Keith Rohman, AWI-CH
President & Founder
He / Him
Keith Rohman, AWI-CH, is a recognized expert in all aspects of civil and criminal workplace and Title IX investigations. Since founding Public Interest Investigations in 1984, Rohman has investigated hundreds of high-profile cases involving board members, staff, contractors, and other stakeholders facing allegations such as embezzlement, conflicts of interest, wage and hour issues, discrimination, wrongful termination, and other serious misconduct at public agencies and private sector employers. He also has conducted and overseen Title IX investigations of sexual assault complaints at dozens of colleges, universities, and K-12 districts in the Western U.S.
Given his broad and deep experience spanning civil and criminal matters, counsel frequently engage Rohman to provide expert witness services. He has provided expert witness testimony regarding sufficiency of investigation in workplace and Title IX investigations, administrative investigations in law enforcement, and ineffective assistance of counsel in capital murder cases, among other issues.
Rohman actively has pursued improving the investigations industry throughout his career. He frequently presents at industry conferences and provides training on the various aspects of conducting workplace and Title IX investigations. Rohman is a past president and active member of the Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI), an international association that promotes and enhances the quality of impartial workplace investigations for its 2,100+ members, including internal and neutral third-party investigators, attorneys, and human resource professionals.
Industry Involvement
- AWI Training Institute for Workplace Investigators, Senior Faculty – Teach the core knowledge and skills necessary to successfully perform impartial workplace investigations.
- Loyola School of Law, Los Angeles, Adjunct Professor – Taught investigation in employment and other investigative areas for twenty years.
- T9 Mastered Training for Campus Investigators, Senior Trainer & Co-Founder – Deliver training for Title IX investigators.
Career Highlights
Workplace Investigations:
- Investigations at major research labs in medicine and technology on a wide range of issues including animal welfare concerns, sexual harassment complaints, and bullying and abusive treatment of subordinates.
- Retained by the University of California (UC) Office of the President to Investigate allegations of financial improprieties, conflicts of interest and other misconduct involving members of the UC Board of Regents and, separately, investigate the Chancellor of UC Berkeley, who resigned following PII’s report.
- Investigator for attorneys in landmark litigation filed on behalf of service women and men sexually assaulted in the U.S. military.
- Member of the Equity Oversight Panel of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which oversees Internal Affairs investigations in the Department.
Campus Investigations:
- Investigated conflicting claims of Title VI discrimination with respect to a graduate school’s response to allegations that students made anti-Semitic remarks during a presentation by supporters of the Israeli government.
- Investigated allegations at a private college that pro-Palestinian groups were hostile to Jewish students during protests over the war in Gaza.
Criminal and Human Rights Investigations:
- Investigator in the trial against Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King.
- Conducted investigations related to the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
- Investigated allegations of shootings of Iraqis by Blackwater, Inc.
- Defense investigator in over 30 death penalty cases throughout the United States.
Expert Witness:
- In a lawsuit filed against a major university, testified regarding the sufficiency of an investigation into potential violations of Title IX by a tenured professor.
- Testified in litigation filed by a legal nonprofit against a state’s Department of Corrections regarding the sufficiency of internal affairs investigations conducted by the department.
- Retained as an expert regarding the sufficiency of a high school human resources department’s investigation of a bus driver’s alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old high school cheerleader.
- In a hearing appealing a capital murder conviction, testified regarding the quality of the defense counsel’s investigation in advance of trial at which the client was convicted and sentenced to death.
Recent Presentations
- October 2024, Presenter, “Workplaces and Campuses – the New(ish) Field of Neutral Investigations,” California Association of Licensed Investigators 55th Annual Conference, Palm Springs, California.
- September 2024, Co-Presenter, ““Criminal and Civil – Non-Equity Workplace Investigations,” 2024 AWI Annual Conference, San Diego, California.
- February 2024, Trainer, “The Sum of the Parts- Investigative Report Writing,” two-day training for investigators at the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), Sacramento, California
- November 2023, Presenter, “Bullying Investigations: Finding Our Way in Uncharted Territory,” California Public Employers Labor Relations Association’s (CALPELRA) 2023 Conference, Monterey, California.
- April 2023, Co-Presenter, “When the Workplace Investigator is Deposed,” Los Angeles County Bar Labor & Employment Law Section Retreat, Dana Point, California.
- April 2023, Presenter, “Interview Techniques,” full day training for housing discrimination investigators, Civil Rights Department, State of California, Sacramento, California.
- March 2023, Guest Lecturer, “The El Monte Thai Worker Slavery Investigation,” University of San Francisco School of Law, Immigration Law and Policy class.
- August 2022, Presenter, “Succeeding in Difficult Interviews: An Expert Approach,” T9 Mastered Webinar Program, webinar.
- January 2022, Panel Presenter, “Lessons from the Cuomo Investigation,” 2022 Program on New Developments in Workplace Sexual Harassment, Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law, UC Berkeley School of Law, Berkeley, California.
- October 2021, Co-Presenter, “Are You Sure About This Finding? Dealing With Influence and Pressure During an Investigation,” Association of Workplace Investigators Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado.
Education, License & Certifications
Private Investigator, California Department of Consumer Affairs
Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI), Training Institute for Workplace Investigators, AWI-CH certificate
Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA), Advanced Investigator certificate
Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles, B.A., Magna Cum Laude
