BRG Appoints Leading Antitrust and Platform Economics Expert Dr. David S. Evans to Its Antitrust and Competition Policy Group

BRG announced today the appointment of renowned economist Dr. David S. Evans as a global leader in its antitrust and competition practice. Evans will spearhead the firm’s growth in work related to the digital economy and platform markets, including in litigation, investigations and regulatory matters as technology reshapes global business.

Evans is an economist whose work on platform businesses, the digital economy and antitrust economics is widely cited.

He joins BRG at a pivotal moment in the development of the firm’s world-leading antitrust and competition practice, following the September appointment of distinguished antitrust economist Dr. David Sunding. BRG expects to announce further key hires in both the US and Europe in the coming months. Evans is based in Boston and joins BRG’s office there.

Evans specializes in antitrust and two-sided markets and advises companies from startups to global digital organizations on business strategy and competition policy. He has consulted on and testified in antitrust cases in the US and other countries, including several classic cases involving digital economy and platform businesses; and has served as an expert on high-profile mergers. His case work has spanned areas including software platforms, online marketplaces, online advertising, payment systems, healthcare, financial services, intellectual property and broadband, among others. The US Supreme Court cited Evans’ scholarly work more than a dozen times in the seminal Ohio v. American Express decision on the antitrust analysis of platform markets.

In addition to continuing his work as a testifying expert, Evans will help BRG expand and enrich the firm’s already impressive capabilities on litigation, investigations and regulation involving businesses operating in digital economy or other platform-centric markets. He will also participate in BRG’s competition policy and financial services practices and join leading experts including Sunding and Dr. David Teece.

Teece, BRG’s executive chairman and a professor at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, said, “We are privileged to welcome one of the world’s leading testifying experts on antitrust. David is renowned for his pioneering scholarship on multisided platforms and on the digital economy. I look forward to working with him to realize our ambitious plans to create the world’s leading practice on disputes related to the digital transformation.”

Tri MacDonald, BRG’s principal executive officer and president, said, “We are excited to have David in the driver’s seat of our growth plans around the digital economy and building off the firm’s strong capabilities in issues relating to big data, crypto and digital health, among others.”

Commenting on his appointment, Evans said, “Critically, Teece, Sunding, MacDonald and I share a vision of how the digital transformation will shape consulting for the years to come. BRG’s commitment to building broad and deep analytical capabilities in this area is a unique opportunity to bring economic analysis and big data to inform decisions around disputes, which will grow exponentially as the digital transformation sweeps through the traditional economy. I am delighted to join friends and colleagues—including Dr. Teece, whom I’ve worked with and learned much from for nearly two decades—to help clients navigate new and complex issues.”

Evans has testified many times before federal and state courts in the US as well as courts in the EU, China and Canada. He is the author of nine books and more than 150 articles. His book Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms (coauthored with Richard Schmalensee) won the 2017 Axiom award for best economics book and was featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist. Evans taught antitrust economics, and its intersection with the digital economy and platform markets, for almost 20 years at the University of Chicago and University College London.

In addition to his academic and consulting career, Evans is the founder of Competition Policy International, a leading global publisher of scholarly articles on antitrust and, more recently, regulation for the digital economy.