Matthias Cazier Darmois

Matthias CazierDarmois

FTI Consulting

Paris www.fticonsulting.com

matthias.cazier-darmois@ fticonsulting.com Tel: +33 1 53 05 36 17

Biography

For over 15 years Matthias has brought economic and financial expertise to commercial disputes. Before relocating to Paris, Matthias spent several years in London working on high-profile international disputes. He has acted as expert witness in a variety of matters, and before several arbitration and litigation forums; he has also testified in French and English in many commercial and investment arbitrations.

The views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, Inc, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.

What do you enjoy most about working as an expert witness in litigation proceedings?

Never getting bored. Each case presents unique combination of issues, industries and cultures. There is always a huge amount of knowledge to be gained in each and every case.

Where, in your opinion, does the future of the practice area lie?

The sophistication of damages quantification has increased enormously in the past decade. Today the familiarity of counsels and arbitrators with damages-related issues is stunning.

At the same time, the answers brought by different tribunals to damages issues in analogous contexts can be very different. Going forward, I could see greater convergence, especially as damages are increasingly a topic of research and debate among arbitration practitioners.

What qualities make for an effective arbitration expert witness?

Aside from being skilful at conveying complex messages to a non-expert audience, a key attribute of a good expert witnesses is his or her ability to quickly make sense of the (sometimes enormous amount of) economic data typically found in international arbitration cases. Understanding the evidence is key to building a robust analysis from the outset.

This is easier said than done: getting a good grasp of the facts is time-consuming and requires articulating technical knowledge (such as interpreting accounting and financial documents), knowledge of the subject industry, and an understanding of the parties’ legal cases.

FTI is known for its breadth of industry expertise, do you often collaborate with industry experts?

FTI has a unique ability to bring together industry experts and damages experts. This can prove very efficient in certain cases, such as complex energy disputes where the nature of the issues and the amounts at stake can make multiple appointments worthwhile. Where parties need to choose between a damages and an industry expert, my experience is that forensic analyses of contemporaneous economic information is often be more persuasive than ad-hoc opinions prepared for the needs of the case. However, industry experts are hardly avoidable where evidence is scarce or where the issues are very specific and technical.

Third-party funding is a growing trend. What difficulties are posed by performing quantum due diligence analyses on behalf of third-party funders?

I have seen very different approaches taken by different third-party funders. Some doing extensive due diligence, including on quantum. Others being less risk averse.

At present, my sense is that there is more money to fund arbitration cases than meritorious cases require. This is good for claimants, but challenging for funders’ returns.

I am looking forward to seeing some funds diversify to bring meritorious cases before French courts – although, unfortunately, funding is probably not the only challenge faced by claimants in the French legal system.

What are the greatest challenges currently facing financial and economic experts?

To an extent, some of the greatest challenges are behind us. Kudos to the pioneers, who first educated tribunals about the “compounding” of interest, the “discounting” of future losses, or the “cash flows” typically used by investors to assess the value of an investment.

Many key concepts are now well understood and, perhaps partly as a result, expert evidence is seen as more commoditised, resulting in more competition in the market.

At the same time, damages are less often overlooked, and the increased sophistication of parties, counsels and tribunals means that parties really need to get it right, allowing reliable experts to thrive.

As a senior managing director of economic and financial consulting at FTI, what are your priorities for the firm going forward?

At present we are increasingly approached to act as experts in litigation proceedings before French courts. I could see our team doing more work in that space in the future.

What advice would you give to someone starting out a career in your field?

Get a job at FTI, and one or more mentors. I have been very fortunate to work with many exceptional expert witnesses. With them, I have attended dozens of hearings before getting my first appointments. This helped me building my expertise and developing long-lasting relationships with practitioners in the field. I am grateful to them and looking forward to giving back by pushing the next generation of experts.

Peers and clients say: “I’ve worked with him on many contentious cases – he was very professional and friendly” “He has a very impressive reputation in the field”