Economic damages for commercial litigators. trade secret cases. antitrust teams. patent disputes. general counsel. employment matters. securities litigation. construction claims.

If you win liability, what is the case actually worth — and how do you prove it? That question has more than one right answer, and the choice between them is usually made by habit.

9areas
27subject areas
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How it works

Learn. Analyze. Challenge. Find.

Most damages disputes are argued as though one correct figure is waiting to be calculated. There is not. The same conduct can be measured three ways, each with different evidentiary demands and different vulnerabilities — and the choice is usually made before anyone has looked at what the records can support.

Traditional
Calling whoever you called last time
With the Institute
A choice you can defend

Understand the Measures

Lost profits, lost business value, the defendant’s gain — three different economic questions, not three routes to one number. Explore the areas.

Test It Before They Do

A study covering 2000–2021 found roughly a third of challenges to financial experts produced at least partial exclusion. The grounds that succeed are visible in the report months earlier. See what gets excluded.

Right-Size the Expertise

Which discipline the problem needs, and how much machinery the matter justifies, are separate questions. Sometimes the answer is a large consultancy — and we will say so. Choosing the expert.

begin here

What is the economic harm?

Describe the dispute to Cournot, the Institute’s damages concierge. It will help you see which measures the facts could support, what each would require in records, and what kind of expertise the matter actually calls for. It does not compute a number, does not tell you what is legally recoverable, and does not tell you what your case is worth.

Cournota diagnostic, not a damages opinion
Tell me about the dispute — what happened, what economic harm is alleged, and roughly over what period. I'll help you see which damages measures the facts could support and what each would demand. I won't calculate anything or tell you what the case is worth.
Advisory

When the question is bigger than which expert to call

Some matters have more than one viable damages theory and no obvious answer about who should run it. The Institute prepares a written Economic Damages Assessment — the measures the facts can support, what each requires in data, analogous matters and literature, and named candidates with the reasoning behind each. Fixed fee, agreed before any work begins.

common questions

What counsel ask before they trust a site like this.

These come before the practice areas do. If the answers are unsatisfying, nothing further down the page will help.

What does the Institute actually do?
It works out what a damages case requires before anyone is retained. Which measures the facts could support, what each would demand in records, where such claims are typically attacked, and what expertise the matter genuinely needs. It is a diagnostic and a reference — not an economic consultancy, and not an expert.
Will you tell me what my case is worth?
No, and that limit is the point rather than a disclaimer. The Institute explains what each methodology measures and what each requires; it does not calculate damages, produce a range, or estimate an order of magnitude. The moment it produced a figure it would be an unretained expert offering a damages opinion, which is precisely what makes an independent reading of the problem possible in the first place.
How is the Institute paid, and who pays?
The client pays. The diagnostic is free; where a matter has more than one viable theory and no obvious answer about who should run it, the Institute prepares a written Economic Damages Assessment for a fixed fee agreed in writing beforehand. It takes no commission, revenue share or placement fee from any expert it names — an expert whose recommender is paid out of that expert’s billings has been handed a bias question to answer on cross, and the lawyer who retained them inherits it.
What is your relationship with Round Table Group?
The Institute’s Executive Director, Russ Rosenzweig, cofounded Round Table Group, and where a firm wants a full-service expert search — recruiting, conflicts, contracting, billing and ongoing engagement management — the Institute refers them there. We state that wherever a referral is offered rather than waiting to be asked, because a recommendation from an undisclosed interest is worth nothing.
How often do damages experts actually get excluded?
More often than most litigators assume. PwC research covering challenges from 2000 through 2021 found roughly a third of Daubert challenges to financial experts produced at least partial exclusion, with opinions that read as legal conclusions excluded at higher rates. In many postures losing the damages expert is not a weaker case but no provable number at all, after the liability work is already paid for.
Will you ever tell us to hire Analysis Group or Cornerstone?
Yes, when the matter justifies it, and the analysis would be worthless otherwise. Enormous datasets, parallel econometric workstreams, compressed schedules and heavy trial support are what institutional platforms exist for, and where those are present the Institute says so and helps identify the right individual inside such a firm. A site that only ever concluded “you don’t need the big firm” would be marketing wearing a lab coat.

Work out the measure before you retain anyone.

Describe the dispute. The Institute will help you scope it — with no expert to sell you and no commission on whoever you choose.

talk to the Institute
Cournota diagnostic, not a damages opinion
Tell me about the dispute — what happened, what economic harm is alleged, and roughly over what period. I'll help you see which measures the facts could support and what kind of expertise the matter needs. I won't calculate a number or tell you what is legally recoverable.