Proven Best Practices: December 2013

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How to Avoid a Hearing	Ford vs. Claus	Less 'By the Book'	That Newsletter Guy

Nobody wants a hearing. But sometimes they seem unavoidable.

Participants find that the preparation and attendance at a hearing costs in excess of $1 million.

In our work as expert witnesses, Proven has found 7 ways to avoid hearings.

These same 7 techniques also make your chances of winning at a hearing much higher.

The best hearing avoidance strategies incorporate all 7 of these hearing avoidance techniques. Today we share one.

One way to avoid a hearing is to deeply understand the regulations: The letter of the law. And reading between the lines.

Speaking regulatory-ese is very important. Make sure you have someone who understands how the regulators think, act and even breathe.

The better you understand the regulations, the more opportunities you will find to use these to get your way.

The better you understand the regulator, the better you will be at couching your arguments to make obvious sense to them.

Are you concerned about a potential hearing? Proven has help several companies avoid hearings. And we’ve also helped companies win at hearings. How can we help?

~Granger J. Low

Currently the Alberta regulator is less strict in their interpretation of the regulations.

In Proven’s regulatory application work, we find that there are times when the regulator is more strict and times when it is more lenient.

The regulator following the rules exactly immediately after they issue new regulations.

Immediately after the regulator publishes new directives or regulations they usually process application more strictly according to their regulations. They become muscle bound by their new regulations.

Sometimes a strict interpretation of the regulations is not the best policy for recovery of resources from the province.

As time passes after publishing the regulations, they become more reasonable. They become more willing to listen to industry‘s pleas for exceptions.

As a few exceptions are granted, these exceptions become part of the regulator’s collective memory – part of their unwritten rules. This make them appear more sensible in application processing.

Brandon Low has worked in various capacities at Proven Reserves since 2000 and is currently the communications editor and administration manager.

Brandon was born and raised in Calgary, but has also lived abroad in Japan and the USA for several years.

Brandon studied Japanese and Communications at Brigham Young University, and though he works in communications, he enjoys keeping up with his Japanese as well. He has worked on Proven’s newsletter and marketing efforts since 2003.

In his spare time, Brandon enjoys spending time with his family, visiting new places, and creating and appreciating art in many forms. He also enjoys video gaming when he has the time. Brandon’s favourite holiday is Christmas, and least favourite holiday is his birthday.

Brandon says his goals are to help increase Proven Reserves’ value for our clients, and help build bridges in the industry. He also hopes to one day become a waterpark connoisseur.

Thanks!