BRG Appoints Leading Competition Expert as Vice Chairman

BRG today announced the appointment of Dr. David Sunding as vice chairman and managing director. Sunding has more than 25 years of experience as an economist and consultant, with particular expertise in antitrust and competition, product liability and environmental regulation. He is the Thomas J. Graff Professor Emeritus and a Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches law and economics, industrial organization and environmental economics. Immediately prior to joining BRG, he was president of a leading global economic consulting firm.

Sunding has consulted and testified in cases related to competition in industries such as software applications, credit cards and agricultural products. He has also testified extensively in complex environmental cases such as Deepwater Horizon, ground- and surface-water contamination cases brought by state and local entities, and product liability matters involving PCBs, TCP, PFAS and other chemicals. He has testified in three interstate cases of original jurisdiction at the US Supreme Court.

Sunding’s initial focus at BRG will include growing the firm’s successful international competition economics offering into a world-leading practice. Twelve of its experts are profiled in Who’s Who Legal Competition, and the firm is ranked in the Global Competition Review 100, Global Competition Review Economics 23 and as Band 1 in Chambers Litigation Support: Economic Analysts.

Sunding joins BRG’s leading competition policy experts around the world, including Dr. David Teece, David Kaplan, Dr. Michael Williams and Dr. Henry Kahwaty in the US and Greg Harman in the UK. They work across service lines including economic and financial consulting relating to competition policy and regulation, valuation, damages analysis and expert testimony in class actions and other competition-related disputes. The firm’s experts work across industries, with particular expertise in telecommunications, media and technology, digital platforms, energy and utilities, and transportation. The firm expects to announce further news on the practice’s expansion in the US and Europe in the coming months.

Tri MacDonald, BRG’s principal executive officer and president, said: “We are privileged to have welcomed one of the world’s leading names in global antitrust and competition policy. We are excited to have David in the driving seat of our growth plans in this area and also to harness his leadership experience and ethos across our firm.”

Teece, BRG’s executive chairman and a professor of Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, added: “I have worked alongside David for many years and am delighted to have him join our firm. I have the utmost respect for his academic and professional work and also his leadership style. I look forward to realizing our ambitious plans together.”

Commenting on his appointment, Sunding said, “I am excited about the opportunity to build on BRG’s outstanding reputation for economic and financial consulting around the world. I have admired the way the firm has developed since its inception and have a great deal of respect for the leaders and experts here that I have worked with, or alongside, as well as those I am now getting the chance to meet. With the talent and track record that exist across the firm, and our desire to grow and invest in key practice areas and locations—particularly in competition policy and antitrust in Europe and the US—I look forward to what we are going to achieve.”

Harman, who leads BRG’s EMEA Disputes practice, said: “David’s experience in antitrust and competition policy will add significantly to our already deep expertise in this and related areas, assisting our practice to expand in the EU and further develop the advisory side of our competition practice. We see a huge opportunity to build on our strong record in class actions and competition damages, regulatory disputes, economic advisory work and disputes more generally.”

Following his appointment, it is expected that Sunding will use BRG’s established position in competition economics to lead the expansion of the firm’s practice in Europe, including a presence in Brussels—a market where he has previously established and led leading practices and undertaken competition work, and where significant opportunities for growth exist.

In addition to his consulting career, Sunding has held senior governmental posts, including senior economist on President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, and roles on panels for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board and the National Academy of Sciences. He has testified before Congress on numerous occasions. He has published extensively on environmental, antitrust, product liability and other law and economics topics.