The Brattle Group
Visit Website: www.brattle.com
Overview
Introduction
The Brattle Group answers complex economic, regulatory, and financial questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. The firm serves numerous focus areas and industries, including energy, financial institutions, IT, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, sports, telecom, and media. In addition, they offer expert testimony and are known for the credibility of their experts, which include leading international academics and industry specialists.
Company Stats
Employer Type
Size
Featured Rankings
Vault Consulting 50...
Major Departments/Practice Areas
Accounting...
Major Office Locations
Brussels...
Employment Contact
Firsthand Findings
The Brattle Group continues to grow its reputation across practice areas, maintaining its foothold as a dynamic boutique with expertise in economic, litigation, and energy practices. If we were to characterize the overall tenor of the feedback we received from employees, it would be that Brattle is a “consultancy with heart.” Insiders describe a fast-paced and exciting environment, where consultants hit the ground running in their professional development in order to remain agile and deliver the quality of services for which the firm has become known. However, the value placed on Brattle employees as people—the level of support from peers and investment from leadership—distinguishes the firm as a balanced and rewarding place to work.
Described by one survey respo...
About the Company
The Brattle Group answers complex economic, regulatory, and finance questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. Brattle specializes in providing analysis and expert consulting related to energy, finance, and litigation matters for clients throughout the world. Various governments, regulatory bodies, leading corporations, and financial institutions call on Brattle when faced with litigation, regulatory, and policy questions. In answering these questions, Brattle relies on its broad capabilities in economics, finance, and analytics, in addition to deep subject-matter expertise in a variety of industries and practice areas.
Brattle’s antitrust and competition work includes some of the largest mergers, or attempted mergers, in over 50 industries. It has advised clients in hundreds of transactions and ...
2021 Vault Rankings
Employee Reviews
- “A challenging, exciting experience undergone shoulder to shoulder with intelligent, kind, and supportive colleagues.”
- “Brattle is different from other economic consulting firms, as it really values employee experience and development, which has really been shown throughout COVID-19. The firm tries its best to support employees in many ways possible. Its major downfall is its lack of diversity within leadership, along with those who are promoted. Our hiring of a new COO, as well as our newly developed affinity groups and partnership with a diversity-consulting group reflects encouraging signs that the firm is trying to fulfill its diversity commitments. The worst part of the job is the unexpected hours, which is not unique to Brattle and is characteristic of consulting in general.”
- “Brattle prides itself on its lack of hierarchy where analysts have the opportunity to lead projects and analyses. Colleagues are all very supportive and friendly, and project managers encourage personal development and are open to feedback.”
- “From the ground up, our firm values its employees. Rarely will you see the type of transparency and care a firm has for those who work there. I am a junior employee but have had face time with our COO, chair of the board, and president on multiple occasions in efforts to improve and grow. That is rare and very special.”
- “If you find economic consulting to be interesting, you will find no place better to work. After you interview here, you will leave impressed by our culture, our people, and our general outlook. It is not an act. This is a great place to work, and I am thrilled to have grown my practice here.”
- “The culture at the firm is incredible. Everyone at the firm, whether you know them or not, is always available and willing to help. Everyone wants to see you do your best, the competition is healthy, and everything understanding the learning curve and helps you conquer it. The competition is extremely healthy, and the firm challenge you to be better in an extremely productive and healthy manner. Everyone is so extremely helpful and welcoming. The firm culture has transformed my expectations of my first full-time job after college.”
- “The quality of life is very good overall. There is a lot of flexibility with respect to hours. However, the hours can sometimes be volatile. I probably work in the high-forty hours or low 50 hours/week on average, but that's combined of some heavy work weeks and some that are somewhat lighter. As we are trying to provide high-quality service to clients, sometimes I make sacrifices to do so, but overall I find the job to be fairly accommodating.”
- “The best aspect of the firm is that everyone is extremely accommodating and helpful in improving the quality of everyone in the firm. The worst aspect is that a lot of the times, you cannot control project deadlines (but that is not really a firm thing but the nature of the work that we do).”
- “Hours and vacation time are pretty reasonable and good for consulting. One area of improvement could be staffing. I feel like the workload is not always evenly distributed between analysts because project managers usually want to work with people they've worked with before. It can be hard to get off of cases that you don't want to be on if you have experience in the subject matter.”
- “Our firm provides reimbursements for health and wellness initiatives, including an annual amount to pursue a hobby, allowing flexibility for each employee to spend on health and wellness as they personally best see fit.”
- “The firm does a good job of providing support for its employees to manage the work/life balance. There is an effort going around to ensure that everyone's mental health is being taken into consideration and allowing for time off as needed for people to get to a point where they feel able to work well. I only see this initiative getting better with time.”
- “Brattle's vacation policy is very good and most of the time, project managers are very accommodating. Because the amount of work from week to week is so variable, there are times when work will overlap with scheduled vacation time. Vacations need to be scheduled for immediately after deadlines in order to ensure that work will not be required during the vacation.”
- “The compensation package was competitive when I joined the firm. Since then, other firms in the space have increased their base salaries whereas Brattle has more or less stayed the same. However, overall, it’s a good compensation package. The bonuses are average, and signing bonuses are reasonable as well.”
- “The health insurance is excellent and I feel like Brattle does a good job at creating benefits [you can expense] that are both appropriate and feel like a nice treat.”
- “The best aspect is that they really compensate you not only for the number of hours but also for the level of contributions.”
- "The bonus compensation is tied to billable hours, and there is a lack of transparency in how non-billable activities which help the firm (trainings, pro-bono work, business development, recruiting efforts, etc.) are considered in determining bonuses. This disincentivizes participation in these crucial activities, so often the burden tends to fall on a few individuals – who in turn, may not be compensated as well. Our benefits compensation is quite generous, particularly the "Beyond Brattle" benefit which can be put towards recreational activities not tied to career development, such as cooking classes and dance lessons.”
- “The firm provides a very generous package. I appreciate many of "non-standard" benefits such as money to pursue hobbies & interests outside of work.”
- “The raise between years 2 and 3 for research analysts is quite good. My favorite perk is "Beyond Brattle," where we get reimbursed $625 for any sort of hobby or activity.”
- “Brattle is extremely focused on career development for consultants at all levels. The promotion process is specific and detailed, providing quality feedback, including in real time. The firm is committed to DEI and is spending a lot of resources and focus on [DEI initiatives].”
- “Brattle sees itself as a human capital development shop. We want to make sure people gain the skills to be successful in this industry, and to make sure they have a good experience and have great prospects even if this industry isn't the right long-term fit for them.”
- “Brattle tailors its development opportunities to each employee. If you need help developing in a certain area, there are resources for that. If you excel in an area, you might be asked to mentor others in that area. Unlike other firms, Brattle likes its consultants to be challenged through experiences whereby the consultant can grow into the role she/he will play. This means that there may be less hand-holding than in other firms--this leads to more agency and faster growth, which I appreciate greatly.”
- “Mentoring, promotion process and career paths are clear and developed and the firm offers a lot of support. Opportunities for educational opportunities related to career development are available but less broadcasted.”
- “There is an annual review process that provides clear feedback on what you're doing well and what you can improve. During this process, the number of years you're away from promotion is also communicated and expectations for qualifying for promotion are articulated. Principals generally try to find opportunities for associates and analysts to develop (e.g., taking the lead on a client presentation or call).”
- “The firm has developed clear development guidelines and infrastructure to monitor and assist in staff development. There is a clear interest in promotion from within. Like all firms in the economics profession, diversity has been a challenge, but the firm has taken steps in the last year or so to be more aggressive in the recruitment and development of minority and women staffers.”
- “This has been a hot topic of discussion recently. The firm started a diversity and inclusion committee, and there have been LGBTQ and women’s affinity groups started as well. I think the firm is definitely trending in the right direction but there is a lot of work to be done in terms of taking action.”
- “The firm is actively trying to improve in the work culture and D&I spaces, and that is both recognized and highly appreciated. There may have been qualms in the past, but leadership is actively addressing them.”
- “Our firm is actively working on diversity within the recruiting and hiring processes, and there is broad engagement from many individuals across the firm on this process. We are not as far along as I would have hoped, but I see positive and encouraging steps being taken. Regarding pay, I know that there is a discretionary portion of the bonus calculation, and I do not know how that is determined or how that may affect pay disparities between male and female employees. Regarding promotion, I clearly see that the principals are predominately male. However, this may be more a factor of the industry/economics as a whole, rather than the firm's choices.”
- “Over the past year, the firm leadership has thrown significant resources and time into shifting the firm into a leadership role on D&I issues. In that time, various new affinity groups have come into being, speakers brought in, external D&I consultants engaged, and policy and leadership structural adjustments have been made. Recruitment policies and strategies are in process of being developed to more effectively broaden the recruitment base for next year, while internally there has been significant top-down cultural leadership and sponsorship/elevation of grassroots efforts to make firm culture more inclusive…”
- “I am confident that there is no explicit or deliberate bias. However, the make-up of senior management continues to be predominantly white and male. Discussions regarding diversity and implicit bias are just starting at the firm.”
- “I am fairly confident that entry-level consulting employees are paid the same at Brattle. For Research Analysts, there is no negotiation of salary, which contributes to this equality. On the other hand, since Brattle is demanding on time and has a culture built around personal relationships, I don't know if it is as easy for women and minorities to advance to become higher-level managers.”
- “As a whole, the business outlook is good, especially considering the pandemic, as new business continues to be generated. Employee morale may be an issue as it's very divided. The division comes from the fact that the division of labor is variable depending on project teams. Employees on teams with effective management and/or lower demands have a better work-life balance while others are constantly struggling to not become burnt out.”
- “Business has fallen only slightly due to the pandemic. Much of this work was delayed, not diminished, so we are very busy now and plan to be more so in the future. We have hired several lateral Principals with large books of business, which have added to our breadth and depth of business.”
- “Despite COVID-19, the firm has been doing quite well and is continuing to grow. I am impressed with the firm's technical capabilities (particularly in making data accessible to non-technical parties) moving forward.”
- “It seems that Brattle is consistently adapting to new trends, looking for ways to improve internally to be more sustainable, and actively trying to maintain its supportive culture. This is great and helps me to be excited about our outlook.”
- “We are streamlining our firm's outward-facing structure in a manner that will help clients better understand our strengths and specialties. We have no problem getting work from return-clients, and this restructuring will help attract first-time clients.”
- “The firm gives both monthly and weekly updates, which has been effective in keeping firm wide morale high.”
Getting Hired Here
- “We make decisions collectively, based on multiple interviews as well as application review. I think the ideal candidate is smart, enthusiastic, and attentive to detail.”
- “We typically interview with the whole team, and this might consist of two or three rounds of interviewing. We would then have a round table discussion on pros and cons of a candidate, and then [our input is given to the hiring committees and HR for offer decisions].”
- “We want smart, well-rounded candidates. Economic analysis is one part technique and one part context. Context is important because it drives which questions you ask, what target you are aiming at, and what information is useful. The technical aspects inform the context and the context informs the technique. We want candidates who can see the big picture and then delve into the detail. A keen attention to detail is a must.”
- “The interview process is fairly rigorous, with each candidate doing several interviews with people at all levels of the firm. In terms of finding the best quality candidates, the firm certainly does that. All candidates who receive offers are well qualified and display strong attributes that match what the firm is looking for. The ideal candidate, based on my experiences, is someone who comes from either an economics or finance background and has developed the ability to work with data sets in the past, whether through coding or other methods. Individuals who have exhibited leadership, teaching, and research positions in the past are considered top candidates.”
- “Key attributes common to the new employees who make it through Brattle's recruitment process seem to be: academic rigorousness, initiative, ownership of mistakes, ownership of limits of expertise, eagerness to learn, attention to detail. Also very important is the ability to work well with others, a worldview that values constructive criticism, willingness to invest in co-workers, and a habit of kindness.”
- “I believe we do a thorough evaluation of both work ethic and fit during our interview processes. I think we are looking for individuals that are intellectually curious more than just competent. Does the candidate ask inquisitive questions in addition to getting the math correct? As we are a small firm and work in small teams, I believe our ability to discard competition is very valued.”
- “Questions typically revolve around understanding a candidate's previous work experience and finding links or adjacent experiences that would shed light on how well the candidate would do at Brattle. Questions may include: “What types of dynamics did the teams you've worked with in the past have and what was your preference?” “What type of leader do you envision yourself being?” “Have you had any experience taking a project all the way through from raw data to a fully comprehensive report?”
- “We really like to focus on how a candidate would work in a team environment. Being able to help with anything, no matter if it's in your job description or not is a really valuable characteristic we look for. We also value a candidate's familiarity with a more academic workplace. Some of those questions might include: "Can you give examples of times you’ve worked outside of your job description/comfort zone? Can you give me an example of a situation in your last job where you did something or helped someone with something that wasn’t in your job description or part of your normal duties?”
- “We'll ask applicants to discuss with us a topic in the energy industry that they may or may not be familiar with. We'll ask them to share any relevant research or project work where we will probe into the underlying assumptions and approach. We will also take applicants out for lunch or coffee to get to know them and see if they are a good cultural fit for the company.”
- “Tell me about a past project that is similar to the type of work we do. Tell me about a challenging teammate - how did you work with this individual?”
- “Interviewees are provided a figure and asked to analyze the data visualization along with various decision questions.”
- “Case interviews involve looking at data and data output. They also ask you to present your conclusions at the end and give an opinion. It felt like a mixture of management consulting and economic consulting.”
Perks & Benefits
