Working With And Against Experts In Business Valuation Disputes

Tom McDonnell is an associate in the Firm's Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group in the London office. Tom's practice is focused on resolving commercial and regulatory disputes through litigation, arbitration, and all forms of alternative dispute resolution. He has broad final hearing experience, having represented individuals and institutional clients in the English courts, the Dubai International Financial Centre court, and the Qatar International Court, as well as in both domestic and international arbitration. Tom has experience of arbitrations subject to the ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, and DIAC arbitration rules.

Tom was recently involved in a six-week trial acting for the claimants in Commercial Court quantum proceedings relating to the scope of an account for profits. Tom is also acting for three former directors facing allegations regarding the sale of a subsidiary to a connected party and for the respondents to an unfair prejudice petition. Both cases allege various breaches of the directors’ duties under the Companies Act 2006.

Tom has unique experience of private-sector redress schemes arising from alleged mass torts, having acted for Manchester City Football Club on the design and implementation of its Survivors’ Scheme responding to allegations of historic sexual abuse. Following that instruction, Tom was part of a team that delivered evidence to the ongoing Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in support of a national dispute resolution scheme to resolve historic sexual abuse claims.

Tom has a keen interest in the professional development of junior lawyers and access to the legal profession, and has supported a Legal Apprentice scheme which provided an alternative pathway into the legal profession.

Katy-Jade Church is an associate in the Firm's Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group in London.

Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Katy-Jade qualified as a solicitor whilst working at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer where she worked in the Dispute Resolution teams.

Fraser’s practice is focused on commercial litigation and arbitration. He is also experienced in judicial review cases, typically involving highly-regulated businesses, and in pensions-related litigation.  

He is recommended in the current editions of the legal directories as a leading junior in Commercial Litigation (“He excels on his feet and is a master cross-examiner, with an assurance beyond his years of call”), Company (“He is like an encyclopaedia in the field of unfair prejudice law”), Administrative & Public Law ("He's hard-working, collegial and just an absolutely fantastic team member"), and Pensions ("Proactive, personable and perceptive. Incredibly responsive. A true intellect, but always commercial").  He was also one of Legal Week's 2017 'Stars at the Bar' (top 12 commercial litigation barristers under 10 years' call).

A former solicitor and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, Fraser is Junior Counsel to the Crown (B Panel), and in 2016 was appointed a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee.

Abigail Harris assists experts in preparing reports and financial models for the purpose of quantifying damages in both litigation and arbitration settings. Her experience includes advising parties on damages and valuing companies or projects in a number of different sectors, including oil & gas, transport, manufacturing and banking. She has also assisted companies with regulatory submissions during price reviews. She has worked on projects spanning the Middle East, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Ms. Harris joined Secretariat as part of the firm’s acquisition of Versant Partners in August 2021. Prior to joining Versant, she spent four years in the economics and damages practice of a consulting firm. She is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She received a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Cambridge.

Travis Taylor is a Managing Director with Secretariat based in London. He is a valuation specialist with significant experience of assessing damages and opining on value in international arbitration and commercial litigation settings. He is regularly appointed as an expert in valuation and quantum of loss assessments in complex matters, including shareholder and post-transaction disputes, contractual disputes, and fraud investigations. He has provided expert testimony under ICSID, ICC, HKIAC, UNCITRAL, SIAC, SCC and LMAA rules, as well as in UK High Court matters.

Mr. Taylor has been responsible for over 300 substantive valuations in his career involving contentious and non-contentious matters in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Russia/CIS, Africa, North America and Australasia. He has valuation experience across most industries, including energy, mining, financial services, real estate, aviation, shipping and manufacturing.

Prior to joining Secretariat, Mr. Taylor was responsible for the UK operations of Versant Partners, a specialized dispute consulting firm providing clients with valuable insight into financial, accounting, and economic issues in complex, high-stakes disputes. Prior to this, he was responsible for the International Arbitration practice in the UK for a NYSE-listed consultancy company.

Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand and a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

He regularly speaks on issues of valuation and damages.