Financial Expert Witness Communication: A Practical Guide to Reporting and Testimony

Foreword

THE PAGES THAT FOLLOW ARE the product of Mr. Preber’s 30-plus years of experience as an expert witness and reflect his unique ability to both walk the walk and talk the talk. While many professionals possess the requisite intellectual firepower to qualify them as experts, it’s Mr. Preber’s rare combination of intellect, poise, grace under fire, professionalism, and the ability to communicate complex concepts, facts, and analysis in simple, easily understandable terms that sets him apart.

As one of the lead Department of Justice attorneys defending the largest class action ever filed against the United States, with damages estimated in the billions, I was responsible for identifying and hiring the experts who would perform the data analysis, provide the forensics, testify, and otherwise assist the United States and, more important, the court in navigating the complexities of the case. The complaint raised myriad issues involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duty stemming from more than a century of accounting and other alleged financial mismanagement. The data sets and other documents necessary to defend the case, to the extent they existed, were voluminous, were strewn across the country, and few, if any, were available electronically. Anticipating the issues that could arise required us to undertake an analysis that only Rube Goldberg could appreciate.

The process of identifying potential experts was itself daunting, but was one of the most important decisions ...