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Source: Practical Accountant
Litigation support originally dealt mainly with discovering assets in divorce matters. Today there is also much work in fraud and contract disagreements.
Accountants whose first introduction to litigation was by a client with a potential claim are often unprepared for what to expect and may never accept this kind of work again.
To be successful the CPA must be:
- A good analyst.
- A strategic thinker.
- Creative and able to uncover information not necessarily contained in the books and records.
- Able to deal with estimates and assumptions in making damage calculations, and to communicate his or her conclusions to juries and judges.
- Experienced in auditing.
- Understand tax implications of the work.
- Able to deal with stress.
- Familiar with relevant laws and able to communicate well with attorneys.
In some firms’ experience, 10 percent to 20 percent of cases lead to trials.
Firms often do preliminary work to estimate damages. This helps attorney and client assess the probability of a successful outcome. Another important role is helping attorneys understand materials that have been produced in the discovery process. Explaining tax consequences in divorce cases is also important.
Marketing ideas:
- Word of mouth among local attorneys is the best source of business for some. If you do good work, the word will spread. If you are disqualified as an expert because of poor preparation or analysis, your litigation support career may end quickly.
- Frequent direct mail campaigns, including newsletters.
- Talking to attorneys with whom the firm has frequent contact.
- Speaking engagements and educational seminars for attorneys. Consider offering CLE by bringing additional speakers with the right credentials. Make sure professionals in the firm promote the seminars by talking about them to lawyers they contact.
- Cross-selling by firm partners.
- Contacting bankers and insurance industry people.
- Getting listed in directories such as www.TASAnet.com.
- Reviewing PACER Service Center (pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/) to find cases that might be appropriate for you, and contacting the parties. The PACER Service Center is the Federal Judiciary's centralized registration, billing, and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate court records.
Don’t accept cases for which you don’t have the right background. Although often an advantage to have testified as an expert previously, it isn’t essential.
Clients should be informed up-front that you’ll be an advocate for your opinion, not for the client. If your opinion doesn’t support the clients’ position, you may have to withdraw.
Ideas for getting started:
- Read depositions by other experts. An attorney contact can get these for you.
- Take AICPA and state society courses.
- Consider obtaining available accreditations: Accredited in Business Valuation, Accredited Senior Appraiser, Business Valuator Accredited for Litigation, Certified Forensic Accountant, and Certified Fraud Examiner.
- Be willing to handle the most difficult aspect, testifying, and determine whether you can communicate in a credible and convincing way.
- Be sure your tax season responsibilities won’t interfere.
- Some firms believe doing litigation part time isn’t appropriate. Others disagree, provided there’s proper support in the firm—for financial and economic modeling, calculating damages, writing reports, etc.
Billing for litigation support engagements tends to be at the upper end of the firm’s billable hour. Retainers are often required but sometimes waived when the client is the law firm. Engagement letters can be addressed to the attorney and also signed by the client. Some firms believe engagement letters should indicate the accountants’ independence, even at the risk of offending the client.
From Practical Accountant, December 2005. For the complete article, click on the following link: http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=16434&;pg=pracacc. |
