Christopher Osborne

• Commercial disputes
• Arbitration
• Loss of profit calculations
• Contentious valuations
• Expert determination
• Corporate fraud investigations
• Asset tracing
• Bribery and corruption investigations
• Regulatory investigations

Experience

Chris Osborne is Co-Head of S&W’s Forensic Services practice. He previously set up and led FRP’s forensic practice.

He brings more than 25 years of forensic accounting experience including quantum expert witness services in litigation and arbitration, fraud, bribery and corruption investigations, asset-tracing and recovery investigations, regulatory inquiries and compliance and risk advisory assignments. He was seconded for three years to the Serious Fraud Office and also completed a secondment to the Financial Services Authority. Chris’s work covers a multitude of industry sectors including construction, financial services, retail, professional services, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, pharmaceuticals and aviation.

Chris has acted as a party-appointed expert by both claimants and defendants, as well as single joint expert and expert determiner. Amongst others, he has opined on matters including lost profits, misappropriation of funds, and warranty claims. Chris has been cross-examined on numerous occasions in the High Court and arbitral hearings.

Notable client work and achievements

Recent representative assignments include:

• LCIA matter on behalf of the respondent, a European producer of biomass products, in a dispute with a claimant with whom the respondent had entered into, and subsequently terminated, a supply agreement for its products. The claimant alleged the respondent wrongfully terminated the agreement and both parties disputed the method by which each had calculated a contractual loss payment. Provided oral evidence at hearing.
• Braemar Plc: engaged by an FTSE listed company to investigate historic transactions and whether there had been any financial irregularities.
• LCIA matter on behalf of the respondent, a European manufacturer of valves for use in oil and gas pipelines, in dispute with its JV partner in the Middle East claiming the JV agreement was breached and it suffered lost commissions and dividends as a result of the respondent’s alleged failure to fulfil its obligations under the agreement to make the JV operational.
• PE backed business: engaged by PE firm to investigate alleged financial irregularities.
• WANDisco plc (now Cirata): engaged by an AIM listed company to investigate fraudulent activities of a senior sales employee and to review the systems and controls to determine how the alleged fraud occurred.
• DAIC matter - instructed as a quantum expert by a leading Islamic finance institution with a long-standing legal dispute with a large Middle Eastern family conglomerate involving significant loan amounts not repaid. Provided oral evidence at Hearing.
• Preparation of an independent investigation report regarding analysis of a construction development company spending and key relationships pertaining to a family dispute.
• Instructed to act as an expert determiner in relation to a provider of a software platform for management of customers’ workplace experience in the commercial real estate market, to calculate the appropriate amount of the earn-out payment.

Professional qualifications/memberships

• Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
• Member of the Academy of Experts (MAE)
• LLB law degree
• Recognised in Chambers and Partners
• Recognised in ten categories of Lexology’s Who’s Who Legal (WWL) including for Asset recovery, Arbitration, Quantum of Damages, and Investigations