Nishad is a partner in FRP Advisory’s forensic services team, having focused on quantifying damages, valuation of business and economic loss, forensic accounting advice and providing expert evidence for around 20 years.

Nishad has worked on over 75 contentious matters, with extensive experience of expert reports, joint statements and experts’ meetings in UK Court and international disputes. He has acted in cases ranging from several million in dispute, up to claims of over one billion.

What do you enjoy most about your work as a forensic expert?

As a forensic expert, I really enjoy the variety of the work, the international nature with a diversity of market participants and working across a range of different industries. I also really enjoy working with my teams, getting into the difficult challenges each case brings and helping my team members grow into forensic experts in their own right. No two days and no two cases are the same, which certainly keeps me interested and on my toes!

How have the litigation needs of clients changed the most in the last five years?

I think the biggest single change over the last five years has been the significant growth in litigation funding, which provides access to finance for claimants with meritorious claims which may not have been able to be brought previously. Clearly there are regulatory and procedural challenges that such a disruptive change brings, which are being addressed by the industry, however in my view opening up the litigation market in this way to enable justice to be sought by impecunious claimants is a positive change to be welcomed.

What technologies are having the greatest impact on practice for litigation experts?

We are finding in our cases that there is an increasing need for more complex data analytics tools capable of dealing with the huge data volumes and multiple data sources that exist on certain matters. These tools enable far more efficient and meaningful analysis than traditional spreadsheet-based applications. We are also starting to see increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence technologies being used, for example, to help significantly reduce the scope of document review, where time and cost may be of the essence.

What are the main reasons commercial clients choose FRP Advisory Trading Limited for proceedings?

Clients tend to choose FRP Advisory for our independent and generally conflict-free advice, our pragmatic, robust and constructive solutions for clients, our partner-led teams and our wide-ranging expertise across different industries, sizes of claim and types of matter across a range of geographies.

What is the greatest challenge faced by forensic experts?

I think one of the greatest challenges is that we live in an age in which there is a proliferation of data of all shapes and sizes. As a forensic expert, successfully obtaining, reviewing, assimilating and presenting accounting and financial data in a way that is readily understandable to a court is something that I am constantly thinking about as I am engaged on a new case. I find that, having the end objective in mind, helps me to successfully plan and navigate my way through a challenging case, even when one can at times feel inundated by the variety and volume of information involved.

To what extent are virtual hearings expanding opportunities for experts to testify in a wider geographic spread of litigation proceedings?

In my view virtual hearings have been somewhat helpful during the pandemic to expand the opportunities for forensic experts to testify in geographies outside their domestic jurisdictions, as well as reducing one’s carbon footprint. Having said that, from market conversations I have been having recently, it appears that trials and hearings are now largely returning to in-person affairs and business travel is also consequently returning towards pre-pandemic levels. In my view, if the chosen expert is the right person for the case, then I do not believe that global mobility is a particular barrier to testifying in a wider geographic spread of proceedings. This is particularly true as law firms and expert firms are becoming increasingly global with new opportunities opening up all the time, for example India recently allowing foreign law firms to practice there.

What excites you most about the future of forensic expert practice?

Forensic expert work has operated along fairly traditional lines for many years now. However, with the current rapid developments in technology, I believe we could be witnessing the start of an exciting evolution in terms of how forensic expert methodologies and techniques adapt to such change, with the more technologically savvy members of the profession at the forefront of implementing this evolution. I am also delighted to see that the forensic expert profession appears to be becoming more diverse than has historically been the case, particularly with the emergence of new international centres for dispute resolution. This can only be a positive development and one that I am keen to support.

What has been your greatest achievement to date? What would you like to achieve in the future?

I feel privileged and proud to have been recognised as a leading forensic expert by Who’s Who Legal, thanks to positive feedback from clients and peers on a variety of commercial litigation matters. This, of course, would not be possible without fantastic support and encouragement from my colleagues at FRP Advisory. In the future, I would like to continue to work as an expert on high-profile commercial litigation matters, raising awareness of FRP Advisory’s brand in this space and also help nurture the next generation of forensic experts, including those from diverse backgrounds.