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Michael A. Brave, Esq., M.S., C.P.S., C.S.T.
President, LAAW International, Inc.

Michael Brave is the President of LAAW International, Inc., and the former President of the International Force Institute, Inc. He has been involved in a wide-range of comprehensive law enforcement and private security risk/liability management services including: training programs, policy development and review, liability/risk assessments, training appraisals, department audits, post-incident analysis, etc. He has been a litigation consultant and an expert witness in federal civil rights issues; sudden unexpected death; positional asphyxia; restraint; handcuffing; pepper spray, impact tools, neck restraints, law enforcement policy, training, supervision, discipline, and retention; use of force (including deadly force); vehicle operations (including pursuits, roadblocks, and emergency operation); canines; correctional/jail issues (including suicides); and other cases.

As a certified, and nationally recognized, instructor in several facets of deadly force, many non-lethal, and less-than-lethal programs, several law enforcement vehicle operation programs, and others, Mike has presented many law enforcement risk/liability management programs across the country, and in Mexico. Mike was also the lead attorney for the IACP and NHTSA for their Occupant Restraint Risk Management Program. Mike is (since 1983) a certified Wisconsin law enforcement officer and (since 1988 a) trainer. Additionally, he was a (part-time) police legal advisor, trainer, field training officer, and patrol captain.

Mike has been on the National Advisory Boards of the Police Law Institute, the Jail Law Institute, and Defense Training International, Inc. He is a former member of the Executive Board of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers (ASLET). He is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Legal Officers' Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and is a consultant to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Manual. Mike has published articles in periodicals including the Police Chief, American City & County, the Prosecutor, Police & Security News, the ASLET Journal, the International Use of Force Journal, and the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Manual; and has also presented several programs on the Law Enforcement Television Network.

Mike's prior experience includes being an attorney for a St. Paul (MN) law firm with special emphasis on municipal and liability defense, and being the personnel and special projects director for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), a leading provider of attorney litigation education. Mr. Brave holds a Juris Doctor degree from Hamline University School of Law, a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a Master's Degree in Management Technology from the University of Wisconsin - Stout. He is a Certified Protection Specialist (C.P.S.) and a Certified Security Trainer (C.S.T.). He is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court; the 7th, 8th, and D.C. Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal; Wisconsin and Minnesota State Courts; and others.