About Me

James H. Andrews, PhD, LCSW, LICSW

I am a forensic social worker, clinical social worker, and expert witness with over 30 years of experience in behavioral health practice, systems oversight, and risk management. I operate at the intersection of clinical practice, legal standards, and organizational accountability. Having been recognized as an expert in both state and federal courts, I provide expert analysis in matters involving standards of care, documentation, violence risk assessment, abuse and neglect, and institutional response to high-risk situations.

Approach

In clinical settings, the goal is to help. In forensic settings, the goal is to tell the truth clearly, objectively, and with integrity, regardless of outcome.

My work is grounded in a central principle: in high-stakes behavioral health situations, decisions must be structured, defensible, and ethically sound.

I specialize in:

• Forensic behavioral health analysis and expert testimony

• Violence risk and threat assessment

• Clinical documentation and standard of care evaluation

• Institutional and systems-level failure analysis

• Trauma-informed and ethics-based consultation

This is not simply clinical work. It is the application of social work knowledge to questions that carry legal, ethical, and often irreversible consequences.

Practice & Consulting

Through my practice, Forensic Behavioral Associates, LLC, I work with attorneys, healthcare organizations, and behavioral health systems to clarify complex clinical issues and support informed decision-making.

My approach integrates:

• Structured clinical judgment

• Research-informed practice

• Trauma-aware analysis

• Clear, defensible reasoning suitable for legal contexts

I have contributed to over 150 legal and regulatory matters, including wrongful death, abuse and neglect, professional liability, and behavioral health system failures.

Academics & Teaching

In addition to my forensic work, I serve as a social work educator and have taught across graduate programs in clinical practice, ethics, diagnosis, and forensic social work. My teaching is grounded in real-world application, preparing clinical social workers to navigate complexity, ambiguity, and ethical tension in practice.

Bioprofile

Dr. Andrews is a clinical social worker with expertise in forensic social work. He has been practicing in the field of behavioral health for nearly forty years as a clinical/forensic social worker, therapist, administrator, risk manager, consultant and educator. He currently provides forensic social work and clinical consultation fulltime through his private practice Forensic Behavioral Associates and is a recognized expert in social work practice and ethics. He is an adjunct professor in the MSW Program at Moravian University in Bethlehem, PA. He was an Associate Professor of Social Work at Penn State and served as the founding Field Education Director of the World Campus MSW Program. He was formally a fulltime faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh in the School of Social Work and part-time faculty at Chatham University Department of Social Work and Criminology. He was previously the Program Coordinator for the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work - Master of Social Work Program at Johnston. He has served as adjunct faculty at Case Western Reserve University at the Mandel School of Applied Social Science in Cleveland, OH. He was the Field Coordinator/Professor in the Social Work Department of California University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Andrews has presented workshops at regional and national conferences and has taught in the graduate program of Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston, MA and at Seton Hill University’s undergraduate Social Work program. He has practiced in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, West Virginia and Pennsylvania in addition to consulting nationally.

He holds his PhD in applied social science along with degrees in general management, psychology, and social work. His areas of research are threat assessment and violence, its causes, pre-identification and prediction. He also holds advanced licensure in social work including the LCSW in Pennsylvania, the LICSW in Massachusetts and holds national certification as a Board Certified Diplomate (BCD) with the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work. In forensics, he holds credentials in Forensic Counseling, Sentence Mitigation and is a Certified Master Forensic Social Worker with the American College of Forensic Examiners International and was a Certified Investigator through the Office of Public Welfare in Pennsylvania.

He operates a private forensic consulting practice, Forensic Behavioral Associates, where he provides expert witness services in both civil and criminal cases involving such issues as behavioral health malpractice, wrongful death, sexual abuse allegations and sentence mitigation in capital punishment. He also provides clinical supervision, HIPAA compliance and risk management consulting to behavioral health professionals. He is very active in his professional association, the National Association of Social Workers, having held several leadership positions over the past several years, including PA Chapter President 2007-2009, Public Policy Committee Chair (2009-2011), Committee for the Identification of Leadership for NASW-PA (2017-2018) and in the NASW Delegate Assembly (2008, 2014, 2017). He currently serves on the several NASW-PA committees including the Communications, Conference, Clinical Care, Legislative and Social Justice Committees.