization, technology integration, employee performance and uniform operating standards, and management structure and decision authority across dispersed teams.

Professional Writing and Industry Publication

Published author in the Journal of Property Management and member of IREM's Academy of Authors. Published subject matter has included workforce management, employee retention, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, organizational culture, property operations, staffing models, and industry trends. Recognized by the Journal of Property Management among its Top 30 Leaders Under 30.

Selected Journal of Property Management articles:

• “Make No Apologies: Getting Back to Fundamentals in a Culture of Concessions”
• “Education vs. Experience”
• “Crossing the Divide? Be a Boss, Not a Friend”
• “Telecommuting: Is It Right for You and Your Business?”
• “Urban Regeneration: Reviving Buildings and Communities”

Featured contributor in “Tales From the Front: An Upfront and Honest Discussion on Starting a Career in Property Management.”

These works appeared under the historical professional names Emily Goodman and Emily Goodman-Shortall. The author is now known professionally as Emily Goodman Shortall, CPM®, ARM®, and Emily Shortall.

Q: Have any of your accreditations ever been investigated, suspended or removed? (if yes, explain)

A: no

Q: On how many occasions have you been retained as an expert?

A: 5

Q: For what area(s) of expertise have you been retained as an expert?

A: I have been retained as a property-management expert in five matters:

• Multifamily: swimming-pool operations and enclosure access control at an apartment community, including renovation oversight, inspection and maintenance systems, staffing and supervision, training, incident reporting, and policy implementation, in a drowning matter.

• Commercial: management of an observable exterior common-area condition at a managed commercial property, including inspection routines, documentation, referral of third-party-owned equipment, assignment, escalation, and verification of closure, in a premises-injury matter.

• Multifamily: management of in-unit gas-fired heating equipment and carbon-monoxide detection at an apartment community, including preventive-maintenance and equipment/service-record systems, inspections, qualified-contractor follow-through, resident-complaint handling, staff training, emergency escalation, and documented corrective work, in a carbon-monoxide exposure matter.

• Commercial: management of an out-of-service dock leveler at a high-volume institutional loading dock, including notice, inspection, repair escalation, qualified-vendor follow-through, control of a disabled bay, and authorization of temporary dockboard arrangements, in a premises-injury matter. Equipment engineering and medical causation are reserved to other specialists.

• Multifamily: utility-billing practices at an apartment community, including master-meter cost allocation, flat-fee and ratio-billing (RUBS) setup, lease addenda and resident disclosures, billing-vendor oversight, reconciliation, and resident billing disputes, in a utility-charge class matter. Statutory applicability and legal conclusions are reserved to counsel.

Each engagement involves record review and chronology development; written expert reports have been prepared in three matters.

Q: In what percentage of your cases were you retained by the plaintiff?

A: 80

Q: On how many occasions have you had your deposition taken?

A: 0 as a retained expert. Prior fact-witness and corporate-representative testimony is described in my introduction.

Q: When was the last time you had your deposition taken?

A: Not applicable as a retained expert to date.

Q: What services do you offer? (E.g.: consulting, testing, reports, site inspections etc.)

A: • Preliminary case evaluation and consulting
• Review and analysis of property-management records, policies, procedures, contracts, work orders, inspection records, incident reports, communications, photographs, and deposition testimony
• Property-management practices and operational-systems analysis
• Chronology development and identification of documentation or discovery gaps
• Assistance with discovery requests, deposition strategy, and witness preparation
• Site inspections and property-operations assessments
• Evaluation of staffing, training, supervision, maintenance, security, vendor management, and incident-response systems
• Written expert reports, supplemental reports, affidavits, and declarations
• Review and critique of opposing expert reports
• Rebuttal opinions and reports
• Deposition, arbitration, mediation, and trial testimony
• Consulting-expert and testifying-expert services for plaintiff and defense counsel

I do not perform engineering, architectural, medical, laboratory, accident-reconstruction, or other specialized technical testing.

Q: What is your hourly rate to consult with an attorney?

A: 250

Q: What is your hourly rate to review documents?

A: 250

Q: What is your hourly rate to provide deposition testimony?

A: 350

Q: What is your hourly rate to provide testimony at trial?

A: 400

Available Upon Request