Top 20 Litigation Support & Disputes Advisory 2026

This report forms part of the Ranking News Advisory series, which evaluates specialized advisory firms across global corporate, financial, and regulatory ecosystems.

Litigation support and disputes advisory firms play a critical role in modern legal and financial systems, providing independent analysis and expert insight in complex commercial conflicts. As litigation, arbitration, and regulatory disputes increase in scale and sophistication, the demand for credible, technically rigorous advisory support has grown significantly across jurisdictions.

Firms in this category operate at the intersection of law, economics, and finance, supporting legal counsel, corporations, and financial institutions in matters involving damages assessment, valuation disputes, contractual interpretation, and regulatory challenges. Unlike investigations-focused advisory, which centers on fact-finding, disputes advisory is primarily concerned with quantification, interpretation, and expert positioning within legal proceedings.

These firms are frequently engaged in high-stakes arbitration, cross-border litigation, and regulatory disputes where outcomes depend heavily on the quality and defensibility of financial and economic analysis. Their work often forms the foundation for expert testimony, influencing judicial decisions, settlement outcomes, and regulatory determinations.

This ranking identifies firms that demonstrate sustained credibility in disputes environments, supported by technical depth, institutional reputation, and consistent involvement in complex legal proceedings.

Market Overview

The litigation support and disputes advisory market has expanded in parallel with the increasing complexity of global commerce. Cross-border transactions, infrastructure investments, and regulatory enforcement actions have led to a rise in disputes requiring specialized financial and economic analysis.

Firms in this space typically work alongside law firms and corporate legal teams, providing independent expert reports, damages quantification, and valuation analysis. Their role is particularly prominent in arbitration proceedings, where financial and economic experts often play a central role in determining outcomes.

The market is characterized by a combination of large multidisciplinary advisory firms and specialized economic consulting boutiques. While larger firms offer integrated capabilities and global reach, specialist firms often differentiate through deep expertise in economic theory, valuation methodologies, and sector-specific disputes.

As disputes become increasingly data-intensive and technical, the ability to combine analytical rigor with clear expert communication has become a defining characteristic of leading firms in this category.

Industry Trend — 2026

The disputes advisory landscape in 2026 reflects a continued shift toward analytical sophistication and cross-disciplinary integration. Legal proceedings increasingly rely on complex financial models, econometric analysis, and structured valuation frameworks, elevating the role of expert advisors.

International arbitration remains a key driver of demand, particularly in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and technology. Disputes involving valuation, pricing, and contractual interpretation require advisors capable of translating technical analysis into defensible expert testimony.

At the same time, regulatory disputes have become more prominent, with firms supporting clients in matters involving antitrust, financial regulation, and compliance enforcement. This has expanded the role of disputes advisors beyond traditional litigation into broader regulatory contexts.

Firms that combine strong analytical capabilities with credibility in legal settings—particularly those with experienced testifying experts—are best positioned in the current environment.

Methodology — Core Eligibility Criteria

To ensure structural consistency within the category, firms considered for this ranking were evaluated based on the following eligibility conditions:

• Demonstrates active involvement in litigation, arbitration, or regulatory disputes
• Provides expert advisory services, including damages assessment or valuation analysis
• Supports legal proceedings through independent analysis and reporting
• Maintains recognized expertise among legal professionals and dispute practitioners
• Operates in complex or cross-border dispute environments

Organizations focused solely on litigation or product-based services without independent dispute capability are generally excluded.

Methodology — Ranking Factors

Firms included in the ranking were evaluated using a combination of qualitative and structural considerations:

• Depth of disputes and litigation support capabilities
• Strength in damages quantification, valuation, and economic analysis
• Experience in arbitration and complex legal proceedings
• Reputation among law firms, courts, and arbitration panels
• Quality and credibility of expert testimony
• Global reach and cross-border execution capability

The objective of the ranking is to identify firms whose advisory platforms maintain sustained relevance within the global litigation support & disputes ecosystem.

The ranking universe consisted of approximately 60–80 firms globally, from which 20 institutions were selected.

Tier classifications reflect relative institutional positioning within the litigation support and disputes advisory sector.

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Tier I — Leading Litigation Support & Disputes Advisory Firms

Analysis Group

• Headquarters: Boston, United States
• Founded: 1981

Analysis Group is an economic consulting and expert-services firm focused on applying economics, finance, statistics, health care analytics, data science, and strategy to litigation, regulatory, and business disputes. The firm works with law firms, corporations, and government agencies in matters involving antitrust, finance, securities, intellectual property, health care, commercial damages, class certification, and regulatory proceedings.

Its relevance to litigation support lies in its ability to combine analytical rigor with expert testimony. In high-stakes disputes, legal teams require more than descriptive analysis; they need defensible methodologies, credible expert witnesses, quantitative modeling, and clear explanations that can survive cross-examination.

Analysis Group fits Tier I because it is highly aligned with the economic and expert-testimony core of this category. It also helps make the ranking more orthogonal to forensic-investigations rankings, because its center of gravity is economic analysis and litigation strategy rather than corporate investigations.

Charles River Associates (CRA)

• Headquarters: Boston, United States
• Founded: 1965

Charles River Associates is a global consulting firm providing economic, financial, forensic, investigative, and strategy expertise to law firms, corporations, accounting firms, and governments. Within litigation support, CRA is particularly relevant in antitrust, competition, finance, intellectual property, securities, energy, life sciences, labor, damages, valuation, and regulatory disputes.

CRA’s strength lies in its combination of economic analysis and expert testimony. The firm’s work often involves complex modeling, market analysis, financial reconstruction, valuation, and economic evidence that can support litigation, arbitration, regulatory review, and settlement strategy.

CRA fits Tier I because it is a long-established disputes and economic consulting platform. While broader than a pure litigation boutique, its litigation and expert-services identity is strong enough to anchor the ranking without relying on generic advisory or investigations firms.

Compass Lexecon

• Headquarters: Chicago, United States
• Founded: 1977 Lexecon legacy; 2008 current combined platform

Compass Lexecon is a global economic consulting firm focused on competition economics, finance, damages, international arbitration, regulatory proceedings, public policy, and complex litigation. It provides economic analysis and expert testimony for law firms, corporations, regulators, and government clients.

The firm is especially relevant in antitrust and competition matters, where disputes often depend on market definition, pricing conduct, merger effects, damages quantification, pass-through, market power, and counterfactual economic analysis. Its finance and international arbitration capabilities also support high-value commercial disputes and treaty-related matters.

Compass Lexecon fits Tier I because it is one of the most recognizable economic consulting brands in litigation and regulatory economics. For this ranking, it is cleaner to use Compass Lexecon rather than the broader FTI Consulting parent platform, because Compass Lexecon is more precise and less duplicative with forensic or investigations rankings.

Cornerstone Research

• Headquarters: San Francisco, United States
• Founded: 1989

Cornerstone Research is an economic and financial consulting firm focused on litigation, regulatory proceedings, and expert testimony. The firm works with attorneys, companies, and government agencies in matters involving securities, antitrust, finance, accounting, consumer finance, intellectual property, valuation, class actions, and corporate governance.

Cornerstone’s model emphasizes collaboration with academic and industry experts. This is especially relevant in disputes where the credibility of the expert, the reliability of the methodology, and the ability to explain complex economic or financial concepts clearly are central to case outcomes.

Cornerstone Research fits Tier I because it is one of the cleanest names for litigation economics and financial expert support. It does not dilute the ranking into general consulting, and it gives the article a strong disputes-specific identity.

The Brattle Group

• Headquarters: Boston, United States
• Founded: 1990

The Brattle Group is a global consulting firm specializing in economics, finance, regulation, and expert testimony. It supports corporations, law firms, and governments in disputes involving competition, financial markets, energy, infrastructure, securities, tax, valuation, damages, regulation, and international arbitration.

The firm is particularly relevant where legal disputes require rigorous economic theory, quantitative analysis, regulatory expertise, and credible expert evidence. Its work often sits at the intersection of economics, policy, finance, and law, making it especially useful in highly technical commercial and regulatory disputes.

The Brattle Group fits Tier I because it is a category-defining economic consulting firm. It provides strong litigation-support credibility while remaining distinct from forensic investigations, crisis advisory, and transactional risk categories.

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Tier II — Established Litigation Support & Disputes Advisory Firms

(Alphabetical order)

Bates Group

• Headquarters: Lake Oswego, United States
• Founded: 1981

Bates Group is a financial-services-focused litigation, regulatory, compliance, and expert consulting firm. Its work is especially relevant in securities disputes, broker-dealer matters, wealth management conflicts, regulatory proceedings, internal reviews, expert testimony, forensic analysis, and financial-services compliance disputes.

The firm’s relevance comes from its sector specialization. Financial-services disputes often require expert understanding of securities practices, supervisory systems, suitability, damages, compliance obligations, and regulatory expectations. Bates Group is positioned around that specific technical environment.

Bates Group fits Tier II because it is narrower than the Tier I economic consulting platforms but highly relevant to litigation support. It adds sector depth and improves the commercial licensing logic of the list.

Bates White

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• Founded: 1999

Bates White is an economic consulting firm providing analysis and expert testimony to law firms, Fortune 500 companies, and government agencies. The firm is active in antitrust, class actions, health care, finance, intellectual property, environmental disputes, life sciences, and other litigation and regulatory matters.

Its strength lies in quantitative analysis, economic modeling, statistical work, and expert support across complex litigation. Bates White is especially relevant in disputes where liability, causation, class-wide impact, damages, and market behavior must be analyzed with rigor.

Bates White fits Tier II because it is highly aligned with the litigation economics core of the ranking. It is large enough to be credible but more focused and commercially approachable than some of the Tier I anchors.

Econ One

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, United States
• Founded: 1997

Econ One is an economic consulting firm providing litigation support, economic analysis, expert consulting, and testimony support across industries including energy, financial markets, health care, insurance, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and competition-related matters.

The firm’s litigation support work is relevant before, during, and after litigation. It helps legal teams assess case strategy, quantify damages, evaluate economic evidence, process data, and develop testimony that can be presented clearly in legal proceedings.

Econ One fits Tier II because it is a focused economic consulting platform with direct litigation-support positioning. It is not as globally prominent as Compass Lexecon or Brattle, but it is category-specific and credible.

Edgeworth Economics

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• Founded: 2009

Edgeworth Economics is an economic and quantitative consulting firm providing economic analysis and expert testimony in complex litigation, regulatory, and business matters. Its practice areas include antitrust, class certification, consumer protection, intellectual property, labor and employment, and data-driven dispute analysis.

The firm is especially relevant where disputes require advanced statistical analysis, labor economics, damages modeling, and quantitative support. In class actions, employment litigation, and consumer matters, the ability to analyze large datasets and translate findings into legal arguments is central to case strategy.

Edgeworth Economics fits Tier II because it is younger, focused, and commercially plausible as a ranking-recognition target. It gives the article a modern quantitative litigation-support profile.

Fideres

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2009

Fideres is an economic consulting firm focused on litigation economics, financial markets disputes, antitrust, securities litigation, market abuse, market manipulation, and complex group claims. The firm provides consulting and expert-witness services in matters where financial data, market behavior, and economic evidence are central.

Its relevance to the ranking comes from its litigation-first positioning. Fideres is not a broad management consultancy; it is built around disputes, economic testimony, and litigation strategy. This makes it especially useful for financial markets, competition, and securities-related claims.

Fideres fits Tier II because it provides strong European and transatlantic litigation economics depth. It is also likely more responsive to recognition than older, larger platforms, which improves the licensing logic of the ranking.

HKA

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2017

HKA is an expert-services and dispute-resolution advisory firm focused on quantum, delay, disruption, construction, infrastructure, energy, commercial damages, forensic accounting, and expert testimony. Its work is especially relevant in project disputes, international arbitration, construction claims, and complex contractual conflicts.

The firm’s strength lies in technical disputes where economics, engineering, project controls, contracts, scheduling, and financial loss analysis overlap. These matters often require expert opinions that combine financial quantification with practical understanding of how large projects are delivered.

HKA fits Tier II because it adds construction, infrastructure, and project-disputes depth that pure economic consulting firms may not provide. It does overlap slightly with forensic advisory, but its primary reason for inclusion here is expert disputes work rather than investigations.

NERA Economic Consulting

• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Founded: 1961

NERA Economic Consulting is a global economic consulting firm providing analysis, expert testimony, and advisory support in litigation, arbitration, regulatory proceedings, and policy matters. Its areas of strength include antitrust, securities, finance, intellectual property, labor, energy, environment, health care, damages, and international arbitration.

NERA is particularly relevant where disputes require economic theory, econometrics, financial modeling, and expert credibility. It supports clients in assessing liability, damages, causation, market behavior, and regulatory economics in complex legal and policy environments.

NERA fits Tier II because it is highly credible and globally recognized, but its broad network structure makes it slightly less clean as a licensing target than smaller independents. It remains too important to omit from a serious disputes advisory ranking.

Oxera

• Headquarters: Oxford, United Kingdom
• Founded: 1982

Oxera is an economics and finance consultancy with strong capabilities in commercial litigation, international arbitration, competition, regulation, damages assessment, valuation, and public-policy economics. Its disputes work supports clients in assessing economic merits, quantifying damages, preparing expert reports, and giving oral testimony.

The firm is especially relevant in European and international arbitration contexts. Its experience in competition, energy, transport, finance, infrastructure, and regulated sectors makes it useful where disputes involve complex markets or regulatory environments.

Oxera fits Tier II because it is a credible European economic consultancy with a direct disputes and arbitration offering. It strengthens the geographic balance of the ranking while preserving the economic-expert identity of the category.

RBB Economics

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2002

RBB Economics is a specialist competition economics consultancy focused on antitrust, merger control, abuse of dominance, cartels, market investigations, damages, and competition litigation. Its work is particularly relevant where disputes require economic assessment of market structure, pricing behavior, pass-on, overcharge, and competitive effects.

The firm’s narrow focus is a strength in this category. Competition litigation and follow-on damages claims require deep technical expertise, and RBB’s specialist positioning makes it more relevant than broad advisory firms with only a general disputes practice.

RBB Economics fits Tier II because it gives the list a clean competition-economics specialist. It is more focused than many larger firms and helps make the ranking more technically credible.

Secretariat

• Headquarters: Atlanta, United States
• Founded: 2008

Secretariat is an expert-services and litigation consulting firm focused on disputes, construction, infrastructure, forensic accounting, investigations, economic damages, data, engineering, and arbitration support. The firm is frequently engaged in high-stakes legal, regulatory, and commercial disputes where expert analysis is central.

Its relevance lies in combining expert testimony with industry and technical depth. In many disputes, legal teams need more than economists; they need engineers, construction specialists, forensic accountants, damages experts, and data professionals capable of producing integrated expert opinions.

Secretariat fits Tier II because it is a highly credible disputes platform, especially in construction, infrastructure, arbitration, and expert services. Like HKA, it may overlap with forensic advisory, but its disputes orientation is strong enough to justify inclusion.

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Tier III — Specialist Litigation Support & Disputes Advisory Firms

(Alphabetical order)

Accuracy

• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Founded: 2004

Accuracy is an independent international consulting firm focused on transactions, disputes, crises, valuation, financial advisory, and strategic decisions. Its disputes practice supports litigation and arbitration matters involving antitrust, commercial disputes, construction, intellectual property, M&A, shareholder conflicts, restructuring, tax, valuation, and damages.

The firm fits Tier III because it is credible and independent but broader than pure litigation economics. It adds European depth and financial-advisory capability without relying on Big Four or forensic-heavy platforms.

Delta Consulting Group

• Headquarters: Woodbridge, United States
• Founded: 2000

Delta Consulting Group is a specialist advisory firm focused on dispute resolution, risk mitigation, construction, engineering, project management, forensic accounting, finance, economics, investigations, and litigation support. Its work is particularly relevant in construction and project disputes involving cost overruns, schedule delays, change orders, contract compliance, and damages.

Delta fits Tier III because it provides focused project-disputes capability. It should not rank above HKA or Secretariat, but it gives the list useful depth in construction and infrastructure litigation.

HaystackID

• Headquarters: Chicago / Washington, D.C. operating presence, United States
• Founded: 2011

HaystackID is a litigation support and eDiscovery services firm focused on digital forensics, electronic discovery, data collection, document review, managed review, and data-intensive litigation support. It helps law firms and corporations manage complex information workflows in investigations, litigation, and regulatory matters.

The firm fits Tier III because it makes the article more orthogonal. Rather than another economic consulting or forensic accounting firm, HaystackID represents the data and eDiscovery infrastructure layer of litigation support.

Lighthouse

• Headquarters: Seattle, United States
• Founded: 1995

Lighthouse is a legal technology and eDiscovery services provider focused on enterprise data, information governance, complex eDiscovery, compliance, and litigation data management. It supports legal and compliance teams dealing with large volumes of electronically stored information and complex data environments.

Lighthouse fits Tier III because litigation support increasingly depends on data strategy, review technology, analytics, and defensible information management. It broadens the category beyond expert testimony while remaining directly relevant to litigation support.

Resolution Economics

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, United States
• Founded: 1998

Resolution Economics is a dispute, investigation, and advisory firm specializing in labor and employment disputes, financial analysis, accounting issues, class actions, damages, valuation, and expert testimony. Its work is especially relevant in complex employment litigation and finance-related disputes.

The firm fits Tier III because it is narrower than the large economic consulting firms but highly aligned with litigation support. It also offers better recognition and licensing probability than many ultra-large advisory platforms.

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Remarks

Litigation support and disputes advisory firms continue to play a critical role in the resolution of complex commercial, financial, and regulatory conflicts. As legal proceedings become increasingly data-driven and analytically intensive, the demand for independent, technically rigorous advisory support remains structurally strong.

The firms recognized in this ranking reflect a combination of economic expertise, financial analysis capability, and credibility within legal environments. Their work extends beyond traditional litigation support, contributing to arbitration, regulatory proceedings, and high-stakes commercial disputes across jurisdictions.

Tier II firms in particular represent a diverse group of established advisory platforms that combine technical depth with growing market presence. These organizations are often engaged in complex disputes requiring specialized expertise, while continuing to expand their roles within the broader litigation and regulatory advisory landscape.

Tier classification reflects relative institutional positioning within the litigation support and disputes advisory sector rather than performance outcomes or legal determinations.

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Recognition

Organizations included in the Top 20 Litigation Support & Disputes Advisory 2026 ranking may request information regarding authorized use of the Ranking News designation for marketing and communications purposes.

Recognized institutions may reference the designation in:

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