FORENSIC ECONOMICS
WHAT WE DO
Forensic economics is the branch of economics that applies economic and accounting principles in the legal field. We have an extensive knowledge of economic, accounting and financial theory, as well as of methodologies, including statistical, econometric and quantitative methodologies, which are used for the analysis of civil damages, damages from intellectual property infringement, damages from accounting fraud, from financial crimes, from corporate administrative liability (Legislative Decree 231/2001), and environmental damages.
We offer our Clients a wide range of advice, analysis, expert opinions, and technical advice, in order to more effectively address all economic aspects of a judicial, arbitral or administrative proceeding. We assist our Clients and their lawyers from the stage of strategy development, through the collection of evidence and accounting proofs, the quantification of damages, the assessment of contingent liabilities, the assistance at all stages of the proceedings and possibly the reaching of settlement agreements.
OUR EXPERIENCE
In Italian and foreign courts (ICC Paris, High Court of Singapore) we have followed Clients operating in many industrial and service sectors: electronic communications, energy, gas, railways, postal services, environmental services, banking, insurance, finance, real estate, fashion and luxury goods, chemicals, automotive, precision mechanics, telephony, food production, large-scale distribution, pharmaceuticals, gaming and betting, television, construction, designer furniture, software production. Some examples are the following:
- we issued an opinion and testified as economic experts on the quantification of economic damages suffered by an Italian industry due to the unfair behaviour of a former employee who revealed important industrial secrets to a competitor;
- we prepared an economic opinion on the damages suffered by an Italian company due to the unilateral termination of a contract for the construction of a series of viaducts in Algeria;
- we have assessed the loss of profits, consequential damages, and damage to the image of the orchestra of one of Italy's leading opera houses, which had its contract unilaterally terminated by the theatre an hour before the season's playbill was announced to the press;
- we have prepared economic reports, and assisted as Technical Consultants, a gaming and betting operator in a series of disputes concerning unfair competition between outlets of different operators;
- we have prepared expert economic reports, and assisted as Technical Accountants, a large pharmaceutical company in a series of infringement disputes, by generic drug manufacturers who had anticipated the market entry of different medicinal products, before the expiry of the relevant patents and supplementary protection certificates;
- as Party Counsel, we assisted a client in a complex case of infringement of a Standard Essential Patent (SEP), and quantified the damages suffered and the FRAND royalty rate;
- we assisted a client in an action for damages for patent infringement, quantifying the damages and following the client in the Technical Consultation;
- we reconstructed the activities undertaken by an energy operator to find and structure a corporate financing in a contractual liability case;
- we analysed the economic value of the database stolen by a former employee, as well as the competitive advantage derived from its possession, during the evidentiary hearing ordered by the GIP in a complex criminal case for theft of a copyrighted database;
- we analysed the possible economic interest and competitive advantage of a series of acts carried out by employees of our Client that had given rise to a complex criminal proceeding in which the Client had been involved pursuant to Legislative Decree 231/2001.
- we carried out economic analysis, quantification of environmental damage and of damage for failure to clean up in criminal proceedings for environmental disaster and water poisoning.
WHAT IS FORENSIC ECONOMICS?
Forensic economics is the scientific discipline that applies economic theories and methods to issues within a legal framework. Forensic economics covers, inter alia:
- the calculation of pecuniary damage in commercial and personal disputes;
- analysis of liability, such as statistical analysis of discrimination, analysis of market power and detection of fraud;
- other economic issues found in the legal field, such as public policy analysis and the valuation of business, property, and assets.