Chris Makin’s Blog Posts about ‘Other topics’
Forensic Accountants In Matrimonial Cases
I receive many requests for help in family cases, often several times a week, typically from the wife who considers that her husband is not making full and correct disclosure of his financial affairs. What am I able to do to help them? This is a personal note setting out my understanding of the position, […]
Are You An Unfit Director?
Relax! This article has nothing to do with Joe Wicks, fitness regimes, personal training, or how Madonna maintains her eternal youth. It considers the expectation that company directors shall carry out their duties responsibly, meaning that they must have regard not just to the interests of themselves or their company, but also to what might […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Real Value Of The Meeting Of Experts
“It is ORDERED that the experts of like discipline shall meet, and shall discuss matters relevant to their opinions in this matter, and shall produce a Joint Statement, setting out those matters on which they are agreed, and those matters on which they have failed to agree, with a summary of their reasons for disagreeing.” […]
The Bon Mots Of Sir Alan
Sir Alan Ward has for the last few years been the Chairman of the Civil Mediation Council. I have mediated with him, and he was excellent. But as a Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Ward also made his mark. I detect two recurring themes in his judgments: encouraging parties not to be so daft […]
Is It Sensible To Be Nice In Business?
Attitude to business has changed quite a bit since I first became an accountant. For the first 20 years or so of my career I was a general practitioner, acting for all sorts of clients: lots of tax return clients, lots of market traders and small family companies, up to some quite large organisations including […]