Selecting the Right Expert Witness Can Win Your Case
Proven and Experienced Expert Witness Services
If you are representing a plaintiff or defendant in litigation, selecting the right expert witness can make or break your case. Knowing how to pick the right expert is key to obtaining a successful outcome.
The right expert witness in the mergers and acquisitions industry goes beyond just ensuring that the witness has the right education and training to calculate financial and economic damages. It is equally important that the expert understands the operations, finances, and practices in the business brokerage and M&A industry and is familiar with the issues that affect privately held businesses and professional practices.
Expert Witness Areas of Expertise
- Business valuations of privately owned businesses
- Franchisor and franchisee disputes
- Calculation of economic damages
- Purchase price allocation
- Valuation of personal goodwill in professional practices
- Earnout disputes
- Lender or creditor disputes
- Shareholder disputes
- Divorce settlements
- Bankruptcy
- Valuation of intangible assets like fitness center membership lists, brand value, or goodwill
Selecting the Right Expert to Help You Win Your Case
Expert witnesses are a dime a dozen, but when you need an expert with a very specific set of skills or experience, like expertise in business valuation and mergers and acquisitions issues related to buying and selling privately-held companies, clients and their law firms, select Jackim Woods & Company.
When selecting an expert witness in the mergers and acquisitions space, it is critical that you and your attorney know exactly what skills and experience your expert witness needs to have. Richard Jackim, the founder and managing partner at Jackim Woods & Co, is an experienced investment banker and a retired mergers & acquisitions attorney. He has been involved in over 100 mergers and acquisitions in over 20 different industries. He has performed over 290 business valuations and served as an expert witness in dozens of litigation matters.
Rich Jackim has the credentials and experience you need to win your case. Rich earned his law degree with honors from Cornell University Law School and his Master of Business Administration with honors from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Rich also founded the Exit Planning Institute, a training and certification company that is the thought leader in the field of exit planning. He developed and taught the Certified Exit Planning Advisor program offered through the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed book, The $10 Trillion Opportunity: Designing Successful Exit Strategies for Middle Market Business Owners.
A copy of Rich Jackim’s expert witness curriculum vitae is available here.
Communication Skills Win Cases
In addition to the right credentials, an effective expert witness must be able to communicate in a clear, concise, and articulate manner. Your expert witness must come across as knowledgeable, accessible, and self-assured without being pedantic. The ability to build rapport with the judge and jury is essential. When both sides present strong, technically sound positions, a judge or jury often favors the side whose expert was able to communicate the issues more clearly or convincingly. Richard Jackim is a personable and knowledgeable expert and has a unique ability to present complicated issues in a clear and concise manner that connects with judges and juries.
We offer clients and their attorney’s a free, one-hour initial assessment of their case so they can determine if our approach and communication style meets their needs.
Credibility Wins Cases
An expert must also be polished and unflappable in the face of tough, sometimes seemingly stupid questions from opposing counsel. An expert witness must be able to answer questions about his background and experience to withstand a Daubert challenge. It’s critical for the attorney to have an upfront conversation with the expert to ensure they are of good character; have worked for both plaintiffs and defendants; learn about any positions they may have taken that are adverse to the position in this case, whether through testimony or through publications of an article; and whether they have ever failed a Daubert challenge.
Richard Jackim’s top-tier academic credentials, plus his 30 years of business experience, including practicing mergers & acquisitions law and leadership positions at several national investment banking firms, provide him with unique qualifications as an expert witness. His opinions are based on market realities and actual transactions, not just financial theories. As a result, he can speak to industry best practices and what is “market.”
Practical Industry Experience Wins Cases
It’s also important that you select an expert witness who has industry-specific experience as well as experience testifying in depositions, hearings, and at trial. This experience enables them to have a clear understanding of the business being evaluated, gives them an advantage by being able to understand how litigation and depositions work, allows them to anticipate the kinds of questions opposing counsel might ask, and helps you and your attorney understand the key weaknesses in the opposing expert’s presentation.
Rich Jackim has worked with hundreds of clients in over 20 different industries, including career and vocational education, sports & fitness, manufacturing, professional services, trucking and transportation, and the wholesale/distribution sectors.
He has consulted on over thirty-two different litigation matters, testified in six depositions, and provided expert witness testimony in two trials. His experience as a valuation and economic damages expert witness has helped the parties settle over 80% of cases without going to trial. On the two matters that did go to trial, Jackim’s clients won both matters on the merits, with the judge stating in one case that Jackim’s testimony was clear and convincing and could not be refuted by the opposing expert witness.
Rich has worked with clients of all sizes, from individuals like business owners, doctors, and other professionals negotiating a divorce settlement to calculating economic damages for large organizations, like Rogers Sports & Media Group in Toronto and Applebee’s restaurants.
The Right Expert Witness Wins Cases
We encourage clients and their attorneys to contact us as early as possible. Early collaboration provides us with an opportunity to help you develop your litigation strategy. Ideally, we would be engaged early enough to assist in formulating requests for discovery. As a well-versed damages expert, Rich Jackim knows what information is needed to ensure a thorough and supportable analysis. In addition, engaging us early in the process allows time to help you think through the issues and help develop the most cost-effective strategy to present your case.
In the event we find we cannot support your position based on the information provided, knowing this early on can give you time to either revise your strategy or find a different expert. Remember, unlike attorneys who are advocates for their clients, the best expert witnesses should be a neutral third party whose professional opinion is objective and unbiased. Jackim has built an impeccable reputation by providing clients and their attorneys with honest, objective advice based on the available facts and his years of investment banking, law practice, and business ownership experience.
A copy of Rich Jackim’s expert witness curriculum vitae is available here.
For a free initial consultation, please contact Richard Jackim at rjackim@jackimwoods.com or at 224-513-5142.
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Selecting the Right Valuation Expert for Your Case
Selecting the right valuation or damages expert can make or break your case. Knowing how to pick the right expert is key to obtaining a successful outcome.
Choosing the right expert for a litigation matter goes beyond just checking that the person has the right credentials to act as an expert on financial damages. It is equally important that the expert can connect with the judge or jury, and educate them about how the available data and other information supports your client’s position.
Know What Skills Your Expert Witness Must Have
Expert witnesses are often referred from one attorney to another, however, when you need an expert with a very specific skill set, like expertise in business valuation and mergers and acquisitions issues related to buying and selling private companies, clients and law firms do research to identify potential experts.
When picking an expert witness it is critical that you and your attorney know exactly what skills you want your expert witness to have. Richard Jackim, the Managing Partner at Jackim Woods & co, is a former mergers & acquisitions attorney and an experienced investment banker who has been involved in over 75 mergers and acquisitions in over 20 different industries, has performed over 290 business valuations, and has represented both buyers and sellers. Jackim earned his law degree with honors from Cornell University Law School and his Master of Business Administration with honors from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Rich also developed and taught the Certified Exit Planning Advisor program offered through the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. A copy of his expert witness curriculum vitae is available here.
Communication Skills Are Key
In addition to the right credentials, an effective expert witness must be able to communicate in a clear, concise, and articulate manner. He must come across as knowledgeable, accessible and self-assured, but not condescending. The ability to build rapport with the judge and jury is essential; and when both sides present a strong, technically sound case, a jury often favors the side whose expert was able to communicate the issues more clearly or convincingly. To that end, we offer clients and their attorney’s a free, one-hour initial assessment of their claims so they can determine if our approach and communication style meets their needs.
Richard Jackim is a personable and knowledgeable expert and has a unique ability to present complicated issues in a clear and concise manner that connects with judges and juries.
Credibility Is A Must
An expert must also be polished and unflappable in the face of tough, sometimes seemingly stupid questions from opposing counsel. An expert witness must be able to answer questions about his background and experience to withstand a Daubert challenge. It’s critical for the attorney to have an upfront conversation with the expert to ensure they are of good character; have worked for both plaintiff and defendant; learned of any positions they may have taken that are adverse to the position taken in this case, whether through testimony or through publications of an article; and whether they have been Dauberted.
Richard Jackim’s top-tier academic credentials, plus his 30 years of business experience including practicing mergers & acquisitions law, and leadership positions at several leading investment banking firms, provides him with unique qualifications as an expert witness. His opinions are based on market realities and actual transactions, not just financial theories. As a result, he can speak to industry best practices and what is “market”.
An Expert’s Experience Wins Cases
It’s also important that you select an expert witness who has experience testifying in a courtroom or providing deposition testimony. This experience enables them to have a clear understanding of the moving parts of a case, gives them an advantage by being able to understand how litigation and depositions work, allows them to anticipate the kinds of questions opposing counsel might ask, and helps you and your attorney understand the key weaknesses in the opposing expert’s presentation.
Jackim has consulted on over thirty-two different litigation matters, testified in six depositions, and provided expert witness testimony in two trials. His experience as an industry expert and as an expert witness helped the parties settle thirty matters without going to trial. On the two matters that did go to trial, Jackim’s clients won both matters on the merits, with the judge stating in one case that Jackim’s testimony was clear and convincing and could not be refuted by the opposing expert witness.
Areas of Expertise
- Business Valuations
- Financial Damages (lost revenues & profits)
- Purchase Price Allocation
- Valuation of Personal Goodwill
- Earnout Disputes
- Lender or Creditor Disputes
- Shareholder Disputes
- Divorce
- Buyer & Seller Disputes
- Phantom equity and other employee incentive plans
- ESOP disputes
- Business broker & investment banker fee disputes
Engage An Expert Witness as Early as Possible
For these reasons, we encourage clients and their attorneys to contact us as early as possible. Early collaboration provides us with an opportunity to help you and your attorney to discuss strategy. Ideally, we would be engaged early enough to assist in formulating requests for discovery. As a well-versed damages expert, Jackim knows what information is needed to ensure a thorough and supportable analysis. In addition, engaging us early in the process allows time to think through the issues and help you and your attorney develop the most cost-effective strategy to present your case.
In the event we find we cannot support your position based on the information provided, knowing this early on can give you time to either revise your strategy or find a different expert. Remember, unlike attorneys who are advocates for their clients, your expert witness should be a neutral, third party whose opinion is objective and unbiased. Jackim has built an impeccable reputation by providing clients with honest, objective, advice based on the available facts and his years of industry experience.
As an experienced damages expert, Jackim is familiar with recent case law in the subject area, as well as the best business practices in mergers and acquisitions and business brokerage firms. He knows his role and can be the deciding factor in your case if you choose to use his knowledge, experience, and credentials. For a free initial consultation, please contact Richard Jackim at rjackim@jackimwoods.com or at 224-513-5142.
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