Frederic Elkeslassy

EY & Associés

Paris www.ey.com

frederic.elkeslassy@fr.ey.com Tel: +33 6 34 17 56 66

Biography

Frédéric is a forensic accountant and quantum expert. He leads EY’s Europe west disputes practice (25 countries that includes well-known places of arbitrations such as Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Madrid, Milano, Vienna, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Dusseldorf). Frederic has been cross examined both in investment and commercial international arbitrations proceedings and testified on damages up to 2.6 billon USD. Frederic is a Qualified Chartered Accountant (French CPA), affiliate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and has a master’s degree in accounting, finance and economics (Dauphine University) and a degree in economics (La Sorbonne University).

You have been practising at EY for over 20 years now, how has the market changed since you first began practice?

Over the past 22 years I have observed a shift of the quantum expert market from well-known individuals to highly skilled and professional teams capable of acting across borders. The market has grown, with increased competition and has gone global with teams of experts testifying all over the world. This is to me a great evolution that brings a lot of new opportunities and possibilities to practice outside of my home country with talented lawyers.

Which aspect of your practice do you enjoy the most?

Since 1 July 2021, all forensic practices within the Europe west region (25 countries) have been integrated. As a result, we have a stronger and plurisidiciplinary claims and disputes team working together and able to testify in almost all markets and in almost all languages.

I enjoy being part of this team alongside such fantastic partners and experts and being involved in cross-border engagements where we can bring the best of EY to our clients.

What is the philosophy behind your approach as an arbitration expert witness?

As a forensic accountant and a French CPA that has been appointed as arbitrator, my approach is always to bring trust to tribunals.

I strongly believe it is the expert’s duty to bring light to damages claimed by sticking to fact and proof and by being easily understandable. Some practitioners report that conflict of interest rules for consulting experts in arbitration are not tight enough. Do you agree?

Being at EY, where our internal conflict check rules would qualify as “state of the art”, I would not share the idea that conflict of interest rules for quantum experts are not tight enough. To the contrary our rules prevent us from crossing the line for several reasons.

First, I sign my reports as a CPA and as such I am bound by professional rules, second none of my reports can be released without an independent review by another CPA that sits outside of my service line.

With regards to the rest of the market I would not comment on any specific case but as an economist I truly believe in the “invisible hand” theory where the market will always come back to an equilibrium state.

What green arbitration trends are currently prevalent in the market?

I observe increased arbitrations in the field of renewable energies. We have witnessed waves of solar farm related arbitration and now we see a rise in windfarm construction litigations. I have not yet seen the rise of ESG related disputes grounded in environmental matters.

What advantages accompany introducing experts early in the disputes process?

I would always recommend having experts involved early in the process because it helps to differently apprehend and deconstruct passion around the dispute and put

How do you see your practice evolving over the next five years?

As a result of the quantitative easing policies, interest rate decreases and the massive cash injection in our economy the M&A market and the construction market have been particularly dynamic.

In a now inflationary changing market, I would expect tension and as a result an increased number of litigations related to M&A and construction.

As leader of the Europe West Dispute practice at EY, what are your main priorities for the development in a post-pandemic market?

Teams are my priority. The pandemic has completely changed our way of interacting.

In a changing world and in a transforming economy (which is a source of anxiety and litigation) one of our key factors for success is to liaise in our team to ensure professional development and integration.

I truly believe that being part of an integrated European team, working together across the region, being in a position to move in the region brings an inspiring working environment.

Peers and clients say: “He is the best of his generation” “He has top business acumen” “Frederic has an unmatched ability to explain complex matters”