Nationwide Forensic Economics & Economic Damages Consulting

Forensic Economic Services is a nationwide litigation consulting firm headquartered in Los Angeles. We prepare forensic economics, economic damages and forensic accounting analysis for counsel in federal and state courts, and in arbitration and mediation. The firm has one office, at 1150 S. Olive Street, Floor 10, in downtown Los Angeles. We do not maintain offices elsewhere, and matters are handled from Los Angeles.

Out-of-state work has included a defense rebuttal report in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and matters arising from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii. Depositions can be taken remotely, and the testifying expert travels for trial.

The forum sets the procedure and the damages law. The analysis is built to fit both, and the method behind it stays the same.

Federal courts

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B), unless otherwise stipulated or ordered by the court, a witness retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony must provide a written report, prepared and signed by the witness. The report must contain:

• a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them;
• the facts or data considered by the witness in forming them;
• any exhibits that will be used to summarize or support them;
• the witness’s qualifications, including a list of all publications authored in the previous 10 years;
• a list of all other cases in which, during the previous 4 years, the witness testified as an expert at trial or by deposition; and
• a statement of the compensation to be paid for the study and testimony in the case.

In practice, that means every opinion and its basis are in the report, and every input traces to a disclosed source. Our reports are built so that each figure can be reproduced from the schedules.

Timing follows the court’s scheduling order. Absent a stipulation or order, Rule 26(a)(2)(D) sets expert disclosures at least 90 days before trial, and rebuttal disclosures within 30 days after the other party’s disclosure. If the other side has already served its report, see economic damages rebuttal.

State courts

In California civil actions, expert disclosure runs through Code of Civil Procedure § 2034.210 and the sections that follow. After the initial trial date is set, any party may demand a simultaneous exchange of expert witness information. For a retained expert, the exchange includes an expert witness declaration with a brief narrative of the expert’s qualifications and the general substance of the expected testimony, and the demand may also call for the expert’s discoverable reports and writings. See California economic damages expert.

Other states set their own disclosure rules, and damages law differs by jurisdiction: which elements are recoverable, how future losses are reduced to present value, and how taxes and collateral sources are treated. The analysis adapts to the forum’s damages law. Counsel identifies the governing law, and the report states the legal assumptions it relies on.

Arbitration and mediation

The same analysis is prepared for arbitration and mediation. In arbitration, the procedure for expert evidence is set by the arbitration agreement, the governing rules and the tribunal’s orders, and the audience is the arbitrator or panel rather than a jury. In one published case study, the report gave an arbitration panel the total at three mitigation horizons and left the choice among them to the panel.

For mediation, the useful output is often a range and the one or two assumptions that drive it, rather than a single number.

Pre-litigation and early case valuation

Before a complaint is filed, or before the expert budget is committed, we can provide a preliminary damages range. It is built on the records available at the time and states what would move it. The purpose is to let settlement decisions be made before the expert budget is spent.

How out-of-state matters run

1. Conflict check. Party names only, nothing privileged, through the conflict check.
2. Scoping call. A free 20 to 30 minute call by phone or video on what the record supports and what it does not.
3. Written scope. A written scope and phase budget before any engagement letter, with the expert’s CV.
4. Records. Exchanged electronically through our secure upload. No account is needed.
5. Draft findings. You see draft findings before the written report.

Logistics for deposition and trial testimony are agreed in the written scope.

What doesn’t change with the jurisdiction

• Method. The same approach for plaintiff and defense, in federal court, state court or arbitration. The method does not change with the side of the caption.
• Transparency. Assumptions are stated explicitly, sources are cited, and each figure can be reproduced from the schedules.
• The designated expert owns the opinion. Every engagement is led by the economist, forensic accountant or specialist responsible for the opinion. Analysts may support the work, but the designated expert owns the methodology, assumptions, analysis, report and testimony. We do not designate one expert and hand the file to another.
• Independence. Our compensation is never tied to the outcome. We tell you what the record supports and what it does not.

Practice areas

• Personal injury and wrongful death
• Life care plan present value
• Employment and wage and hour
• Commercial damages and lost profits
• Securities
• Intellectual property
• Forensic accounting
• Economic consulting and valuation
• Opposing expert report review and rebuttal

The full list is on the services page, and the economists and accountants who lead each engagement are on the experts page.

To start a matter outside California, run the conflict check with party names. If the other side has already served an economic report, send the expert report for review. Case files go through the secure upload.

Frequently asked questions

Do you take matters outside California?

Yes. We are retained by counsel nationwide and work in federal and state courts and in arbitration. Matters are handled from our Los Angeles office.

Do you have offices outside Los Angeles?

No. The firm has one office, at 1150 S. Olive Street, Floor 10, in downtown Los Angeles. Matters from other states are handled from there.

Can you work under another state’s damages law?

Yes. Counsel identifies the governing law and the elements that are recoverable, and the analysis is built to that law. The report states its legal assumptions explicitly, so the effect of a different ruling can be shown.

How do we get records to you?

Through our secure upload. No account is needed. If the records are covered by a protective order, send party names first and confirm the order permits disclosure to a consulting expert.

Do you work in arbitration?

Yes. The same analysis is prepared for arbitration and mediation. One published case study shows a report that gave an arbitration panel a range of mitigation horizons rather than a single number.