Steven Hazel is a Managing Director in Secretariat’s offices in Los Angeles and Denver. Mr. Hazel has served as an expert witness in the State and Federal Courts, arbitrations and administrative hearings on behalf of defendants and plaintiffs. He has been retained by national, regional and boutique law firms on a variety of cases, including those involving lost profits, valuation, forensics, tax and accounting. 

Mr. Hazel has combined his accounting, business management, and finance backgrounds to quantify economic damages, provide auditing and tax opinions and value assets/businesses in a variety of circumstances, from adversarial proceedings to mergers and acquisitions, and for financial reporting and tax purposes. While he is involved in cases in the U.S. and internationally, he spends most of his time in California, New York and Colorado. 

Working in diverse industries, Mr. Hazel relies on business acumen and judgment derived from over four decades as a forensic accountant. Mr. Hazel’s background in public accounting, including tax and auditing, affords him added insight into how valuations and financial analysis documents and concepts are used and challenged. Coupled with his entrepreneurial history as a part-owner of both established companies, Mr. Hazel knows how business works, from the inside out and the outside in. 

His representative experience includes extensive financial and damage analysis, valuation, tax and accounting related litigation assignments. Financial analysis for lost profits and opportunities, accounting investigation and transactions, tax issues, reasonable royalties, asset, business and liability valuation purposes are common. This experience includes valuation of assets, derivatives and liabilities including stock appraisal rights, appraisal opinions, fair value and working capital quantifications. 

His expertise includes:  

• Shareholder Disputes 
• Transaction Advisory 
• Valuation 
• Financial Reporting 
• Tax 
• Insurance 
• Professional Liability 
• Arbitration 
• Class Action 
• Commercial Litigation 
• Bankruptcy/ Solvency 
• Contractual Disputes 
• Intellectual Property 
• Product Liability/Recall 
• Construction 
• Accounting 
• Fraud Investigations 
• Insurance Litigation 
• Loss of Profits 
• Disgorgement/Unjust   
• Enrichment 

His industry experience includes:  

• Aerospace & Defense 
• Agriculture & Livestock 
• Banking & Financial Services 
• Chemicals 
• Construction, Engineering & Real Estate 
• Energy 
• Entertainment & Media 
• Environmental 
• Gaming 
• Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals 
• Hospitality, Leisure & Tourism 
• Manufacturing 
• Mining & Metals 
• Not-for-Profit Organizations 
• Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals 
• Professional Services 
• Restaurants 
• Retail 
• Technology & Telecommunications 
• Warehousing & Distribution