Proven and Experienced Fitness Industry Expert Witness Services
If you are representing a plaintiff or defendant in litigation involving a fitness center, sports entity, or sports facility, selecting the right expert witness can make or break your case. Knowing how to pick the right expert is key to obtaining a successful outcome.
The right expert witness in the sports, fitness, and leisure industry goes beyond just ensuring that the witness has the right education and training to calculate financial damages. It is equally important that the expert understands the operations, finances, and practices in the fitness industry, and is familiar with the issues that affect fitness industry franchisees and franchisors.
Sports and Fitness Industry Areas of Expertise
- Business valuations for sports, fitness, and leisure-related businesses
- Fitness franchisor and franchisee disputes
- Sports and fitness financial and economic damages
- Purchase price allocation
- Valuation of personal goodwill
- Earnout disputes
- Lender or creditor disputes
- Shareholder disputes
- Divorce settlements
- Bankruptcy
- Valuation of intangible assets like fitness center membership lists, brand value, or goodwill
Selecting the Right Fitness Industry Expert to Win Your Case
Expert witnesses are often referred from one attorney to another; however, when you need an expert with a very specific set of skills or experience, like expertise in business valuation and mergers and acquisitions issues related to buying and selling fitness centers, sports entities, and sports facilities, clients and law firms need to do research to identify the best experts.
When selecting an expert witness in the fitness industry, it is critical that you and your attorney know exactly what skills and experience your expert witness needs to have. Richard Jackim, the founder and managing partner at Sports Club Advisors, is an experienced investment banker and a retired mergers & acquisitions attorney. He has been involved in over 100 mergers and acquisitions in over 20 different industries. He has performed over 290 business valuations and served as an expert witness in dozens of matters involving sports, fitness, and leisure-related companies.
Rich Jackim earned his law degree with honors from Cornell University Law School and his Master of Business Administration with honors from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Rich also founded the Exit Planning Institute, a training and certification company that is the thought leader in the field of exit planning. He developed and taught the Certified Exit Planning Advisor program offered through the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. A copy of Rich Jackim’s fitness industry expert witness curriculum vitae is available here.
Rich is also a fitness and sports industry entrepreneur. He founded and owned Crimson Blades Fencing and Fitness Academy, a youth and adult fencing and fitness studio. At the request of his youth members, he developed and managed the Libertyville High School fencing program and helped lead the team to two state championships. Both programs are now non-profit organizations funded by a foundation Rich established.
Communication Skills Win Cases
In addition to the right credentials, an effective expert witness must be able to communicate in a clear, concise, and articulate manner. Your expert witness must come across as knowledgeable, accessible, and self-assured without being pedantic. The ability to build rapport with the judge and jury is essential. When both sides present strong, technically sound positions, a judge or jury often favors the side whose expert was able to communicate the issues more clearly or convincingly. To that end, we offer clients, and their attorney’s a free, one-hour initial assessment of their claims so they can determine if our approach and communication style meets their needs.
Richard Jackim is a personable and knowledgeable expert and has a unique ability to present complicated issues in a clear and concise manner that connects with judges and juries.
Credibility Wins Cases
An expert must also be polished and unflappable in the face of tough, sometimes seemingly stupid questions from opposing counsel. An expert witness must be able to answer questions about his background and experience to withstand a Daubert challenge. It’s critical for the attorney to have an upfront conversation with the expert to ensure they are of good character; have worked for both plaintiff and defendant; learned of any positions they may have taken that are adverse to the position taken in this case, whether through testimony or through publications of an article; and whether they have been Dauberted.
Richard Jackim’s top-tier academic credentials, plus his 30 years of business experience, including practicing mergers & acquisitions law and leadership positions at several national investment banking firms, provide him with unique qualifications as an expert witness. His opinions are based on market realities and actual transactions, not just financial theories. As a result, he can speak to industry best practices and what is “market.”
Fitness Industry Experience That Wins Cases
It’s also important that you select an expert witness who has industry-specific experience as well as experience testifying in depositions, hearings, and at trial. This experience enables them to have a clear understanding of the business being evaluated, gives them an advantage by being able to understand how litigation and depositions work, allows them to anticipate the kinds of questions opposing counsel might ask, and helps you and your attorney understand the key weaknesses in the opposing expert’s presentation.
Rich Jackim has worked with hundreds of clients in the sports and fitness industry. He has consulted on over thirty-two different litigation matters, testified in six depositions, and provided expert witness testimony in two trials. His experience as a sports and fitness industry expert and as an expert witness has helped the parties settle over 80% of cases without going to trial. On the two matters that did go to trial, Jackim’s clients won both matters on the merits, with the judge stating in one case that Jackim’s testimony was clear and convincing and could not be refuted by the opposing expert witness.
Rich has worked with some of the largest organizations in the sports and fitness world, like Rogers Sports & Media Group in Toronto, and prepared valuations of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the Moda Center, formerly known as the Rose Garden, in Portland, the United Center, in Chicago, and the Edmonton Oilers franchise, when he worked at Prudential Power Funding Associates.
The Right Expert Witness Wins Cases
For these reasons, we encourage clients and their attorneys to contact us as early as possible. Early collaboration provides us with an opportunity to help you develop your litigation strategy. Ideally, we would be engaged early enough to assist in formulating requests for discovery. As a well-versed damages expert, Rich Jackim knows what information is needed to ensure a thorough and supportable analysis. In addition, engaging us early in the process allows time to help you think through the issues and help develop the most cost-effective strategy to present your case.
In the event we find we cannot support your position based on the information provided, knowing this early on can give you time to either revise your strategy or find a different expert. Remember, unlike attorneys who are advocates for their clients, the best expert witnesses should be a neutral third party whose professional opinion is objective and unbiased. Jackim has built an impeccable reputation by providing clients and their attorneys with honest, objective advice based on the available facts and his years of investment banking, law practice, and fitness industry experience.
A copy of Rich Jackim’s fitness industry expert witness curriculum vitae is available here.
For a free initial consultation, please contact Richard Jackim at rjackim@jackimwoods.com or at 224-513-5142.
