About Us

Expert Fire Litigation Consultants was founded on a simple principle: fire-related legal disputes deserve an investigator who has seen thousands of real scenes, testified under cross-examination, and built a career on getting the facts right.

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Michael A. Schlatman, MAU, IAAI-CFI, brings more than four decades of fire investigation experience to every engagement. His background spans law enforcement, insurance investigation, forensic consulting, and international fire investigation education. Before founding EFLC, he served as a police officer and detective in St. Louis County, where he was assigned to arson, homicide, and criminal investigations. He went on to open and lead multiple fire investigation firms over the course of his career, conducting thousands of origin and cause investigations for insurers, attorneys, corporations, and government agencies.

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Michael is a Certified Fire Investigator through the International Association of Arson Investigators, an internationally recognized credential in the field. He served as President of the IAAI from 2004 to 2005, where he oversaw training programs, committee development, and the creation of the IAAI Ethics for Fire Investigators course. He is the primary instructor and task force head of the IAAI Expert Witness Courtroom Testimony Course, a role he has held since 2001 and in which he has trained more facilitators than any other instructor in the program's history.

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His consulting record includes work for major insurance carriers, plaintiff and defense attorneys, federal agencies including the Department of Defense and the US Air Force, prosecutors, and indigent defense teams. His findings have been accepted at both the federal and state trial levels. He has also peer-reviewed foundational texts in the field, including the second edition of "Forensic Fire Scene Reconstruction" by Icove and DeHaan.

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At EFLC, Michael draws on that depth of experience to provide rigorous, independent analysis for civil and criminal fire litigation. He does not reach for a conclusion and work backward. He investigates, documents, and delivers findings that are technically defensible and built to withstand scrutiny.

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When you retain EFLC, you are engaging an investigator with the credentials, the courtroom experience, and the professional standing to speak with authority in serious legal proceedings.