Vincent Alvarez is a junior partner in Howe and Weegen, a small Pennsylvania forensic accounting firm that specializes in litigation support services. Typical work in the firm includes assisting local attorneys in preparing cases involving divorce and contract disputes, with most of the disputes occurring in the commercial construction industry. Howe and Weegen Associates is situated in a rural mountainous area that has been facing a rapidly declining population for the past decade. All the partners and associates in the firm are in their 30s and 40s, and none has been willing to abandon the firm despite declining earnings. The declining population and client base has left Vincent with only a modest case load in recent months. His only case has been a divorce been two wealthy politicians. During the pendency of the divorce, the husband has moved all the couple's assets out of the state and currently sits in jail due to a contempt order resulting from his refusal to file an asset disclosure form. The divorce is so bitter that the husband claims he will spend the rest of his life in jail rather than cough up a penny for his wife. Vincent has already billed hundreds of hours in the case, but the firm has received virtually nothing in account collections from the wife. The attorney representing the wife continues to assure the firm that the husband will eventually yield and that, consequently, plenty in the way of assets will fall under control of family court, thus, assuring that Howe and Weegen will be paid. Meanwhile, Vincent is using up all his savings and is close to the point where he won't be able to pay his mortgage. To make things worse, he is under intense pressure from Martha Byers, the head partner, to help increase the client base. Morale in the firm is low, and Martha is afraid that the junior associates and staff will begin to leave the firm. Vincent sat in his office flipping through a pile of motions that had been filed in his matrimony case. Martha appeared in the doorway. Great news, she said. We've just had handed to us a really great case. It's an asset-tracing case associated with a massive embezzlement. The case was being handled by Allison Wilson of Sterling and Wilson Associates. But she was in a terrible auto accident and is now forced to withdraw from the case, and she is the only one in her firm capable of handling the case. Vincent wondered what this meant for him. He had very little experience with asset tracing, although he was accustomed to seeing subpoenas being sent to financial institutions in search of hidden accounts. He was also familiar with searching public records. Martha continued. There're millions in assets spread all around the country with all kinds of fraudulent title transfers. This engagement would be worth at least a million dollars in badly-needed revenue for us. Martha just stared at Vincent without speaking. Then, he caught on to where she was going with this conversation. You want me to take the lead? he asked. She smiled. The perp robbed the non-profit New Space Senior Living Group. They have really deep pockets and will pay whatever it takes. Vincent's interest was piqued. Okay, what's the current status of the case? A piece of cake, she snapped. The attorneys are preparing for a default judgement. They just need an expert to value the losses and then help them do the asset-recovery work. A report will need to be filed with the court. But you know I'm not a valuation expert, he replied. It doesn't matter, she said. You're qualified to estimate the amount embezzled, and I'll help you work up an estimate of the lost income resulting from the damage done by the embezzlement. How do we do that? he asked. Don't we need to apply discount factors? I've never worked on such as case before. Don't worry, she said. They have a trustee representing the embezzler along with a really weak junior attorney. The judge isn't going to have much sympathy for the absconded embezzler, and we can outmaneuver the junior attorney. Despite the great opportunity, Vincent was filled with doubt and consternation. Still, he was inclined to accept the case given that he felt there would be little career risk. They could probably come to an out-of-court settlement on the valuation, and he would never even need to worry about testifying in court. Besides, the case would probably never go to appeal, meaning anything that happened in the lower court would likely remain only in the local county court records. Vincent smiled. Very good, said Martha. We need to get to work right away. The judge has already granted four extensions and is hinting that she will dismiss the case unless the valuation report is filed in two weeks. Martha, you know I can't handle something like that in two weeks. That's impossible. Martha took a deep breath and leaned forward. Don't worry, I've got you covered. I know a recent graduate from a forensic accounting program who will write the report in just a few days. You will put your name on it, and it will be a really good report. Vincent's stomach began to knot up, but before he could comment, Martha continued. I'm not the head partner here for being stupid, she said. I have a really good friend in Philadelphia in one of the very top law firms in the U.S. They have over 100 partners. My friend will let us put his name on the witness list. Of course, he will never testify or even sign a report, but just putting his name on the witness list will scare the daylights out of the other side. They will assume that he will testify in support of the report. Vincent objected. But I have to attach my CV to the report, and I only have a couple publications in anything even close to being helpful, and those publications were just in the last 5 years. The rest are all older publications that were all were about data analytics. Martha was ready for that objection. You need to toughen up, she said. Just leave off the older articles from your CV. The other side will never catch it. And even if they do, we can just apologize to the court. This judge will never do anything about it. After all, we are talking about a man who robbed a bunch of senior citizens. I heard that she really beat up on the other attorneys in one of the hearings.

Required.

a. Summarize the relevant issues with respect to Vincent accepting this case.

b. Should Vincent accept this case? Give arguments in favor of him accepting it or rejecting it.

c. Would Vincent have a reasonable chance of providing expert testimony in this case?