“Jay and his team were immensely helpful. We needed their assistance calculating an accurate SDE to trigger the sale of some company equity. They provided nuanced attention to detail in analyzing our very unique business and business model. Jay and Chandler were able to answer our questions in a practical and down to earth way helping us navigate a potentially stressful situation seamlessly. The Cogence Group is a high quality firm. We would absolutely recommend them to other companies.”

“Jay and his team did an excellent job of quantifying our client’s economic damages and persuasively presenting those findings to the jury in our hard-fought federal court matter. Jay continued to support us during the complex and contentious trial, including meeting with us on weekends and late at night. Jay’s economic modeling was sound, accurate, based on generally accepted methodology, and amply supported by assumptions provided by other experts, resulting in a jury verdict of $93.6 million”

“A multi-billion dollar tenant of ours breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing with regard to their lease. And calculating the present value of lost income was very complex.

Our attorney hired Cogence Group as our valuation expert. Cogence was able to explain a complicated valuation process in a simple way the jurors could understand.

The defense had their own expert and aggressively attacked the Cogence valuation. I’m happy to report we got a unanimous verdict in our favor. I can highly recommend Cogence Group for expert witness testimony.”

“Jay and his team provided excellent, professional, honest and timely work for us in a very difficult and complex dispute over the course of two years.

Our companies are thankful that due to their work, we were able to reach a favorable settlement.”

“Jay and his team at Cogence provided support to a client of mine in a high profile federal court case in Oregon related to misappropriation of trade secrets, breaches of contracts, confidentiality provisions, and other claims. They delivered world-class results.

Jay and his team have the experience to understand highly sophisticated situations. They took the time to doggedly uncover facts to support the financial claims, pressure tested positions, and provided top-notch and objectively determinable results. They did all of this with an impressive level of client attention and interaction, and were always ready for the inevitable surprises of litigation. Importantly, Jay defended those conclusions with precision, care, and authenticity in an open courtroom. He was an invaluable asset in our litigation.

You won’t find a better financial expert. In Portland or elsewhere. ”

“When we hire Cogence Group, we can count on them to be independent experts who strive to look objectively at the facts. I have no hesitation putting Jay or Eli in front of my clients, and I know that I can count on them to quickly develop the rapport necessary to efficiently understand my client’s business and the problem they are encountering. Cogence Group’s professionalism and competence has always been outstanding.”

“The Charbonneau Country Club and The Charbonneau Golf Club, Inc. operated in cooperation for many years as separate organizations. Recently the community and the management of both organizations decided it was time to find a way to link both organization via merger. They knew this would be difficult because combining a non-profit community HOA with a for-profit private corporation would be difficult on many legal and tax levels. We needed some good advice.

Our law firm, Tonkon Torp recommended Cogence Group PC and I’m glad they did. We needed expertise to help us navigate the highly complex business and share price valuation issues we were facing. We needed a defensible approach to share valuation and business value in order to craft the most fair and beneficial merger terms for all parties.

The services we received from Cogence Group were, timely, accurate and relevant in all of the matters they addressed. Frankly, they made an extremely complex valuation easy to both understand and communicate. I can comfortably say that we could not have done it without their assistance.

On top of it all, Jay, Erica and the entire staff were a pleasure to work with and served us very well.

I strongly recommend their services.”

“I really enjoyed working with Eli Neal on a business valuation for a closely held company. He was always professional while dealing with very contentious litigation.

Eli was particularly helpful in responding to unique requests by counsel in order to make the process fair to all parties. His report was detailed and thorough, which was noted by one of my client’s members, who is a licensed CPA. I would not hesitate to work with Eli again and have already recommended him to other attorneys.”

“Simply, Jay and his team were the most valuable resource we had throughout the course of our case, including through trial. From working with the client to develop our strategy, to digesting the other expert’s report, to presenting a compelling narrative at trial, the Cogence team was with us every step of the way.

Jay’s trial presentation was top notch, and it led the judge to adopt in her opinion Jay’s methodology and nearly every conclusion he reached. We were lucky to have Cogence on our side.”

“Jay and Taylor are true pros. They helped our client to resolve a complex federal court litigation matter by providing expert analysis, testimony, and by assisting our team’s effort to take cross examine the opposing parties and experts.

The analysis provided was spot on and objectively untouchable. Most importantly, the Cogence team was always in line or one step ahead in preparation. We could depend on timely deliveries without fire drills. And the product delivered was exceptional. Jay and his team understand that complex litigation is full of moving parts, and they were never in a position to slow the machine. To the contrary, they aided in our effort to keep it well oiled and aggressively moving forward. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.”

“Eli Neal handled valuations for several of our 300 unit + apartment communities with complex tenant in common ownership, other assets held by the separate tenant in common LLCs, and recent entity changes.

I was impressed that Eli grasped the ownership structure without any corrections and that his report not only supported the valuation, but allowed a reader to trace back to understand the ownership structures.”

“Taylor Cothran, a forensic CPA at Cogence Group, did a superb job in testifying for my client on the subject of disability and other benefits in a case against an insurance company. She has performed similar services in two other cases, all of which involve analyzing reams of often-conflicting documents and simplifying things for an arbitrator or jury. The people at Cogence dig deep for facts to support financial claims, they are available to discuss strategy, and their analysis and opinions carry the day in an adversary proceeding.

Their competency cannot be beat in Oregon.”

“Our arbitration involved the late addition of a counterclaim for lost profits. On short notice, Cogence helped us review financial records and develop deposition questions and topics. With minimal time to prepare, Jay Sickler then attended the hearing to assist with cross-examination and offer rebuttal testimony. The arbitration panel soundly rejected the counterclaim, in large part because of the work of Jay and his team. We owe our success to Cogence, and wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again.”

“Cogence did an outstanding job of forensic analysis in our case which was very complex with discovery material that was challenging.

The people at Cogence were exceptionally capable and enjoyable to work with. They have my highest recommendation.”

“Jay and Taylor were instrumental in the favorable settlement of an extremely complex insurance coverage action. They analyzed, evaluated and presented complex costs in a thorough, credible and air-tight manner for the litigation, and then continued to update their cost analysis for the several years until the case was settled.

By the end, all parties accepted the cost analysis.”

“Jay served as a catalyst and “difference maker” in taking our ownership transition ideas and designing a workable plan that led to success using his extensive experience and analysis. We were impressed with his professionalism, timeliness and results.”

“Jay Sickler was instrumental in helping us sell our electrical contracting business. After receiving an offer, Jay reviewed the business valuation presented to us by the buyer and advised us on how the buyout should look in order to protect our best interest. He referred us to a highly reputable business attorney and worked closely with us during the entire negotiating process. He is extremely well networked and knowledgeable about business valuations.

Because of Jay’s direct council, advice and legal work, we were able to get the highest sales price thought possible. If we were to do the whole deal over again or sell another business, Jay would be the first call we would make to guide us.”

“My small, but not simple, retail business suffered a devastating fire in late February, 2017. After spending several months working with my insurance company to calculate my Business Interruption claim I was offered a paltry 35% of the loss by the insurance company’s accounting representation. The offer was made with no documentation by my insurance firm’s accountants, and all communications ceased when I challenged the offer.

Cogence was able to bring the insurance accountants back to the table to complete the calculations. They worked to understand the intricacies of my business, and were able to present my financial information in a manner that the accountants were better able to accept.

In the end, we were successful in convincing the insurance company to pay the full amount of the Business Interruption claim. Although it certainly would have been better had the insurance company & their accountant worked through the process in a more honest manner to avoid additional expense, Cogence’s work was instrumental in ultimately getting the claim funded in full - absolutely critical for my business to be able to survive the catastrophe.

Cogence was wonderful to work with, and I highly recommend them to anyone unfortunate enough to require their services!”

“Jay and his team were the key to our successful defense of a minority owner oppression case brought against our client by one of the most experienced plaintiffs’ firms in Oregon. He prepared the financial materials we needed to prove that there had been no oppression, and helped us to effectively cross-examine our opponent’s financial expert. We ended up with a complete defense victory in the complex, multi-day arbitration.

I enthusiastically recommend Jay and the Cogence Group, and hope that they are always on our side!”

“When we started the process of looking for a business evaluation our CPA gave us the name of three companies. After interviewing the Cogence Group, we knew they were the right company to do the job.

From start to finish they were professional and thorough in their approach. They gave us a list of the information they needed and worked directly with our CPA to verify financial information, followed up on a regular basis and kept us fully informed each step of the way.

They delivered the product they represented, and we are extremely pleased with the results!

We highly recommend the Cogence Group PC for business evaluations!”

“In a complex lawsuit arising from a failed sale of a large Washington company, Jay Sickler and his team helped obtain a favorable outcome by building a conservative damages model supporting a $25M damages award.

Jay carefully and effectively explained the model in writing and in deposition, and persuasively responded to criticism from our opponents’ team of experts. In short, Jay’s work is top notch, and he is a pleasure to work with.”

“In divorce litigation concerning the value of a small manufacturing workshop, Jay quickly provided me with a careful analysis of the flaws in another expert’s methodology. That analysis helped us reach an agreement to resolve the dispute in mediation and avoid the high expense and uncertain outcome of a trial.”

“Cogence Group has completed several entity valuations for us over the past 10 years. As a closely held business, we have several times wanted to sell shares within our family for implementing estate planning strategies. Jay Sickler and Lincoln Eckhardt have assisted us by compiling justifiable valuations of our entities in order to accomplish ownership transfers at proper values and with supportive documentation. With their reports we have been able to gift and sell ownership shares to the next generation and among family members.

Cogence Group reports have ALWAYS been completed within the timeline promised. After working with them numerous times, they are efficient, accurate, and very knowledgeable.”

“Recently, I have hired and worked with Jay Sickler and the Cogence Group on two cases that involved complicated accounting issues and extensive accounting records. Cogence Group’s work to verify and validate the book keeping and accounting was thorough, but yet efficient and cost effective for the clients. In the most recent case, Jay testified in court as our expert accounting witness.

Jay was extremely prepared, and was a great witness. He was able to keep the jury engaged and interested about a topic that most people find boring and too complex to understand. Jay explained the accounting in a way that was understandable and that was actually helpful to the jury and the court. In fact, on our equitable accounting claim, the judge ended up accepting and adopting Jay’s accounting work in its entirety as the Court’s own accounting, and disregarded the accounting prepared by the opposing party’s expert accountant.

I highly recommend Jay and the Cogence Group.”

“Jay has supported PFG’s transactions department and clients for over 15 years.

He has prepared appraisal reports of controlling and non-controlling equity interests of real estate holding companies, operating companies and investments companies or gift and estate tax returns, for the issuance of stock and membership interest under the equity based incentive compensation arrangements, and to set the purchase price of ownership interests under Company redemption and cross purchases.

He’s also provided lost profits analyses to the firm’s commercial litigation department. He is detail oriented, responsive, careful and consistently manages projects on budget.”

“As an expert witness, Jay Sickler has a rare ability to both understand difficult concepts and to be able to teach them to lay people in plain English. At my last trial with Jay, during some particularly complicated testimony, Jay got up out of the witness stand - marker in hand - and drew pictures on a whiteboard. He explained everything with both clarity and authority, and his valuation was accepted over the other side’s expert. And Jay has a great team, which, among other examples, patiently explained Duff & Phelps modeling to me for hours, so that I could then explain it to the judge. I highly recommend Jay as an expert witness.”

“Our case needed someone who would be able to analyze a complex valuation very quickly, and Jay and his team at Cogence definitely delivered. In addition to identifying errors in assumptions made by the other expert, they were able to identify a fundamental error in this expert’s report, greatly diminishing the expert’s credibility. In addition, in their work here, Jay and his team never forgot their obligation to be independent experts looking objectively at the parties’ arguments.”

“Jay came into the case late in the game and immediately spotted a seven-figure error by opposing counsel’s expert. His professionalism, skills and focus were outstanding.”

“Jay and his team were instrumental in helping us prepare to cross-examine the other side’s expert. He not only pointed out the flaws in their report, but helped us craft questions that would show those weaknesses.

Jay also was of immeasurable help in preparing his own testimony and exhibits to illustrate the strength of our position. He was extremely credible and persuasive in front of the jury.

We ended up getting the prayer, plus $3.5 million of punitive damages. I want Jay on my team whenever a case involves difficult valuation or economic issues.”

“Jay and his team did an excellent job for us.

They answered our questions in a timely, concise manner. They helped us shape the testimony and evidence needed to establish the key points in our case. And they helped prepare the cross-examination for the opponent’s expert witness in such a way that left the other side’s credibility in tatters. We wouldn’t hesitate to use Jay’s services again.”

“Jay and Lincoln’s expertise in the valuation of closely held businesses was beneficial in the valuation of our company for internal purposes and was evident during the re-working of our long outdated internal stock buyback formula. Cogence continues to provide the same expertise in a timely manner as we update the formula each year.”

“I appreciate the speed and professionalism with which you were able to analyze our family business and accurately come to value for both general and limited partners. Based on the depth and quality of your work we fully intend to use your firm for future updates.”