Abstract
Imagining a construction dispute in which the question of money never arises is difficult. Disagreements about the scheduling, quality, or cost of a project almost invariably implicate some financial issue. In litigation, arbitration, and administrative processes, the parties usually are interested in the redistribution of wealth: plaintiffs want to foster it and defendants to prevent it.
Thus, asking whether you should have financial evidence is like asking whether you should inhale: in rare cases (underwater, coal mine gas pockets, chili cook-offs) the answer is “no.” The rest of the time, it is “you’d better!”
So, if the need for financial evidence is a virtual given, the real questions concern the nature of the evidence you need. Among the considerations you must evaluate are:
Why do I need an expert?
Who should be my expert?
Where do I find the expert?
When do I need the expert?
How do I prepare the expert?
What do I expect of the expert?
As the following discussion shows, there are no absolute answers to these questions, as the types, tasks, and qualities of a financial expert in construction vary as widely as those of engineers, architects, and field consultants. The purpose of this paper, then, is to convince the construction lawyer to add the financial expert to the team early, to involve the expert at all critical stages, and to use the expert effectively.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- A “Horrid Example”
- Why Do I Need an Expert?
- Who Should Be My Expert?
- Where Do I Find My Expert?
- When Do I Need My Expert?
- How Do I Prepare My Expert?
- What Do I Expect of My Expert?
- Conclusion.
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