Lead service — for solicitors
Expert report review and rebuttals
A valuation has been served. Is it right? Party-appointed, independent technical critique of a business valuation produced by the other side or by a single joint expert — so you know what can be challenged before you decide whether to challenge it.
Typical instructing parties: family solicitors | commercial litigators | shareholder-dispute counsel | accountants advising a party
Start small. Escalate only if there is something there.
01
Desk review
A short written memo on the served report: what it does, where it is vulnerable, and whether the vulnerabilities are material enough to be worth pursuing. Fixed fee, agreed before I start. This is the tier that answers “is this worth fighting?” at the lowest possible cost to your client.
02
Full rebuttal report
A formal written critique setting out each disputed assumption, the basis for the objection, and the effect on value — with my own calculation of the corrected figure where the evidence supports one. Structured to the expert-evidence rules that apply where it is to be filed: CPR Part 35 and PD 35 in civil claims, FPR Part 25 in family proceedings.
03
Pre-litigation valuation & settlement support
An independent valuation prepared before proceedings, or alongside them, to establish your client’s position and support negotiation, mediation or a Part 36 offer. Testimony and hearing attendance are quoted separately and charged by time
Scope and independence — read this before instructing
I act as a party-appointed adviser. I am instructed by one party and my work is prepared for that party. I do not hold myself out as available for single joint expert appointment, and nothing on this page should be read as offering an SJE service.
A review is independent technical critique, not advocacy. My duty is to the accuracy of the analysis. If the other side’s valuation is sound, my memo will say so — and that is a useful answer, because it stops your client spending money on an argument that will not run. I will not shade a conclusion toward the instructing party, and a report that could be shown to have been shaded is worthless to you in any event.
I neither pay nor receive a referral fee, an introduction fee or a commission of any kind, in either direction, on any instruction. Every fee I charge is a fixed fee for work I have done myself.
Where a report is to be filed, it carries the expert’s declaration and statement of truth required by the rules governing those proceedings — CPR Part 35 and PD 35 in civil claims, FPR Part 25 in family proceedings — and states plainly that my overriding duty is to the court.
Where valuations most often fail under challenge
If a single joint expert has already reported
A single joint expert report is the harder problem, not the easier one. The parties cannot simply instruct a second single joint expert, and permission to put further expert evidence before the court is not granted because a party is unhappy with the figure. It is granted where there is an identified technical basis for questioning the report.
A desk review gives you that basis, or tells you there is not one. It sets out which assumptions are open to challenge, whether the defects are material to the conclusion, and whether they are better addressed by written questions to the expert or by an application. I do not accept single joint expert appointments myself, which means I have no interest in the outcome of that assessment either way.
Basis of value and premise
Market value, fair value and equitable value are different standards producing different numbers. Using the wrong one — or not stating which one — is the single most common defect.
Valuation date
Whether the date used is the correct one for the purpose, and whether post-date information has been allowed to influence the figure.
One-directional normalisation
Add-backs applied enthusiastically in one direction and not the other. Symmetry is testable, and its absence is visible.
Double-counted risk
The same company-specific risk reflected both in a reduced multiple and again in an inflated discount rate. Counted twice, it can move a conclusion by a third.
Discounts applied where they do not belong
Minority and marketability discounts stacked, blended, or applied at all in a statutory fair-value context where the correct default is a pro-rata interest.
Comparables and rules of thumb
Sector multiples used as a method rather than as corroboration, comparables selected to suit, or a database figure quoted without the underlying transactions.
The asset floor
An earnings-based conclusion below net asset value, with no explanation of why a rational owner would accept less than break-up.
The wrong rule set
A report drafted to CPR Part 35 and filed in family proceedings, or the reverse. The declaration and the required contents of the report are set by PD25B in family proceedings and by PD 35 in civil claims, and the form of the expert’s duty and the permission requirements are not the same either. This is not a technicality: it goes to whether the report is admitted.
Information asymmetry
What the expert was given, what they were not given, and what they assumed instead — often the most productive line of enquiry in the whole exercise.
EIGHT VALUATION SCENARIOS
What situation are you in?
The served valuation to info@bvpro.co.uk and, if you have them, the underlying financial statements and the instructions the expert worked to. A conflict check takes minutes.
A written scope and a fixed fee, agreed before any work begins. Never contingent on the outcome and never a percentage of anything.
A written memo setting out the defects, their materiality and my honest view on whether a full rebuttal is warranted. Most desk reviews are completed within a few working days.
Stop there, escalate to a full rebuttal, or commission an independent valuation of your own. If the desk review says the served report is sound, that is where it ends — and if you go on to instruct a full rebuttal or an independent valuation, 50 percent of the desk-review fee actually paid is credited against it.
The 50 questions an opposing expert will ask about your valuation
The questions I would ask if I were instructed on the other side — and where the answers should live in the report. Free, no email required.
Send me the report. I will tell you if there is anything in it.
Email the served valuation to info@bvpro.co.uk and you will have a written scope and a fixed fee within 48 hours.
If you would rather talk it through first, WhatsApp is quicker.