I am an attorney. A few years back, I practiced primarily as a financial consultant specializing in forensic accounting. I was the expert the attorneys would hire to compile income and financial resources and then testify in court,
I worked within an accounting firm who had a sports agent as a client. I worked on a high profile divorce case for them working with attorneys in two states on the husband's case.
In any city, if you do the high end divorce cases as an expert witness, you end up working with only a few select attorneys or law firms. As a person who has worked both sides of a case, you figure out that there is a system of things.
My post is not so much about the client's secret in this case, it's more about how I broke the system of things in this case.
Let's get something straight. In a perfect world, the husband and wife could sit down on their own and knock out a reasonable settlement. If necessary, they could use an advisor or a mediator. The bigger cases may have valuation issues regarding closely held stock, stock options, professional goodwill, etc.
But not so fast there grasshopper, tax must be paid, the system must be greased, the professionals need paid. The client's interests aren't in perfect alignment with the professionals.
Billable hours must be obtained! Sure the attorneys on both sides know each other and could work toward a smooth resolution. That's not going to happen. It is more advantageous to the law firms to communicate through depositions, summons, pleadings, etc.
My fees are dependent on the case going forward. If the case settles, I ordinarily receive funds representing the time I incurred. I never had an issue with that. This was not my only source of income. Some of my cases dragged on for years with a trail of billable attorney hours.
So that brings us to the case in question.. I had traveled across the country to meet with my client, Mr. X, and his attorneys. So we sat in the conference room high above the city discussing the issues. Mr. X was good man as far as I knew. Nothing too crazy had happened in the case.
In any event, it came time for lunch. Mr. X passed as he didn't feel like interacting with fans. The attorneys left to eat and I stepped out to make calls on my other cases.
I came back rather quickly. There I sat with Mr. X. After some deliberation, he looked at me and said, "You're not an attorney, you're my valuation expert. You've seen a lot of cases. What should I do?"
Now here was a question I had been hopeful would never be asked of me. I've had female clients spread their legs in conference rooms with no panties. That was child's play. Christ, I was going to be truthful.
"You've asked me a direct question, you are the one who engaged me. I would be grateful if you would keep my advice between us. If you and your wife can generally agree upon what the marital assets are worth and how they can be split, work the details out and have a law firm write up an agreement. At the end of the day, your wife is the mother of your children, and those children need you two to work together. Any funds you use to pay professional fees are better spent on you and your family."
He thought about it rather quickly. Grabbed a spreadsheet I had prepared, asked a couple questions, and we both talked over a proposed number that would work for him, and hopefully his wife. The spreadsheet went away, the attorneys returned, blah blah blah, and I flew home.
A week later Mr.X called to say the case settled. All good in the neighborhood. I felt better about this case more than any other. I was a child of divorce. If the fight can be stopped, so be it. The law firms in question never did learn of our conversation. It would have been uncomfortable as it stopped the billing train.
