Lessons from the witness box: a valuer’s perspective

Event information

A practical, story-driven session for valuation professionals who want to understand what happens when expert evidence is tested under pressure. Blending courtroom anecdotes, cross examination moments, and open discussion, this event lifts the lid on how valuation opinions are challenged, defended, and judged in real disputes.

You will hear what goes right, what goes wrong, and why even the strongest valuation model can unravel if the expert isn’t fully prepared for the realities of the witness box. 

Leave with a clearer sense of how to approach expert evidence with confidence, including:

• How credibility is formed and maintained and why demeanour, neutrality, and clarity matter as much as technical skill.
• What courts and tribunals focus on, including tone, consistency, judgement calls, and the ability to explain approaches and assumptions plainly.
• How valuation methodologies hold up under cross examination, with examples of models that looked robust on paper but faltered when probed.
• Common traps for valuation experts, from drifting outside one’s expertise to defending weak assumptions or inconsistent documents.
• How opposing experts shape the dynamic, and what happens when two professionals use the same data to reach very different conclusions.
• Practical preparation insights, including why knowing your report “almost too well” is essential and how small slips in language can be exploited.
• Lessons from real cases, showing how experts gained or lost credibility, how courts and tribunals expressed preferences, and how judgement calls became decisive.

Key benefits

• Stronger courtroom readiness: practical insight into how valuation evidence is challenged in real disputes, helping you approach the witness box with greater confidence and composure.
• Sharper judgement and communication skills: a deeper understanding of how tribunals interpret tone, clarity, assumptions, and expert neutrality, enabling you to present valuation reasoning more effectively.
• Fewer avoidable pitfalls: exposure to real cross examination traps, credibility risks, and consistency issues that have caught other experts out, giving you a roadmap for avoiding them in your own evidence.

About the speakers

Mark Bezant, Senior Managing Director, Head of EMEA & Asia-Pacific Economic & Financial Consulting, FTI Consulting Mark leads FTI Consulting’s Economic & Financial Consulting practice across EMEA and APAC. With nearly 40 years of experience, he specialises in analysing and valuing businesses, securities, intellectual property and intangible assets across M&A, restructuring, regulatory matters, financial reporting, tax, expert determination and disputes. He holds an M.A. in chemistry from Oxford University and was the founding chair of the ICAEW Valuation Community advisory group.

Thomas Rodwell, Managing Director, Rodwell Disputes Advisory, ICAEW Valuation Advisory Group Chair Thomas is a forensic accountant and business valuation expert who provides economic and financial advice. He is regularly appointed as an expert to opine on issues of finance and valuation.

CPD hours

ICAEW's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Regulations require a minimum number of hours and an ethics requirement. Attending this event could contribute up to 2hrs of verifiable CPD, providing you can demonstrate that the content is relevant to your role.

A copy of the event booking confirmation email is accepted as evidence of verifiable CPD. Click here to use ICAEW’s self-assessment tool to help you work out how much CPD you will need to fulfil each year.

Costs

ICAEW members and non-members are welcome to join. This event is organised by the Valuation Community. Please click here to join online.