Early in my career as a Business Valuator, I was engaged by a law firm to provide a report on the estimated value of a privately held general insurance agency. The purpose of the report was to assist the parties in a divorce action to value and then divide their matrimonial assets. Both the husband and the wife worked in the business, however the wife was the Agent of record and one of the issues at trial was the value of a transition commission which would be paid to the Agent upon completion of a specified term of service and upon “qualified termination” of the contract.
At the time of preparing the report, I had not yet written my final exam (called the Membership Entrance Examination) to qualify as a Chartered Business Valuator.
The lawyer who had engaged me sent a copy of my report to the opposing counsel. After a few weeks, I was informed that I would be needed at trial. (The only other time I had ever been in court was as a character witness for a friend, so understandably, I was a bit nervous.) I was asked to provide my CV, which at the time was not that impressive.
The day that I was to appear in court arrived and I was sworn in. The lawyer who engaged me walked me through my rather limited CV and, as I recall, the judge asked me a couple of questions about my experience. There being no objection from opposing counsel, the judge then stated that I was qualified as an Expert Witness in valuation matters before the court.
I reviewed my valuation report and my conclusions therein for the court.
I answered the questions put to me on direct as well as on cross examination. I was then excused and as I was walking past counsel’s table, he said to me: “You were just qualified as an Expert Witness. You should put that on your resume.” I’m not sure that I fully comprehended at the time what that meant, but I’ve worked hard ever since to justify that judge’s (and several other judges since) determination that I am qualified as an Expert Witness in valuation matters.
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