“HKA is delighted to have gained two widely respected, industry leading forensic accounting and commercial damages experts, who complement each other and come with a demonstrable track record of working across a variety of industries, jurisdictions and forums, including international arbitration and commercial litigation.”
Toby Hunt, Partner and Head of Europe
HKA, the world’s leading construction claims and dispute resolution firm, today announced that David Saunders and Colin Johnson will join the firm as Partners, based in its London office.
Following the appointment of Asia Pacific based Partner, Jonathan Humphrey, and the acquisition in 2019 of The Kenrich Group, the hiring of these two globally recognised leaders in the field of forensic accounting and commercial damages will play a significant role in the further development and growth of the firm’s service offering in this area, both in construction and non-construction related matters worldwide.
Commenting on their appointment, Partner and Head of Europe, Toby Hunt, said, “HKA is delighted to have gained two widely respected, industry leading forensic accounting and commercial damages experts, who complement each other and come with a demonstrable track record of working across a variety of industries, jurisdictions and forums, including international arbitration and commercial litigation.”
“With over 500 quantum, engineering, delay, disruption and damages (QED+) experts worldwide, HKA has the ability to offer clients unrivalled capabilities, with access to either stand-alone experts or an integrated, multi-disciplinary QED+ team of experts with the skills and experience that are essential to get to the heart of the most complex issues”, added Toby.
David Saunders has over 30 years of experience in forensic accounting with particular expertise in valuations and quantification of damages. Recognised by Who’s Who Legal as a Global Leader, he has been appointed as an expert or to lead investigations on approximately 100 matters across various industries including commodity trading, construction, financial services, entertainment, hotels, manufacturing, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, property, retail and telecommunications. The sums in dispute vary from a few million to multi-billion dollars. David has given oral testimony in both the UK Courts and to Arbitral Tribunals in multiple jurisdictions and has worked on both commercial arbitrations and arbitrations for and against governments.
David also has substantial forensic accounting, fraud and financial investigation experience, undertaking fraud and regulatory investigations in the UK, Europe and Asia. He has provided expert evidence on funds tracing issues and has worked on cases involving the restatement of accounts as well as undertaking several pre-acquisition due diligence assignments and pre-lending reviews.
Prior to joining HKA, David was co-head of Berkeley
Research Group’s London office and before that, he headed up Navigant
Consulting’s European dispute and investigation team. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants, an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited
mediator, having previously trained as a production engineer.
Colin Johnson is an accomplished valuations, projects and damages expert with over 25 years of experience working on large, complex matters worldwide. Also acknowledged by Who’s Who Legal as a Global Leader, Colin has acted on behalf of national governments, large corporates, and entrepreneurs in international arbitrations and litigation as an expert witness for a variety of cases ranging from a few million up to over US$50 billion in claim value.
Colin has strong language capability, is fluent in Spanish and also has working proficiency in Portuguese and French. Particularly noted for his work in relation to major projects, power and natural resources, building on his prior investment manager expertise, Colin also has experience in agriculture, construction, financial services, manufacturing, real estate, telecoms and the public sector complemented with a strong international background having worked in over 30 countries. He also has experience of leading investigations in Spain, Portugal, Italy and parts of Latin America.
Read our Spanish commercial damages brochure.
Colin joins HKA from Charles River Associates where
he was a Vice President in the London office.
He was also previously with Grant Thornton UK, where he served as Head
of International Arbitration and Global Head of Energy and Environment. Colin is
a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a
member of the Energy Institute. He holds an MBA from the University of Warwick
and an LLB from the University of Nottingham.
ABOUT HKA
HKA is one of the world’s leading privately owned, independent providers of consulting, expert and advisory services for the construction, manufacturing, process and technology industries.
We also have particular experience advising clients on the economic impact of commercial and investment treaty disputes and in forensic accounting matters. In addition, HKA supports companies that conduct business with the US Federal Government, providing them with consulting services on complex government contracting matters.
As trusted independent consultants, experts and advisors, we deliver
solutions amid uncertainty, dispute and overrun, and provide the insights that
make the best possible outcomes a reality for public and private sector clients
worldwide.
HKA has in excess of 1000 consultants, experts and advisors across 50 offices in 19 countries.
For more information about HKA, visit www.hka.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter (@HKAGlobal) and Facebook.
Media Contact:
Josephine Guckian
+44 7740 421 796
josephineguckian@hka.com
