A chartered accountant since 1969, I was a partner or principal continuously from 1971 to 2003, from sole practitioner to head of litigation in a national firm.  I now provide mediation and forensic accountancy services nationwide, from offices in the North of England and London.

Until 1989 my clients ranged from public companies to sole traders and wealthy individuals.  Many clients were family companies, some quite large, where I advised on business, financial, tax, family, succession and inter-personal problems.  A significant minority were Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Hindi and Greek Orthodox, and I greatly enjoyed working closely with clients of such a broad range of cultural backgrounds.

As an expert accountant for 20 years I have worked on a broad range of cases, and have given expert testimony before many courts and tribunals, a total of about 70 times.  This experience has convinced me that mediation is a far better way of resolving disputes than litigation.

I act as a support member (confidential counsellor) for chartered accountants with ethical problems, and am a member of that service’s national committee; also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Forensic Committee and of the Investigation Committee at the Academy of Experts.

I frequently lecture to lawyers and other professionals on litigation and mediation; I have written many articles in the professional press, and have also broadcast on the BBC on such topics.  For many years I was a contributor to Kemp & Kemp “The Quantum of Damages”, keeping the tax chapter updated and writing a chapter on how to quantify profits for the self-employed and family businesses.

Recent mediations have involved some complex accountancy issues, but also many other cases where listening, understanding and making novel suggestions have assisted parties to reach their own solutions:

“Great help from you yesterday.”

“I thought you handled the matter admirably.”

“My client and his friend felt that you had a most reassuring and controlled approach to the issues.”

“I will have no hesitation in putting your name forward in future.”

“A mediator who is also an accountant is without doubt a benefit!”

“This was an extremely satisfying outcome to this long running dispute.”

“Court proceedings would have been in neither party’s interests.”

“Excellent service, thanks for sorting this out.”

“Pleased with outcome.”

“Chris Makin managed to move entrenched parties to address difficult issues and resolve a situation that looked impossible.”

“I was very impressed by the way this case was resolved.”

"You managed to move entrenched parties to address difficult issues and resolve a situation that looked impossible."

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