Should You Bring in a Financial Expert Witness for a Bank Audit?

If you represent a financial institution as a client or you work for the institution itself and there’s a call for an audit, you have a lot on your plate to make sure the audit is as accurate as possible — especially if the audit is part of a larger, ongoing legal case or investigation. It may not immediately come to mind to call in a third party financial expert witness, but in the vast majority of bank audits, hiring an expert witness is a smart move.

Comparisons to Similar Cases

The right litigation support specialist has decades of experience in the finance industry and can easily reference similar cases to support your client’s case. In the event of problems found during the audit, you need your case ready to support causes and solutions for the error so your business is affected minimally. An expert witness can review similar cases that ruled favorably for the financial institution to help make the bank’s case.

Better Organization

The more organized your records, the easier your audit will go. An expert can help you identify all of the records necessary to make the best case for the bank. He can also provide tips for going forward and implementing different practices to make record-keeping more straightforward and the need for audits less likely from now on.

Depositions

If an audit leads to or is already part of a court case, an expert witness provides an independent professional’s expertise as a witness during the case or even during a deposition. With the right testimony, a deposition alone can lead to settlement instead of a trial.

Contact the offices of Michael F. Richards in the event of an audit, even if government representatives or court-assigned officials are performing the audit itself or even if the process has already begun. He can also help a financial institution prepare for a possible audit even if there’s no immediate call for one. A more organized system will ensure audits go more smoothly.

Do Expert Witnesses Work Better for Individual or Group Clients?

When it comes to financial law, attorneys with expertise in the industry represent the gamut, from financial institutions to individuals to groups for class action lawsuits. When considering adding an expert witness to the case, you might be wondering if he’s better suited for cases with a single client or cases representing a group of people or a business. Depending on what you intend to rely on the witness for, there’s a compelling case to hire him regardless.

Benefits for Individuals

The range of expert witness services extends beyond the typical testimony in court, but that testimony is especially invaluable for individuals. Because the individual may be the only available witness to testify who’s involved with the case on your client’s side of the matter, it helps to expand the roster of credible testimony by inviting an expert in the industry to speak on your client’s behalf.

Benefits for Groups

Likewise, when representing a group, you won’t have time to parade each individual onto the stand or even to make a statement in a deposition — and you may not even find it expedient to have any of the people testify at all. An expert can speak on behalf of the group at large and has the credibility to make a compelling argument founded on knowledge of similar cases.

Benefits for Businesses

When representing a business such as a financial institution or a real estate company, the expert witness can act as a third party expert to demonstrate that there’s precedent for the case, as well as to act as a consultant when prepping the case or during a deposition.

Michael F. Richards has offered his decades of experience to provide witness testimony and services for plaintiffs and defendants in cases representing individuals, businesses and groups. Most firms find it expedient to have him on retainer to call upon for multiple cases. Call today to learn more.