Litigation - When a case is not to the point where an expert needs to be designated, clients and attorneys often benefit from consulting with an expert in order to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their case. Our firm offers services in these early stages, allowing the attorney to consider key questions, such as whether or not the case has enough value for litigating, potential settlement value, and often times forming the framework for discovery requests. With our in-depth experience in banking and real estate, we have been able to help our clients identify key issues to investigate in a deposition, consider different complexities of a case, and assist in fact development by suggesting documents or information to request. When we work in this consulting capacity, our communication is covered by the attorney-client privilege, so our clients and attorneys are free to discuss trial strategy without the worry of discoverability. This has allowed us to add value by performing preliminary analyses to assess the viability of different strategic directions for the case.
Bank Negotiation - Situations may arise where you could benefit from the knowledge and experience of an unbiased party in a financial situation. Whether you need help negotiating a short sale on your commercial property, working with the SBA, or renegotiating an operating line of credit with your bank, we can help. Our many years in the banking industry have given us the knowledge and contacts necessary to help you through the transaction. For these situations that require a greater depth of experience than you may have on staff, JBH Real Estate Experts can do the job on a project basis.
Real Estate Brokerage
Jay Hibert is a licensed Real Estate Broker CA DRE #01523075 . He is happy to assist your existing broker, or he can represent you in a transaction. Jay's expertise is in negotiating transactions between buyer and seller, identifying purchase opportunities for 1031 exchange, contract review, and arranging financing.
Keegan Linscott & Associates, PC is a full-service Accounting Firm with more than 27 years of experience providing the highest quality of service to clients through a multi-dimensional team of dedicated and trusted professionals.
Leaders in their industry of practice, the professionals at KLA are Certified Public Accountants, Certified Fraud Examiners, Forensic Accountants, and Certified Insolvency, and Restructuring Advisors. They are committed to providing their clients and community with exceptional service, specializing in such matters as complex commercial litigation, FAR audits, all taxation matters, bankruptcy, reorganization, insolvency issues, and fraud detection, investigation, and prevention.
Audit Services - Audits, Reviews, Compilations, Federal Acquisition Regulations
Business Services - Quickbooks, Small Business, Payroll, Part-Time CFO, Cash Flow, Bank Financing, Strategic Business planning, Business Valuation, Succession in Planning, New Business Planning, Non-Profits, Internal Controls
Christopher G. Linscott, CPA, CFE, CIRA, is a Director of Keegan Linscott & Associates and is the Director of Litigation, Forensic Accounting, and Bankruptcy Support Services. He also manages corporate financial audits and tax clients. Mr. Linscott was previously employed with the international CPA firms of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), and Peat Marwick (now KPMG). He has more than 25 years of experience in public accounting.
Mr. Linscott specializes in the areas of Litigation Support, Bankruptcy Reorganization, Fraud Investigations and Prevention, and Business Consulting. He has served clients in industries including construction, health care, home builders and developers, law firms, manufacturing and distribution, non-profit, professional services, real estate, restaurant franchises, retail service, and wholesale.
Mr. Linscott is a Member of the Arizona Society of CPA's, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, and a Director of the Board of Directors at Bashas’.
Attorney, Lawrence H. Jacobson received his Bachelor's degree in political science in 1964 from U.C.L.A and his Juris Doctorate in 1967 from the U.C.L.A. School of Law. While at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, Mr. Jacobson was a senior editor of the U.C.L.A. Law Review and graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif.
Mr. Jacobson is the former Vice-President of Legal Affairs for the California Association of Realtors, legal counsel to several Boards of Realtors, California Counsel to an international real estate brokerage firm, and legal counsel to numerous mortgage brokerage firms and related real estate service providers. He is also a Past President of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. He has served as a judge pro tem for the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Municipal Court Systems as well as having been an adjunct professor of law in the area of real estate secured transactions and administrative law, earning a lifetime Community College Instructor Credential in the area of Law.
Legal Practice - In his 50 years of practice, Mr. Jacobson has counseled and represented both private and publically held clients in the following:
Selection of Business Entities
Formation and Restructure of Corporations
Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies
Purchase and Sale of Business
Succession Planning
General Advice on Finance, Employment, Intellectual Property, Taxation, Antitrust, and Securities Laws
Lawrence Jacobson has written and lectured extensively on business, real estate and ethics related matters including having taught for the U.S.C. Broker Development Program and Graduate Realtors Institute of the California Association of Realtors, as well as having lectured for the California Continuing Education of the Bar, and is the recipient of the California Continuing Education of the Bar's 2011 "Spirit of CEB" Award.
The tenancy-in-common (TIC) has survived into modern times as a method of concurrent ownership of real property. In a TIC, each owner is referred to as a tenant-in-common, and each owns a fractional interest of real property under a separate distinct title.1 TIC's are common where the co-owners are not married or have contributed different amounts to the acquisition of a property.2 Insofar as each tenant-in-common owns an undivided interest in the entire property, each is entitled to an undivided interest in the revenues from the property, subject to the rights of the other co-tenants.
A lawyer who is also an expert witness should be mindful that although he or she may not always be wearing his or her "lawyer hat," it is never far away. Although the California Rules of Professional Conduct do not place specific restrictions on practitioners who act as both lawyers and expert witnesses, the rules governing lawyers' conduct generally place constraints on lawyers' activities in other businesses and professions. See California State Bar Ethics Opinion No. 1995-14. Of particular importance are the rules relating to advertising, lawyer-client confidences, competence, fee arbitration, and conflicts of interest.
Although many articles have been written about the use of the expert witness in litigation, almost all are written by lawyers and rarely by an expert witness who is also a lawyer. Having practiced law since 1968 in the area of real estate and business transactions with a real estate broker's license since 1978, I have testified frequently as an expert witness in litigation involving the interpretation of real estate documents, the standard of care of real estate brokers, in legal malpractice actions involving real estate and business transactions and in legal fee disputes. As such, I thought it would be helpful to litigators handling real estate litigation matters to have the perspective of an expert witness on issues affecting the choice, usage and cross-examination of an expert witness in such litigation.
Lieberman Financial & Consulting Services, LLC provides high quality Financial Planning services and Insurance Investment to advice to clients in all walks of life. Principal, Maurice Lieberman, CLU, ChFC, RHU, LUTCF, has over 40 years of experience specializing in Life Insurance, Annuities, and Health Coverage.
Mr. Lieberman also offers Financial Planning Workshops and conduct large and small group seminars. He provides individual and family financial counseling sessions to active duty members of the United States Military (all branches.)
Mr. Lieberman holds three professional designations from the American College, Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, and Registered Health Underwriter. He is a Life Insurance Training Council Fellow, and a member of the American College of Financial Services Professionals, Forensic Expert Witness Association, and the American College of Forensic Examiners International.
Background Experience - Mr. Lieberman started as an insurance agent for Metropolitan Life and then advanced in his career to manage brokers. He successfully built agencies for Aetna, and Principal Financial Group. He was later promoted to Regional Director for New England Financial, and CSAA Life. Over the years he mentored hundreds of insurance agents, brokers, financial planners and agency managers to build their own successful careers and agencies. He was also a member of the Million Dollar Round Table and utilized his selling and management experience to train insurance agents, brokers and financial planners in advanced areas of estate, business insurance, and financial planning.
Nevium specializes in managing and increasing the value of intellectual property portfolios. You have your business plan; you have your marketing plan…Where is your IP plan? Quite surprisingly, most businesses don’t have an IP plan; nonetheless even know the total contents of their IP portfolio. At Nevium, we manage and monetize intellectual property and intangible assets. We believe these assets need to be identified, organized and managed in order to maximize value.
Nevium specializes in valuing, managing, monetizing and providing expert testimony related to intellectual property. Nevium values IP for business transactions, tax/estate, joint venture negotiations, transfer pricing and bankruptcy.
Nevium builds and manages intellectual asset management strategies for clients who want to monetize their IP. Mr. Bania and Mr. Buss are frequent lecturers on IP valuation and licensing issues and publish articles for numerous industry publications. Areas of expertise include music, apparel, publishing, film, food, automotive, sporting goods, furnishings, advertising, media, photography, retail and not-for-profit.
Consulting Services Include:
IP Management - Nevium Identifies, organizes and values IP and IA
IP Valuation - Nevium values brands, trademarks, copyrights, patents social media and Internet assets for M&A, estate, business transactions, tax and transfer pricing
IP Monetization - Nevium assists with setting royalty rates, building licensing agreements and buying and selling IP
Doug Bania, CLP, Founding Principal, has over a decade of expertise in managing, valuing and monetizing intellectual property. Prior to founding Nevium, Mr. Bania managed 100s of projects related to brands, intellectual property and related intangible assets. He has assisted clients in intellectual property matters related to acquisitions, litigation, bankruptcy, tax, estate, family and marital disputes, and licensing. Mr. Bania delivers presentations and seminars on IP valuation, management, and damages issues for various business and legal entities across the United States.
San Diego Office 415 Laurel Street, Suite 341 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone: 858-255-4361 Email: info@nevium.com
Los Angeles Office 9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450 Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Telephone: 310-975-3145 Email: info@nevium.com
Based on our knowledge of and ability to analyze and value businesses, valuation professionals are uniquely positioned to provide valuable information to business owners and managers regarding the financial value of their brand assets. In other words, how a company's brand assets are contributing to the company's overall financial performance. This "Special Issue" of The Value Examiner is intended to kick-start the discussion on brand valuation by identifying the opportunities and challenges in completing brand valuation assignments for our clients.
Use of the Internet and social media has become an increasingly essential element of conducting business in the United States and globally, which in turn raises new issues for calculating damages and performing valuations. With almost every business now using the Internet and social media to conduct business, cases of Internet IP infringement, IP misuse, and defamation have increased and evolved. Before the rise of these new media, cases of infringement and defamation typically occurred in print or on television and were visually obvious.
Most of the existing literature on copyright infringement is concerned with the valuation of intellectual property rather than the apportionment of the value that is directly attributable to the intellectual property asset at issue. Further, few of the currently proposed IP valuation methods and little of the literature addressing the determination of damages appears directly applicable to the case of copyright in the context of artistic productions. Within the creative arts, recorded music offers a particularly complex and interesting case within which to explore this issue, as different portions of the relevant copyright to the recorded song may be held by different persons.
Panorama Consulting Group is a technology-agnostic consultancy specializing in Digital Business Transformation and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementations for mid- to large-sized private- and public-sector organizations worldwide.
This highly respected firm is 100% independent of software and technology vendor affiliation. They offer a phased and integrated approach to strategy alignment and execution, enabling each client to achieve its unique business transformation objectives by transforming its people, processes, and technology.
Panorama clients include multi-national conglomerates from Amazon Robotics to Valcor Engineering, as well as governmental entities, including state and local governments, municipalities, school districs, state offices of the attorney general, and tribal governments.
Cellular Technology Limited (CTL) is a fast- growing organization in the biotechnology sector. CTL is a pioneer and industry leader in the development, use, and manufacture of standardized tools for specializing in cellular immune assays. CTL was seeking to move to a cloud solution that was industry compliant and validated.
A large capital city in the United States needed to determine the effectiveness of the organizational change management component of its ERP project. The project involved the implementation of Tyler Munis ERP software. The city was experiencing:
Panorama was engaged by the city to perform an assessment of the in-progress ERP implementation. The project had been stopped by the city in October 2019 amidst concerns about the operational readiness of the vendor’s software and the readiness of the city staff to successfully operate the new systems and corresponding processes.
The client was in the process of implementing a new HRMS system and was about a year into implementation when they encountered serious issues with the software during the testing phase. They were concerned that some key business requirements were missed at the beginning of the project and left out of the system’s design and configuration.
The Tribe hired Panorama to assist in selecting software to support its Health Service functions. This software would replace the Tribe’s current health systems. In the first phase of the project, we documented business and technical requirements, reviewed legacy systems, mapped processes, and identified pain points across
A large global retailer in the process of implementing SAP software wanted customized, on-site training for the company's internal resources. The company needed to implement inventory management modules while executing training and communications, but it had a lack of organizational change management experience.
Providing engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting solutions to the global life sciences and advanced technology industries, this firm had recently undergone an internal reorganization of its business units and operations. Each region was following its own processes, and multiple systems were being used. This led to duplicate and inconsistent data.
This multi-billion dollar professional services company was using various, disparate software applications across its worldwide operations. Many of its core business processes were not utilized globally, and dual/triple entry was demonstrated at various sites and in various functional areas.
Project Oversight Case Study: Oil & Gas: Upstream petroleum oil exploration and production company in the Middle East. Company operates several blocks, including one on the Arabian Sea, where crude oil, produced from this
While the company had little technological communication either internally or with its sister firm, the company was growing by leaps and bounds. It needed to modernize its technology and improve its business processes to continue providing outstanding customer service while meeting increased sales demand.
This consumer services company in Denver was using custom software developed in an AS/400 environment. Many of its core business processes were either manual or paper-based, and the company was struggling with the issue of sole dependency on a single employee who understood the legacy systems.
A tax and accounting firm with revenue between $500,000 and $1,000,000, was growing both organically and through acquisition. This firm had a conglomerate of various software. The main financial system (used for time, billing, and financials) was at “end of life,” meaning it was not going to be supported by the vendor in about two years time.
Client Uses environmentally sustainable practices to produce approximately 650,000 tons of chlorine-free, bleach kraft pulp annually. Generates approximately $155 million in annual revenue...
This plastic and rubber injection molding company processes orders using both a made-to-order process and engineer-to-order process. The company engineers to order through a variety of CAD systems and must undergo first article inspections prior to running production batches.
The district contracted Panorama to help in the replacement of its existing systems with a proven, commercial-off-the-shelf ERP system. The client undertook this initiative to replace aging systems, gain efficiencies and update existing processes. Another goal was to improve the timeliness, accuracy, safeguarding and consistency of information
The client was moving from manual processes and old systems to a modern system, so their employees faced a big learning curve. Unfortunately, their ERP vendor only provided them with a “jump start” program that only covered particular deliverables and activities. For example, they provided an overall communication approach but not a communication plan.
Not long ago, this global organization had implemented an ERP system across several aerospace and defense manufacturing plants. It was now considering an upgrade to the latest version of the system. However, the organization knew its end-users were still struggling to adopt the changes instituted by the prior initiative. Panorama deployed two organizational change management experts
The organization was founded in 1981 as a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. It does not just encompass a non-profit organization but also encompasses a for-profit company that has a different fiscal year. As such, the organization must focus on tracking, reporting and financial record keeping – including tracking grants and gifts from contributor to the end-product or support delivered.
Panorama was engaged by the city to select and assist in the implementation of a new ERP and related systems. Framed as an initiative to bring a high “return on citizenship” (the amount and quality of services received for taxpayer dollars) to the city’s constituents, the project’s goal was to implement a platform that would provide the same (or better) quality
The city had been using a decades-old ERP solution and had not evaluated their business processes at any point during that time. Not only was the current ERP system not the best fit for their municipality, but the city was spending an inordinate amount of money on maintenance costs for customization and did not take advantage of instituting best practices or current technology.
Vertical integration allows the company to control all aspects of beef production. It partners with ranchers and operates feed lots, ensuring cattle are fed to their standards. In addition to its processing capabilities, the company operates its own trucking line, providing products from farm to table. The company supplies beef to the US retail grocery and foodservice markets, federal school lunch programs and the US military worldwide.
SAFEChecks, “The Check Fraud Specialists,” manufactures the finest High Security Checks in America. It is the only check manufacturer that established and strictly follows Secure Ordering Procedures, to prevent unauthorized persons from ordering checks.
SAFEChecks began in 1993 as a division of a Southern California business bank battling an epidemic of check fraud. Check fraud attempts at the bank had skyrocketed from $90,000 to $3,000,000 in just two years. Over the next three years, fraud losses and fraud attempts dropped by 95%.
Greg Litster, President and CEO, acquired the SAFEChecks Division from the bank in 1997. SAFEChecks continues to be America’s leader in check fraud prevention. SAFEChecks offers many styles of high security business and personal checks, Positive Pay software, secure check writing software, envelopes, toner, and pressure seal equipment.
Mr. Litster has over 18 years of experience in the Banking Industry specializing in Check Fraud Prevention. With vast knowledge and expertise in the area of fraud, garnered from his experience in developing safeguards against it, he is well-equipped to provide Consulting Services, fraud seminars, and educational materials to banks and other institutions.
Mr. Litster has published numerous articles on topics within his field of expertise. He is also the editor of Frank Abagnale’s Fraud Bulletin. Mr. Litster has given fraud prevention seminars to hundreds of professional organizations on such subjects as Check Fraud, Mobile Banking Fraud, Cyber Crime, Embezzlement, and Identity Theft. These institutions include the Association for Financial Professionals, the Government Finance Officers Association, and the New York Cash Exchange.
Dr. Stan V. Smith is a nationally renowned Economist and Financial Consultant providing analysis in simple terms that any trier-of-fact can understand. As an expert consultant to plaintiff and defense attorneys representing clients in Federal State courts, he provides testimony and litigation support services in evaluating damages.
Dr. Smith provides Analysis, Testimony, and Litigation Support Services in Evaluating Damages for plaintiff and defense attorneys representing clients in federal and state courts nationwide. His concept of Hedonic Damages is acknowledged by judges, attorneys, and legal journalists as one of the most innovative tort concepts in the last 30 years. He has been interviewed and published in dozens of respected professional journals. Dr. Smith has assisted in the successful resolution of thousands of lawsuits on behalf of clients that include many dozens of the nation's largest law firms, the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as thousands of other prominent plaintiff and defense law firms in almost every state.
The increased use of economic experts in commercial damage cases, as well as in personal injury and wrongful death cases, has resulted in the emergence of a group of experts who offer economic services but are unqualified and ill-trained in economics.
In most courts, the value of a human being is not recognized. According to the laws of many states, your life isn't worth a "plugged nickel" if you no longer work.
J. Armand Musey, CFA, JD/MBA, founder and president of Summit Ridge Group, LLC, provides consulting services for the Satellite, Media and Telecommunications Industries including business appraisal, intangible asset valuation, strategic consulting, custom research.
Mr. Musey is a highly regarded financial analyst with expertise in Asset Valuation, Business Valuation, Financial Analysis of Economic Damages and Financial Scenario Analysis. He also has significant experience in corporate governance and investment research practices. Mr. Musey's clients include media and communications companies, institutional investors, law firms and other professional services providers.
Mr. Musey has a unique blend of 16 years of equity research (top-ranked sell-side analyst), investment banking and consulting experience. He has completed dozens of financial valuation, strategy analysis, business development and business plan creation assignments in the communications industry. He has experience in 18 financing and M&A transactions.
Rod Tasker specializes in Payment Services, Transaction Banking, and e-Commerce. He has over 20 years of experience working for major banks in strategic and business planning and cradle to grave product management, including business cases, feasibility, piloting, commercialization, and retirement. Mr. Tasker consults in strategic management and innovative solution delivery in the banking and finance industry. His achievements in Australia and internationally include: - Leading a team of 25 people in developing an internet payment service - Developing an enterprise Sales and Service architecture for a major bank - Developing an international payments business architecture & operations strategy for a major bank - Obtaining consensus amongst a consortium of 15 global banks for the strategic vision and plan for implementing B2B international ePayments - Developing a variety of e-Banking and e-Payment products and services - Building a payments business from start-up as CEO
Areas of Expertise:
Payments
e-Commerce
Transaction Banking
Identity Services
Product Development / Product Management
Piloting
Commercializing
Business and Strategy Formulation
Consulting Services - Mr. Tasker is engaged by companies that offer payment services as products or services, or for whom payments are "strategic" or "core," for example, insurance companies, exchanges, retailers, and investors wanting to evaluate payment business acquisitions, mergers, or funding opportunities. His services include:
Dr. Jules Kamin received his Ph.D. in business economics, finance and management science from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, rated #1. He is an expert on Economic Damages impacting businesses and individuals.
Dr. Kamin brings to the practice of forensic economics a unique combination of educational background, practical business and teaching experience, and a proven record of expert retention and testimony in over 800 cases. He has testified, at trial, in more than 100 cases (federal and state court).
Commercial damages occur in breach-of-contract and business-tort cases that result in claims of lost profits or diminished business goodwill or business value. Intellectual-property-infringement cases and antitrust cases also can involve such loss claims. The measurement of damages in these types of cases follows a basic methodology, with some variations in intellectual-property matters. Measurement of damages in securities-fraud cases uses a different approach.
Willamette Management Associates(WMA) is a nationally prominent Valuation and Financial Analysis Firm that recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Willamette is a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG), a banking and financial services company. WMA is recognized as a thought leader in the fields of Business Valuation, Forensic Analysis, and Transaction Financial Advisory Services.
WMA provides services for purposes of transaction pricing and structuring, transaction fairness and solvency assurance, taxation planning and compliance, transaction financing, forensic analysis and dispute resolution, bankruptcy and reorganization, management information and strategic planning, corporate governance and regulatory compliance, and ESOP transactions and ERISA administrative compliance.
WMA's Professional Services:
Business Valuation
Intellectual Property Valuation and Royalty Rate Analysis
Forensic Accounting Investigations
Transaction Fairness Opinions and Solvency Opinions
Lost Profits and Economic Damages Analysis
Not-for-Profit Entity Valuation and Private Investment Opinions
Transaction Financial Adviser and Due Diligence Services
ESOP Valuation and Adequate Consideration Opinions
Curtis R. Kimball, CFA, ASA, is an experienced Financial Valuation Analyst and the national director for WMA’s Wealth Management Valuation Practice. Mr. Kimball works with the firm’s regional, national, and international clients out of WMA’s Atlanta regional office, which he opened in 1995. He has been valuing private company interests and restricted interests in public companies, intellectual properties, and other intangible assets, rights, claims, and investmentsfor a variety of purposes for over 40 years.
Mr. KImball was formerly with Wachovia Bank (acquired by Wells Fargo) and, later, the Citizens & Southern Trust Company (acquired by Bank of America) prior to joining WMA’s Portland, Oregon, office in 1988. He is a noted speaker on valuation issues and a contributing author to several standard reference works on private business valuation including: Valuing a Business, Fifth Edition (McGraw-Hill), Valuing Small Businesses and Professional Practices, Third Edition (McGraw-Hill), and Business Valuation Discounts and Premiums, Second Edition (Wiley).
Craig A. Wolson acts as a Structured Finance and Derivatives Expert Witness and Consultant. He specializes in cases involving credit default swaps (CDS), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and other types of derivatives and securities.
Background Experience Includes: Acting on behalf of 40,000 investors in $1.6 billion class action suit against bankrupt sponsor of special purpose issuer of notes secured by notes issued by CDO and credit default swaps with sponsor; acting on behalf of class led by two major pension funds against a major bank and numerous large underwriters involving mortgage-backed securities issued by several vehices established by the bank, and securities issued by the bank; acting on behalf of large investment bank defendant in arbitration proceeding brought by another large investment bank involving nine CDOS established by defendant; acting on behalf of large bank that had invested in now-worthless notes issued by SIV established by defendant banks; acting on behalf of large bank against another large bank that had sold the former CDOs and CDS.