For Attorneys: A Tarrant County Expert Witness Built for Trial
Daubert-ready reports. Robinson and Gammill trained methodology. Three credentials, one signature, twenty-plus years of finance, valuation, and forensic practice grounded in Tarrant County.
How Attorneys Use Harwell & Company
Three case-type entry points. Each links to the dedicated practice page so you can hand the link to a paralegal or a co-counsel and skip the elevator pitch.
Divorce and Family Law
Community vs. separate property characterization, personal goodwill carve-out under Nail v. Nail, valuation date selection, tracing, and reimbursement claims under Texas Family Code.
Commercial Litigation
Lost profits and lost business value under the reasonable certainty standard, but-for analysis, breach-of-contract damages, business divorce and shareholder disputes, Daubert-defensible methodology.
Personal Injury and Wrongful Death
Lost earnings (NPV), household services valuation, loss of earning capacity, work-life expectancy modeling per BLS Smith Tables.
What You Get
A no-fluff list of deliverables, written so you can match it against the standing order in your district court without guessing.
- Conflict check within 24 hours. Submit caption, parties, and a brief case summary. Receive a yes/no with no obligation. No privileged information exchanged before clearance.
- Engagement letter. Scope, fee structure, deliverables, retainer terms. Standard terms available for quick countersign.
- Calculation engagement or valuation engagement under SSVS No. 1. Explicit choice at intake. A calculation engagement (SSVS No. 1 Section 21) is a limited-scope deliverable suitable for early settlement discussions; a valuation engagement (Section 10) considers all relevant approaches and is what you bring to trial. We help you pick based on procedural posture and budget, and we document the choice in the report so opposing counsel cannot blur the line on cross.
- Schedule of opinions. Every opinion to be offered, listed and supported in the body of the report.
- Methodology documentation. Every approach, every normalizing adjustment, every data source documented in a Daubert-defensible appendix. DLOM and DLOC inputs sourced and footnoted.
- Source data inventory. Exhibit-ready list of every document relied on.
- Rebuttal report capability. Review of opposing expert’s report with reciprocal schedule of opinions and a written critique of methodology, data, and standard of value.
- Deposition and trial testimony. In person at Tarrant County and adjacent venues. Remote available.
- TRCP 194.2(f) disclosure-ready. Opinions, basis, and qualifications drafted in disclosure format so your designation goes out clean.
How We Think About Daubert and Robinson
Texas reliability analysis runs through E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Robinson, 923 S.W.2d 549 (Tex. 1995). The Texas Supreme Court extended that framework to non-scientific expert testimony in Gammill v. Jack Williams Chevrolet, Inc., 972 S.W.2d 713 (Tex. 1998). Federal Rule 702 codifies the parallel federal standard. A business valuation expert who cannot articulate how a closely-held valuation maps to those reliability factors should not be on the stand.
The four classic Daubert factors apply to a closely-held business valuation as follows. Testability: every approach (income, market, asset) is reproducible from the source data inventory. Peer review: SSVS No. 1, USPAP, and the NACVA Professional Standards govern the methods used. Known error rate: sensitivity analysis on each significant input is documented in the appendix. General acceptance: the income, market, and asset approaches are the three pillars accepted by NACVA, AICPA, and ASA.
Most competitor sites mention Daubert as a noun. We use it as a verb. Every report is built so the methodology section can be read aloud at a Robinson hearing without rewriting.
Tarrant County, Specifically
We know which courts run trial dockets fast. We know which judges expect a printed report on the bench and which want it digital. We know the family law benches by name. We know the commercial dockets in the 17th, 48th, 67th, 96th, 141st, 153rd, 233rd, 322nd, 324th, 325th, and 360th.
See the Tarrant County Courthouse Experience page
Texas-Specific BV Issues We Handle
Catnip for family law and commercial litigators. If any of these terms are unfamiliar to opposing counsel, that is a strategic opportunity for you.
- Personal vs. enterprise goodwill. Nail v. Nail, 486 S.W.2d 761 (Tex. 1972) and progeny; Von Hohn v. Von Hohn, 260 S.W.3d 631 (Tex. App. — Tyler 2008, no pet.). Separate-property carve-out methodology and the analytical line between personal goodwill (separate) and enterprise goodwill (community).
- Standard of value: fair market value vs. fair value. The two are not interchangeable. Fair market value is the willing-buyer / willing-seller standard used in tax and most divorce work. Fair value is a statutory standard used in Texas dissenter and oppression cases. The appraisal report must specify which standard applies and why.
- Valuation date. Texas courts apply specific guidance on date selection in family law and dissenter cases. The wrong date can move the conclusion by seven figures.
- DLOM and DLOC. Discount for lack of marketability and discount for lack of control. Texas case law addresses appropriateness in dissenter and divorce contexts. Inputs must be sourced from defensible studies, not picked off a chart.
- Community vs. separate property characterization. Tracing, commingling, and reimbursement claims under Texas Family Code Section 3.402.
- Calculation vs. valuation engagement under SSVS No. 1. When to use each, what is defensible at trial, and where the malpractice exposure sits for opposing counsel who confuses the two.
- Lost profits vs. lost business value. Different damages theories, different proofs, different experts on cross. We map each engagement to the right theory at intake.
Conflict check turnaround: 24 hours from receipt of caption and parties. No information beyond the caption is needed at the conflict-check stage, and nothing privileged should be sent until clearance is confirmed in writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a conflict check, and how fast?
Twenty-four hours. Submit caption and parties via the contact form or by phone. We confirm we have no conflict before any privileged information is exchanged. No fee, no obligation.
What is the difference between a calculation engagement and a valuation engagement?
Calculation engagement (SSVS No. 1 Section 21): limited scope, faster, cheaper, useful for early-stage settlement discussions and mediation. Valuation engagement (Section 10): full scope, all relevant approaches considered, suitable for trial. We help you pick at intake based on procedural posture and budget, and we document the choice in the report.
Will the report survive a Daubert or Robinson challenge?
That is the goal of every report we issue. We document methodology, source data, and known error rates explicitly. Methodology, peer-review standards (SSVS No. 1, USPAP), sensitivity analysis on key inputs, and general acceptance within NACVA, AICPA, and ASA are addressed in the appendix of every report so the reliability factors can be argued from the four corners of the document.
What is your fee structure?
Hourly, with a retainer set at expected hours through the report draft. Deposition and trial testimony are billed separately. We provide a written engagement letter with all terms before any work begins. Fee schedule available on request.
Do you take engagements outside Tarrant County?
Yes. Texas-wide for valuation work. Texas plus Oklahoma for machinery and equipment appraisal. National referral network for matters outside the southwest.
Can you serve as a rebuttal expert?
Yes. We review the opposing expert’s report, identify methodology weaknesses or factual errors, and produce a rebuttal report with our own schedule of opinions and a written critique tied to Robinson and Rule 702 reliability factors.
Ready to engage?
Submit a conflict check. We respond within one business day.
Harwell & Company is a Texas firm proudly located in Aledo, Texas. We are not affiliated with Harwell Valuation Advisors of Knoxville, Tennessee.