Portland

Ms. Seaman Kelly has 30 years of experience in examining a variety of documents in both criminal and civil cases. Retired from law enforcement in 2017, Ms. Seaman Kelly established her private practice to serve the legal community’s need for a qualified and experienced forensic document examiner in Portland and the State of Oregon. She is Past President of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners (ABFDE), and is currently Section Chair of the Questioned Documents Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). She is a current member of the Forensic Document Examination sub-committee of the Organization of Scientific Areas Committees (OSAC), which drafts professional standards for the various tasks in forensic document examination, and the Academy Standards Board which is a multi-forensic science board that reviews standards submitted by the forensic science disciplines . Ms. Seaman Kelly has qualified as an expert and has testified in federal, state and administrative courts in Nevada and Oklahoma. She is a noted author and a frequent speaker on topics related to forensic document examination. She also serves as a consultant and provides training to other document examiners.

An attorney retains the services of an expert to determine whether or not the forensic evidence will support the client’s claims. Attorneys do not like surprises when it comes to their case. Even in situations where the results do not favor the retaining attorney, he or she still benefits from knowing the results of the examination and can use that information in case preparation.

Forensic document services provided in Portland and the State of Oregon include the examination of disputed handwriting and signatures, detecting alterations to a document, identifying printing processes, ascertaining the date of a document through non-destructive testing, fracture matching of torn documents, and, recovering indented or obliterated text. There is no charge for the initial consultation.