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Legal Focus

SEPTEMBER 2014

Forensic Services in Dispute Resolution

This month we focus on Forensic Services in Dispute Resolution by speaking to Simon Cuerden, who heads up Deloitte Forensic’s Disputes group in the UK, as well as its International Arbitration group. He also

leads the Regional Forensic group. He is an experienced Investigator and Expert Witness: he has given evidence in relation to quantum in England and Scotland and before arbitration tribunals.

Deloitte Forensic is one of the largest forensic groups in the world with over 1,400 dedicated practitioners in over 30 countries. Its services are sought by organisations and lawyers who require detailed investigations to be undertaken or disputes to be resolved. The group includes forensic accountants and investigators, data specialists and business intelligence experts, and uses state-of-the-art forensic technology to ensure that data is handled with maximum efficiency.

What are the most common types of dispute you deal with?

Most of the disputes we see arise out of supply, management or service contracts, or from share or business transactions. For example, where one of the parties believes that the contract is not delivering the value it had envisaged, or where one party is alleged to have breached terms of the contract, typically resulting in a termination and claim for the loss of the profits that would have accrued absent the termination. Larger scale matters (investor state disputes for example) often necessitate the valuation of a business rather than a particular revenue or profit stream within it.

We continue to see a steady stream of transactional disputes, which may increase further with the improving M&A market and increased volume of deals. Such disputes

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may take the form of an expert determination (where Deloitte may act as the determining expert or act as an advisor to one of the parties through the determination process), or play out as a contractual dispute through the Courts or before an arbitral panel, for example allegations centred around the seller breaching warranties provided as part of the deal.

Can you please talk about any recent cases you have been involved in? What were the main challenges involved and how did you overcome them?

My team has recently been involved in a particularly large litigation. The sheer volume and complexity of the data, both in structured and unstructured form, made for a real challenge in both identifying and extracting it. The relevant data was spread across multiple systems in different formats, so my team assisted in consolidating it into a form useful to the Court and to the Experts.

Throughout the run up to trial, my team provided full time support to the legal team, helping in analysing and interpreting financial data. Expertise was vital here, so my team brought in industry and technical specialists from elsewhere in Deloitte to work hand in hand with the Forensic team. When it came to trial, the matters disputed were so wide ranging that Deloitte fielded four experts in different fields: accounting, industry,