Practice tips for valuation experts from tax court insiders

A favorite workshop at the 2015  AICPA FVS conference in Las Vegas featured Judge David Laro, one of the court's most knowledgeable judges on valuation issues, and law professor Michael R. Devitt (University of San Diego School of Law) providing practice tips to valuation professionals.

Judge Laro reminded experts to guard against domineering attorneys who insist on reviewing draft opinions and seek to nudge the expert into achieving a predetermined result. Experts need to know the discovery rules (Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) rather than assume that all of the attorney-expert communication is protected, Judge Laro cautioned. He illustrated his point with an example involving a major tax court case. Professor Devitt echoed Judge Laro's advice and also reminded experts practicing in the litigation arena to study the Daubert factors.

To read more about the tax court panel discussion, click here.