Financial Litigation and
Expert Witness
SuperConference

Swissôtel Chicago | Chicago, IL USA

This session will address the following questions and topics:

• What is collaborative divorce?
• What types of clients use collaborative?
• What makes collaborative unique?
• How financial experts fit well into collaborative.
• Typical issues in collaborative divorce.

Attendees will learn effective approaches to writing an expert damages report for use in a litigation matter. The session will include a review of the report writing requirements set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and reporting requirements for other jurisdictions. This session will also focus on drafting reports with an emphasis on content, language, supporting evidence, exhibits, and professional standards compliance.

The big issue in business litigation—the one the huge verdicts turn on—is whether the plaintiff's lost profits have been proven with reasonable certainty. Every U.S. jurisdiction has adopted the rule that lost profits must be proven with reasonable certainty. What are the factors courts actually take into account when they decide whether the plaintiff has proven its lost profits with reasonable certainty? These factors will be discussed in connection with an actual case study.

This session will identify the opposing expert (i.e., credentialed, academic, broker) and standards to be employed by them, if any. Develop a context to review the opposing expert's report in preparation for production of your rebuttal analysis and report and discover tools to assist you. Consider differing rebuttal approaches based on your engagement by the plaintiff versus your engagement by the defendant. Develop appropriate evidence and argument for your rebuttal. Discuss planning your rebuttal and surrebuttal testimony with counsel.

This session focuses on several of the key elements and processes of calculating damages in cases involving personal injury and wrongful death (e.g., lost earnings or lost economic support, lost benefits, lost future medical expenses, lost household services). The session will be based on the most recent literature and sources of information on multiple topics in these areas. Different methodologies and data sources will be reviewed.

The expert witness may be the only effective way for the attorney to present technical evidence to the court. But, effectively using a technical expert witness can sometimes be a challenging experience for both the attorney and the expert. This session will discuss the effective use of the expert witness from the perspective of both, the expert and the attorney. Many aspects of expert witness testimony will be presented with special emphasis on tips and traps of being an expert witness. Credibility is everything in expert testimony and knowing how to avoid being discredited is critical to being a powerful expert witness. Teamwork with the attorney is very important and this session will show you how to create an effective presentation.

This session is designed to provide attendees with “cutting edge technology tools and ideas” to help them successfully strategize, market, and build profitable matrimonial and forensic litigation practices. Learn the secrets that marketing consultants recommend to CPA firms that will help attendees to promote their firm and grow their practice.

Information forthcoming

In recent years, the methodology and supporting evidence for proving reasonable royalty damages have been scrutinized by the Courts. This session will provide an overview of reasonable royalty damages and related challenges in determining royalties. It will also focus on practical ways to assist Counsel with discovery strategies and analytical approaches to employ, specifically focusing on: the hypothetical negotiation and the related Georgia-Pacific factors; the entire market value rule; apportionment to the smallest saleable patent practicing unit; identifying and analyzing comparable licenses; use of the analytical approach; and implications of recent Federal Circuit on the analysis of reasonable royalty damages.

The role of the expert is to use his or her skills and qualifications to enable the judge and jury to better understand the evidence. In preparing the case, there are many steps and variables that enter into the experts work: planning the project, gathering the foundational evidence, applying approaches and methodologies, the application of the expert's professional skills, formulation of opinions, drafting of reports, interfacing with counsel, preparing for deposition and trial, and delivery of expert testimony. Experts typically assume that retaining counsel will be both supportive and helpful as the expert conducts the engagement. Many experts, however, are surprised to learn that on occasion, retaining counsel may become a significant obstacle to the expert's success in the matter. In this session we will explore some of the all to common practices of attorneys that undermine their own expert's work and identify strategies and best practices that experts may employ to protect themselves and remain credible and persuasive in the courtroom.

In every communication skill, small, seemingly innocuous errors—misspellings, mispronunciations, confusing “its” and “it’s”, little nonverbal signals, etc.—can have a devastating impact on your communication effectiveness. And make no mistake: presenting numerical information is a COMMUNICATION skill. This entertaining session offers a tour through those little numbers' presentation errors that can be so destructive to the effectiveness and personal credibility in the eyes of the audience.

Attendees will also receive suitable-for-framing copies of (a) “The Art of Quantation,” the practices that will ensure effective numbers presentation (the “thou shalts”), and (b) “The Deadly Sins of Quantation” (the “thou shalt nots”).

Information forthcoming

This session will explain what plaintiffs must demonstrate and what defendants must challenge at the class certification stage—and the role of the financial litigation services expert witness in those demonstrations—in order to prove or disprove membership in a proposed class. The session will discuss the role of the financial litigation consultant regarding the "ascertainable" and "administratively feasible" requirements. In summary, these concepts require an objective class definition and an “administratively feasible” way to determine who satisfies that definition.

Experts are an integral part of the litigation process. In complex litigation, the significance of the expert witness, in both pre-trial and trial, can have a significant impact on the outcome of the case.

Experts are professionally and ethically bound to be objective and independent. Unfortunately, there are more and more practitioners advocating for their clients. This presents additional challenges to the already difficult task of communicating complex topics in the trier of fact. We all know cases that have been won, not on the technical merits of the analysis, but on the persuasiveness of the expert.

This session will provide attendees 10 ways to defend against an advocating expert without appearing to be an advocate themselves.

You ask the tough questions. This will be a panel of our conference faculty who will provide solid answers. In this lively and interactive discussion, the profession’s leading experts and emerging leaders will share their insights and practical guidance on a range of topics. Receive cutting-edge information on an array of topics and walk away with answers to your burning questions.