Track Two (Thursday)

A reality of professional practice in legal dispute resolution is that experts are typically challenged by opposing counsel who will hold them to the highest level of standard. Unfortunately, Financial Forensics Experts are often unclear about the professional standards that govern their work. Without a working understanding of these standards, the expert will continue to be vulnerable to these challenges and accompanying attacks. In this session NACVA’s Litigation Standards Committee members will present an overview of the governing standards and will address the real-world challenges of our members in situations where compliance with the standards is critical. 

1. Explain the manner in which the NACVA general and ethical standards guide the financial forensics profession
2. Describe the areas of financial forensics practice in which the professional is most susceptible to departure from standards
3. List the areas of forensics practice in which the Valuation Standards and/or review standards apply to the financial forensics practitioner

In many lawsuits the attorneys, litigants and experts are often too focused upon their "home run" positions and accordingly focus most or all their preparation on gearing the case up for trial. This often occurs at the cost of truly exploring the possibilities and ways that the matter can be resolved prior to trial.

In this session, Judges Platt, Yates, and Driscoll will share their experiences in identifying matters that are prime for settlement. They will discuss how they have "persuaded" counsel and the litigants to pursue mediation and other avenues to settlement. Settlement outcomes are more predictable and most likely be more favorable to the litigants, than if they had chosen the more risky, more stressful, and more costly alternative of going to trial.

• Describe the case characteristics that present opportunities to settle legal disputes prior to trial
• List the advantages of pursuing settlement prior to trial
• Explain the various roles that a financial expert can assume in the mediation process
• List the reasons why counsel should include the financial expert as part of the mediation team