The Second Wave: The Pandemic Changed the World, but how has it Changed Disputes?

After the initial seismic shock of Covid-19 had everyone struggling to catch up with its potential impact, much of the discussion was about business interruption, insurance claims and force majeure. In this live webinar, a panel of HKA forensic accounting and commercial damages partners will discuss the types of dispute they are seeing, and expect to see, arising now that the dust has settled somewhat and businesses are assessing the full impact on them and their measures of recourse.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Colin Johnson from the UK, alongside panellists David Bones (USA), Jonathan Humphrey (APAC) and David Saunders (UK). The team specialises in assisting clients to manage disputes, risk and uncertainty on major complex contracts, and has expertise in valuations, economic damages, project viability, investigations, bankruptcy and intellectual property across a wide range of industries and sectors worldwide.

Speakers

Colin Johnson, Partner, Europe

Colin Johnson has over 30 years of experience, including acting as a lender, equity investor, developer, and legal and financial adviser before becoming an expert witness. He has given oral evidence and acted as an expert in matters of litigation and arbitration, ranging from investment treaty claims to commercial, contractual and construction disputes. He has supported clients on projects up to a value of $6 billion and disputed sums up to $50 billion.

Colin uses his international experience in analysing, negotiating and managing major projects to consider full commercial impact (including viability and solvency issues),  and its effect on valuations. He has worked in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia on behalf of national governments, large companies and entrepreneurs.

Colin specialises in evaluating value and damages in relation to large project companies whether in investment treaty claims, contractual disputes and investigations. He has provided expert services across a wide range of sectors including power, oil and gas, infrastructure, agriculture, construction, financial services, manufacturing, real estate, telecoms and the public sector. He is fluent in Spanish and speaks Portuguese, French and German to differing degrees.

David Bones, Partner, Americas
David Bones is an economic damages expert with over 17 years of experience in commercial damages and construction matters. He has authored over 70 expert reports and provided expert testimony in disputes, including depositions, arbitrations, jury trials and mediations. David has had the opportunity to work on several matters over $1 billion and has provided testimony on matters above $200 million.

David is skilled in a wide range of services, including lost profits, lost wages, business valuations, construction disputes, fund/asset tracing, financial condition and solvency analyses for clients in Asia, North America and South America. He has consulted on behalf of Fortune 500 companies and others in various industries, including mining, gaming, energy, real estate development, homebuilding, shipbuilding, chemical production, manufacturing, software, healthcare (hospital and insurance), grocery, automotive, transportation, specialty finance (subprime mortgage and auto), non-profit, financial institutions and agriculture.

David is a certified valuation analyst and is experienced in managing large project teams, including leading the solvency team on one of the largest fraudulent conveyance cases in US history, with damages in excess of $6 billion.

Jonathan Humphrey, Partner, APAC
Jonathan Humphrey is a chartered accountant with over 20 years of experience in forensic accounting. He has acted as an expert witness in multiple forums, including international arbitration under the ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA, SIAC, DIAC and HKIAC rules, court litigation and mediation. He has given oral evidence in commercial and investment treaty cases with disputed values of up to $600 million. 

Jonathan began his career at one of the big four accounting firms where he worked in their forensic accounting group for eight years before working for expert services firms for 12 years. He has experience in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia, working in a myriad of sectors, including oil and gas, power and utilities, construction, financial services, IT and telecoms, media, natural resources, pharmaceutical and retail.

Jonathan’s expert commissions cover a range of issues including the quantification of lost profits, business valuations and the assessment of damages relating to class actions, professional negligence, insurance claims, business interruption and post-acquisition disputes. His forensic accounting expertise includes fraud, forensic, intellectual property and regulatory investigations.

David Saunders, Partner, Europe
David Saunders is a chartered accountant with over 30 years of experience in forensic accounting.  He has been appointed to act as an expert on numerous occasions and has also been appointed to prepare and consider business interruption claims. 

David has given oral testimony (including being involved in witness conferencing) in both litigation and arbitration and has appeared before the courts and tribunals across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America. He has been appointed under the AAA, ICC, LCIA, SCC and UNICITRAL rules and as a damages expert in bilateral investment treaty cases.

David specialises in valuations and quantification of damages. The sectors his cases have covered include oil and gas, commodity trading, construction, property, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, manufacturing, hotels, retail, entertainment and financial services. He also has significant forensic accounting, fraud and financial investigation experience as well as working on cases involving the restatement of accounts. He has undertaken fraud and regulatory investigations in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia and has provided expert evidence on funds tracing issues. He has also worked on due diligence assignments and pre-lending reviews.