Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor with considerable expert witness & litigation experience, including: • Arbitration & Higher Tier Tribunals • Banking & other business & property disputes • Farm business advice, including finance & business restructuring • Agricultural insolvency & receivership • Planning & development • Agricultural tenancies, including as an adviser to Defra as a member of the Farm Tenancy Forum • Chairs the RICS Agricultural Tenancies Monitoring Group • Valuation • Boundaries • Experience includes county...

Assessment and design of silage, slurry and manure handling, storage and application equipment and facilities • Compliance with agri-pollution legislation • Agricultural land management, including soil, manure and vegetation management practice

Consequential loss • Forensic accounting • Financial services complaints or claims

Quantity surveying • Quantum • Construction contracts • Quantification and valuation of work carried out • Quantification of damages, loss and/or expenses incurred • Liability in professional negligence matters • Liability in professional indemnity matters • Programming issues (e.g. delay, extension of time, acceleration and disruption) • Due diligence forensic examination of companies and projects

Simon Quinton Smith has been providing property & business advice to the garden centre, horticultural & many associated industries, such as pets, aquatics, farm shops, vineyards, mushroom farms, etc., throughout the UK & into Europe for over 30 years & is the leading expert in this field. Advice includes agency, valuation, rent review, lease renewal, rating, general business consultancy. Simon has been acting as an expert witness for over 25 years in rent reviews, lease renewals & generally in regard to values...

Forensic accounting, including: • Money laundering, Proceeds of Crime Act and confiscation • Fraud and fraudulent trading • Personal injury and professional negligence • Loss of earnings and profits • Loss of future earnings • Loss of business value • Business interruption and consequential losses • Financial Services & Markets Act 2000 Family law, including: • Child Maintenance Service claims and appeals • Court of Protection and NHS Continuing healthcare

I am able to be considered for any expert witness matters pertaining to the hotel sector. These matters may be related to all areas such as hotel management agreements/contracts, hotel operations, hotel commercial performance, or hotel stakeholder disputes. Previous expert witness roles have been for both plaintiffs and defendants.

Expert Services The specialists within Best Practice Group have extensive experience in providing Expert Witness Services as part of litigation or dispute resolution. We work with firms of solicitors and barristers along with their clients and lay-clients to provide wholly objective and independent Expert Witness Services. Our technical people assess technical evidence to determine levels of liability and delineation of roles and responsibilities in major programmes and projects. Our forensic accounting specialists...

Have been ask to provide expert opinion on the following: • Equity release - Whether the advice process was correct and/or suitable and whether all alternative options had been explored. Also to assess whether the lender acted within the regulations. • Mortgages - Suitability of mortgage advice. • Pensions and investments - Suitability of pension advice, and whether a firm retains liability for ongoing advice. Suitability to switch pension products. Suitability of recommended investment solutions.

Professional negligence • Tax investigations • PAYE and VAT fraud • Income tax and capital gains tax planning • Corporate tax planning • Business structures (partnerships, limited companies and LLPs) • Shareholder and partnership disputes • Business, company and share valuations • Matrimonial disputes • Commercial disputes • Business interruption and loss of profits claims • Personal injury, loss of earnings and fatal accident claims • Directors' conduct and disqualification • Companies Act issues • Criminal matters • Confiscation orders

Farm management • Horticultural economics • Arable farming • Livestock farming • Personal injury • Producer groups • Grants • Subsidies • Renewables • Environmental farming • Organic production • Quantum • Diversification

Sunday Times ‘Top Advisor’ 2021 Pension loss • Financial accommodation • Loss of earnings • Financial advice • Cashflow analysis • Lost years • Loss of dependency • Periodical payment orders • Financial structure of award • Quantum I am the founder of Paladin Experts, a Fellow and Chartered Financial Planner who takes care to provide an accurate and honest approach. With over 30 years' financial expertise and having acted as expert witness on hundreds of occasions, I am well positioned to support claimants and defendants,...

Investment banking • Corporate finance • Mergers & acquisitions • Public takeovers • Equity fund raising • Prospectus standards • Corporate governance • FSA/FCA regulation

Partnership disputes • Disputes between directors or shareholders of a private limited company • Commercial disputes between businesses • Business valuations as related to matrimonial disputes • Loss of profit claims • Any disputes over the determination of a profit arising in a partnership or joint venture • Minority shareholding valuations

Agronomy • Single farm payment • Advice on implementation of organic & environmental schemes • Providing appraisals & assessments on the restructuring of estates & farming businesses • Providing business plans for agricultural businesses & operations • Agricultural machinery operation • Dairy parlour operation • Grain storage • Aspects involving the operation & running of agricultural businesses • Fertiliser recommendations