Who we help
Working with LHM as counsel
Attorneys engage LHM Valuation Group when a matter needs a value that will be read by an opposing expert, an examiner, or a judge, and when the matter holds more than one kind of asset. Brian Allen values closely held businesses and ownership interests, appraises commercial and industrial real estate under a California Certified General license, and models complex securities, so a matter with a company, its building, and a preferred stock waterfall in it can be handled by one expert on one set of assumptions. He works from Manhattan Beach across Los Angeles, Orange County, and the Inland Empire, and takes financial reporting engagements nationally.
By practice area
Where the work starts for each kind of matter.
Trust and estate. Date-of-death and alternate-date values for real property and business interests, with the discount analysis for fractional and non-controlling interests on Forms 706 and 709. Gift planning values with the adequate disclosure requirements in mind. Values for trust funding, distributions in kind, and buyouts among beneficiaries. Contested matters: trustee surcharge, undue influence, and accounting disputes where the value of an asset at a past date is in issue. Start at Date-of-Death and Estate Appraisal and Estate and Gift Valuation.
Family law. The business or practice and the real property in one engagement, on the valuation dates section 2552 and the facts require, with Pereira, Van Camp, and Moore/Marsden support, fair rental value for Watts claims, and expert work built for the record. See Family Law Valuation.
Business litigation. Partnership and LLC dissolutions, shareholder and member buyouts under a statute or an agreement, breach of fiduciary duty and damages measured by value, partition of real property, and lease disputes turning on market rent. Rebuttal of the opposing expert's report. See Litigation and Dispute Support.
Corporate and transactional. Purchase price allocations under ASC 805, 409A valuations for portfolio and client companies, valuations under buy-sell agreements, and fairness-related analysis for related-party transactions. See Purchase Price Allocation and 409A and Complex Securities Valuation.
How an engagement runs
Conflicts, the engagement letter, and the clock.
A conflicts check comes first: parties, entities, and counsel. The engagement letter names the client, the intended use, and the intended users, and those are fixed when the assignment is accepted; LHM does not readdress reports or issue reliance letters, and a request for another party to rely on the work is a new assignment. Where counsel prefers to engage LHM directly for the client, the letter is written that way. Each engagement type has its own information request list with the items that start the clock marked, so counsel can see the timeline before signing.
Independence is the same regardless of who pays. Fees are fixed for the scope and never contingent on the value concluded or the outcome of the matter. Consulting engagements can convert to testifying engagements; the workfile is built from the start as if they will.
Reports and testimony
Written to be followed by a reader who was not in the room.
Reports are written so that a reader who was not in the engagement can follow the data to the conclusion. Each method choice is explained, the standard of value is stated, and positions on recurring issues, among them marketability discounts, related-party rent, and the treatment of personal goodwill, are taken explicitly and held consistently from one report to the next, because an expert whose positions move with the client is the easiest witness to impeach. Deposition and trial are scheduled at engagement against the discovery and trial calendar. Brian's expert work to date has been as a consulting expert and in rebuttal, off the record; every report and workfile is prepared as if it will be examined at deposition and trial.
What LHM needs at scoping
The matter, the assets, the dates, the calendar.
The matter type, the assets involved, the effective date or dates, the deadline or trial date, who the client will be, and any prior valuations in the record. Documents come after the engagement letter, against the information request list. Please do not send confidential material before then.
Ask a scoping question
Share the matter type, the property or business, the location, the valuation date if there is one, and your deadline. Brian will confirm fit and scope before asking for any confidential records. Please do not send financial statements, tax returns, leases or other confidential documents until an engagement is in place.
Received.
Your inquiry has been sent. Brian will reply within one business day to confirm fit and next steps.