I have enjoyed working with these three lawyers for many years. They have called on me for damage valuations on lost profits for new and established businesses, legal malpractice claims, class actions involving governmental entities, and other cases. In addition to serving as an expert witness, I have also had the honor of co-presenting with Cam at the S.C. Bar’s Litigation Conference on the topics of accounting ethics and the calculation of lost profits with reasonable certainty.

I have testified as an expert before Henry in circuit court and in arbitration. Since leaving the bench, Henry has hired me to determine damages in various situations. One of the most complex dealt with damages attributable to an alleged breach of accounting ethics and misapplication of the hyper-technical IRC §704(b) regulations. Working on that case, it was my pleasure to meet and work with some other fine lawyers, including Charles Whetstone, John Eric Fulda, and Thad Myers, all of Whetstone, Myers, Perkins & Young, LLC, Columbia, (803) 799-9400

In my view, Desa is a great lawyer distinguished by superior ethics. I have had the pleasure of working on a couple of valuation disputes with Desa. She also invited me to participate in a continuing legal education seminar regarding lawyer trust accounts. Lawyers are continually challenged over trust funds. Desa is often called to the rescue. It is always a pleasure to be associated with lawyers such as Desa who have such deep knowledge and experience.

Bob and I have worked together on hundreds of bankruptcy cases. Bob is a Federal Panel Chapter 7 Trustee and has pursued many parties to obtain recoveries for creditors. Bob frequently calls on me to investigate financial representations made by debtors, to identify preferential and fraudulent transfers, and to provide testimony about insolvency, undercapitalization, fraud, and valuation in the Federal Bankruptcy Court and District Court.

George chairs Nelson Mullins’ Bankruptcy Practice Group. I first met him in the 1980s while he was Clerk of Court for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina. Recently, I assisted George and Kevin Campbell (a federal panel trustee in Charleston, Campbell Law Firm, PA, Mt. Pleasant, 803.884.6874 ) in a bankruptcy involving the valuation of a 58% non-controlling, non-marketable membership interest in a limited liability company.

Blaney sought my advice on an accounting malpractice issue involving conflict of interest. Some CPAs do not understand what constitutes a conflict of interest and therefore do not know when they step into it. I developed a deeper appreciation for professional standards and how those standards contrast or blend with legal standards of care from Blaney on that case.

Thornwell F. “Biff” Sowell is a great friend and lawyer. I have known Biff for a dozen years or so and worked on several interesting and complex valuation cases for his clients. One of the most challenging (which I worked on with his fine partner Bobby Stepp) involved critiquing a valuation clause in a half-billion dollar partnership buy-sell agreement. These can be very tricky and often produce unintended results when hyper-technical valuation and accounting terminology has been used generically.

What can I say about Dick Harpootlian other than outstanding? I have never seen a man multi-task as well as Dick. It’s a challenge just to keep up with him. Dick gave me the opportunity to testify in front of Judge Curry at the Federal District Court. That case involved 24 commonly controlled entities, all of which had some hand in a real estate development deal. My job was to figure out the money flow, actual ownership, and purpose of the entities. Dick was kind enough to refer me to other attorneys, including Jim Griffin, Law Offices of James Mixon Griffin, Columbia, (803) 744-0800.

Mike has to be one of the most intense litigators around. His approach to litigation - which is similar to mine – seems to be to out-work the other side. We have worked together on personal injury, accounting malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and accounting/valuation cases – each leaving no stone un-turned in the effort to present accurate, concise and compelling testimony to the court.

My first case with Gene was a prime example of homework paying off. Gene’s client (the husband) was in the midst of a nasty divorce and the wife’s business valuation “expert” was proposing a rule of thumb value of 1½ times gross revenues (based on industry propaganda). It took a little work, but that rule of thumb was debunked and ultimately disregarded as unreliable in favor of a ½ multiple. That makes a lot of difference in equitable distribution when dealing with a 2-year marriage and gross revenues of $4 million.

Harry’s website is www.complexlaw.net. That describes the type of cases Harry relishes. The last one I was involved with included opinions about the hierarchy of accounting records and reliance thereon, M&A due diligence procedures, business valuation, breach of contract, and other financial and accounting issues, not to mention critique of the opposing expert’s testimony on those matters.