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BKL in the press
BKL Launches Litigation Support Service
North London Chartered Accountants and business advisers Berg Kaprow Lewis LLP have created a new team helping businesses successfully resolve financial disputes including those which may require the giving of expert evidence in court.
BKL Litigation Support can help with disputes over the valuation of a business, potential negligence claims over taxation advice or forensic accounting investigations. This is a field that has traditionally been dominated by the ‘big name’ firms.
However, as with many other types of accountancy work, working with experts from a medium-sized firm such as BKL can result in a more personalised, partner-led, consistent service at a more competitive price.
BKL already has the appropriate expertise in place, with its team including three partners with a surprising level of experience and expertise : a non-practising barrister and two other partners with experience of working for ‘Big 4’ accountancy firms, one of whom had to take to the witness box himself in a successful High Court case over the sale of his business.
Daniel Shear is an Oxford maths graduate who has spent time in the litigation support and corporate dispute department of a ‘Big Four’ firm. He brings an international perspective to the practice, having lived and worked over the years in five different countries on three continents and having visited over 30 countries.
Howard Graff started out working for two of the ‘Big Four’ before running his own small practice. After he sold that practice in 2002, he subsequently had to go to the High Court to recover his money from the defaulting purchaser. A seventeen-day trial, including seven days of Howard’s own meticulous evidence, led to a successful outcome. Howard has since become increasingly involved in other litigation work.
The third member of the team, David Whiscombe, was a District Inspector of Taxes with the Inland Revenue before joining BKL to head up its tax practice, in 1991. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation as well as a non-practising barrister, and is a regular commentator on tax matters in the media and at industry seminars.
Drawing on the expertise of all three partners, BKL has acted as court-appointed experts, as partisan advisors to claimants and defendants and as single joint experts providing expert testimony – BKL Litigation Support team members have provided expert testimony under cross examination in court. All members of the team are highly experienced in their own specialised area.
Brian Berg, managing partner at BKL said: “For anyone who is unfortunate enough to become involved in a commercial dispute, over a business valuation or professional negligence claim, it pays to have the right experts on side.
“Our litigation support team has a wide range of real-world practical experience of litigation work and are ideally placed to offer expert advice and support all the way to Court if necessary.
“I am sure that this is an area of our practice which will continue to expand over the coming years.”
