Chris Makin’s Recent Blog Posts
Experts – When Even The Lawyers Get It Wrong
One of the most notorious, and tragic, cases of an expert getting it wrong was that of Prof Sir Roy Meadow, an eminent paediatrician, who gave evidence for the prosecution in the case of R -v- Sally Clark. Mrs Clark, a lawyer married to a lawyer, had lost two babies through cot death. The headline […]
Is An Expert Determination Always The Final Answer?
In previous articles I have written about How Many Routes to Resolution, the number of ways in which disputes may be resolved. One such route is expert determination (“ED”) which, in my experience, is not used often enough except in dispute resolution clauses in share purchase/sale agreements. ED allows the parties to choose an expert […]
Creative Mediation
Mediation is now so well known that any competent lawyer can rattle off the advantages: quick, cheap, confidential, without prejudice, reduced risk of adverse costs, the parties are in charge, and so on. Today I concentrate on the most interesting aspect, in my view: the ability for the parties to reach an agreement which no […]
Business Valuations
Your client is getting divorced, and the family business forms a significant part of the matrimonial estate. Or your client is a director of a company and has been excluded from management decisions, probably coupled with a claim for constructive dismissal. Or your client (or you?) has for many years been a partner in a […]
Down On The Farm – Understanding The Business
As a forensic accountant I am often required to assist the Court by expressing my opinion on the “might have been” – on the reasonable balance of probabilities, what would have happened to a business but for the interruption suffered by the index event – fire, theft of intellectual property, death or personal injury of […]
Family Matters
Accountants are into everything, aren’t they? And that is especially true when things go wrong. In these blogs you will have read (I hope) about how an accountant can act as expert in commercial litigation, can act as mediator in commercial disputes and much else besides, can investigate fraud, and can trace and quantify the […]
What’s Magic About Mediation?
It often seems that the world of litigation lawyers divides into two camps: those who have never mediated, and those who are passionate advocates for mediation. The third group – lawyers who have tried it and say “never again” – doesn’t exist. Why? Well, it seems that the blandishments of many senior judges, including Lord […]
Let’s Turn To Crime
Looking back at the blogs on this site, as well as the many articles I have written for law magazines, it is striking what a range has been covered. In expert work we have had how to use an expert, how to understand business accounts, how to hold an expert meeting, partnership matters (including possible […]
Mediation – Do You Have A Choice?
ADR stands for Alternative Dispute Resolution, being an alternative to formal litigation. The term implies that parties and their solicitors have a choice: go down the litigation route, or the mediation route. But is there really a choice? I suggest not, on three authorities. First, from the executive summary of Jackson LJ’s Final Report in […]
The Worst Expert Witness: And The Winner Is…
A couple of years ago, I had the doubtful privilege of giving a blatant example of the “expert” who failed in every respect. The case was Van Oord Ltd & Anr -v- Allseas UK Ltd [2015] EWHC 3074 (TCC), where Mr Justice Coulson took pains to explain the twelve – yes, twelve! – respects in […]