On Thursday, November 16, 2017, we welcomed back Cono Fusco as a guest speaker who gave us some insight on successful networking. In additional to the great networking advice, he shared crucial tips on career planning, communicating and taking control of your life and future.

Cono began by talking about his impressive background in accounting; sharing how he started in Grant Thornton when he graduated college and quickly became a partner, excelling in everything he did and moving him down different paths. From the start of his presentation, Cono emphasized the importance of taking risks for future opportunities, a recurring theme throughout his speech.

As far as networking, we learned how to describe ourselves through our aspiration, how to stand out by being interesting, and that we should go into a networking situation with a primary and secondary objective, and always leave with something. The key to success in Cono’s perspective, is in your own hands, you should be knowledgeable and prepared going into any situations and have a plan and to practice before hand; using what you have access to, to your advantage.

Communication was something Cono stressed, he said it is important to “be a quick listener and a slow talker,” that we need to hear people when they talk, listen, understand and respond appropriately. It gives you time to think about your answers and follow up questions while making you look engaged and interested.

Probably the most important and helpful part of Cono’s presentation were his lessons that not only applied to networking, but life and career advancement in general. He started by telling us about his recent trip to Croatia and how he started planning that trip 7 years ago. Cono explained the best way to get things accomplished is to write down our goals, dreams and aspirations on paper, and to cross them off as we achieve them. Plan on what you want to be doing 5 or 10 years from now and then ask yourself what you need to do today and tomorrow to get there.

Overall, it was an insightful and interesting presentation informing us of successful tips for our futures.

By Stephanie Roberts, edited by John Chen

Dennis S. Neier, a Director of Litigation at Anchin and a Commercial Litigation Panelist of the American Arbitration Association, educated the audience on the various roles an accountant plays in a litigation and brought the room to life with flashbacks of his own experiences.

Dennis showed that accountants are not limited to litigations involving financials or tax; they play a role in every stage of a case. The purpose of the accountant might change as a case progresses, but the need for an accountant is constant. Dennis told stories of how at one stage, an accountant may try to discredit the opposing expert witness, and at another, he or she may try to mitigate the penalties of the client. After captivating the audience with all the possibilities of the Litigation practice, Dennis explained the qualifications of becoming an Expert Witness and the secrets of his success.

To be an expert witness, you must be educated, trained, certified, or possess the relevant skill or experience. Dennis differentiated an expert witness and a successful expert witness. To be a successful expert witness, you position yourself as an independent expert witness while in court. The wording of the answer you give is crucial and should not be taken lightly. Another word of advice Dennis gave was to answer the question asked, and to never divulge information beyond the scope of the question. Last but certainly not least, to be a successful expert witness, listening is key, especially when the lawyers are talking, be it directly or indirectly to you.
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By John Chen, Edited by Crystal Lam