Litigation Support
BDO's Financial Advisory Services (FAS) provides comprehensive litigation support services in actual or potential legal proceedings before a court, regulatory body, government authority or in alternate dispute resolution settings.
We are often retained by lawyers, insurance companies and the business community to provide an assessment of economic damages and to prepare an independent expert’s report suitable for use at settlement meetings, mediations, arbitrations or in court.
We are also retained to review and provide comments on another expert’s report in order to assist counsel in preparing for cross examination, or to file a responding expert report, which may or may not contain an independent assessment of damages.
If required, we would appear as expert witnesses before the trier of fact. As expert witnesses, we are called upon to testify by providing independent expert evidence to assist the trier of fact in understanding the accounting and/or valuation issues in dispute.
The FAS team uses our financial skills, business expertise and knowledge of the legal process when conducting each assignment.
We present a high quality, balanced quantification based on reasonable assumptions and sound financial analysis.
We utilize a team approach involving the solicitor, client and other experts to ensure that the engagement is run in a cost effective and timely manner.
Services offered
At various stages of the litigation process we are often asked to provide the following assistance:
- Quantification of financial losses and/or economic damages in various types of disputes. Financial losses could include past and future lost profits, lost or decreased value of business and out of pocket costs
- Assessment of the value of an asset, security or business interest
- Identification of documents and business records to be requested
- Formation of questions to be asked at Examination for Discovery and Cross Examination
- Review and analyze financial evidence
- Investigation and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the financial evidence
- Development of computerized applications to assist in the analysis and presentation of financial evidence
- Document management
- Identification and evaluation of alternative methods of quantifying damages and mitigating damages
- Location of other experts (e.g. real estate appraisers, machinery and equipment appraisers, actuaries, compensation experts, etc.)
- Preparation of a written report setting out our findings
- Review of opposing expert’s report including the preparation of a formal written critique
- Evaluation and formulation of negotiating positions with respect to financial settlements
- Preparation of visual aids to support and illustrate our evidence
- Provision of expert testimony
- Preparation of demonstrative evidence at trial
- Preparation of questions for the cross examination of the opposing expert at trial
