<p><em>BVWire</em> was in Las Vegas last week covering the first annual AICPA Family Law Conference (a great success judging from the buzz of conversations and jam-packed session rooms!). We had the chance to sit down with <strong>Tom Burrage </strong>(Burrage &amp; Johnson CPAs) during one of the breaks.&nbsp; He described a recent analysis he had done on his client database and engagement history: &ldquo;I found that only 10% of my divorce engagements end up in the courtroom. And when I introduce a neutral expert into the mix (either court appointed or one shared between the two attorneys), that percentage goes down to about 5%."&nbsp; Tom and <em>BVWire</em> wonder whether other practitioners would see similar results?&nbsp; Share your stats with us at <a href="mailto:editor@bvwire.com">editor@bvwire.com</a> and as always we will report on the findings.</p>
<p>And on the role of financial experts in educating attorneys and judges, <strong>Tom Burrage</strong> and <strong>Michelle</strong> <strong>Gallagher</strong> (Gallagher &amp; Associates CPAs) described themselves as the translators of the numbers for the word smiths. </p>
<p>Michelle gave a great example of how experts can endear themselves to attorneys.&nbsp; During a recent divorce engagement that involved a restaurant franchise, the attorney asked why she wasn't using the market approach.&nbsp; "I gave him 10 pages from <em><a href="http://www.bvresources.com/bvstore/book.asp?pid=PUB212">BVR's Guide to Restaurant Valuation</a> </em>that discusses in detail that very topic.&nbsp; He told me he loved me."&nbsp; Tom and Michelle concurred that aside from translating, experts do well to take their educational role as seriously as possible.</p>