James Hardy shares insight into his specialist work as an expert accountancy witness, the career moments that shaped him and the hobbies that keep him busy outside the office.

Tell us about your role

I am a Director in the Forensic Accounting team, acting as an expert accountancy witness or adviser in legal matters that involve financial analysis. This covers an exceptionally broad range of disputes and investigations, so I tend to describe my work in categories to help people see where I fit in.

In family and private client matters, I am often instructed in divorce proceedings, providing opinions on the value, maintainable earnings, liquidity and tax implications of owner-managed businesses, or in contentious probate cases involving estate valuations and asset distribution.

In civil and commercial disputes, I deal with breach of contract claims, shareholder disagreements, earn-out disputes, breaches of warranty, professional negligence, and business interruption matters where loss of profits is in question.

My role also extends to fraud and financial investigations, such as embezzlement cases, proceeds of crime work, loss of profit claims and detailed tracing of funds or assets.

Finally, I frequently support alternative dispute resolution, providing expert determinations, mediation support and financial analysis for arbitration.

The variety means my work is rarely dull. I am often tasked in finding solutions to financial puzzles I have not come across before. I might spend one week modelling financial counterfactuals, another applying International Valuation Standards to an unusual business, and the next distilling a complex opinion into something a court or client can understand quickly and clearly.

What are some of your career highlights?

A few moments stand out over the years. Early in my career, I undertook asset tracing during the so-called ‘aluminium wars’, a multi-billion-dollar battle for control over the former Russian state-owned industry.

At the Serious Fraud Office, I played a key role in the LIBOR and EURIBOR benchmark manipulation investigations, from inception through three trials, ending in the successful convictions of eight individuals.

In 2018, I joined the Financial Conduct Authority where I project-managed criminal and regulatory investigations into insider dealing, misleading statements, market manipulation and delayed disclosures. I was the lead investigator in the FCA’s most recent successful conviction for insider dealing.

My first year at Milsted Langdon has been the most fulfilling. I supported former sub-postmasters affected by the Horizon computer scandal in their claims for redress. Helping people seek redress for such serious injustices has been the most meaningful work of my career so far.

Since joining the firm, I have been instructed as the named expert on matters across the agriculture, manufacturing, leisure, motor trade, food and drink, property, transport, professional services and retail industries.

What one key piece of advice would you share?

Forensic accountants can uncover a great deal from public sources or paid data platforms, but we cannot obtain private financial information unless it is disclosed.

My ability to compel documents under statutory powers at the SFO or FCA are sadly no longer available to me.

The most common cause of delay is missing or incomplete information. I advise that it invariably takes a month to gather together the standard information that I require for family matters, for example.

So, when planning timetables, build in extra time for disclosure. It keeps cases on track and reduces stress for everyone involved.

Outside of work, what do you enjoy doing?

Sport is a big part of my life. I watch Rugby League religiously as a Wigan fan. I play Rugby Union as an increasingly creaky stand-off, although less frequently these days with the inflexibility of my diary being matched only by the inflexibility of my joints.

To keep fit, I also do CrossFit at a friendly local gym, which thankfully is more suburban sanctuary than intense cult.

I very much enjoy the great outdoors, whether that is long-distance hiking in the Mendips and Gloucestershire or pushing myself to break distance records on the ski slopes. I am one of those masochistic “it’s not a hike if it’s less than 15 miles and I am not struggling to walk the next day” types.

I am also a keen puzzle-solver. Pub quizzes, escape rooms and logic puzzles are my idea of a perfect evening. I take an annual trip with friends that combines an escape room in the day with a pub quiz at night. My shelves are lined with puzzle books, though I admit I am still attempting to finish my corporate finance colleague’s particularly fiendish cryptic quiz…