| Our external and internal experts are equipped with academic expertise and practical experience across a range of markets and large datasets. This, together with our staff’s deep knowledge of economics and finance, enables us to support experts and clients with a robust, multidisciplinary approach. We work with clients to compile relevant data and determine the appropriate analyses for each matter, applying market microstructure theories, advanced modeling techniques, and econometric methods. | We bring substantial experience handling big data, complex source code, and forensic analysis of data and documents. Using large public datasets and proprietary company information, we offer insightful and effective analyses. We combine technical expertise with a deep knowledge of litigation and regulatory issues. |
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Terrence Hendershott
Professor and Willis H. Booth Chair in Banking and Finance,
Haas School of Business,
University of California, Berkeley
Terrence “Terry” Hendershott is a recognized authority on market microstructure, market manipulation, and the structure of financial markets. Professor Hendershott’s academic research focuses on financial market design, structure, and competition; and how the activities of market participants affect price discovery and liquidity. He is an expert on a range of financial instruments, trading both on exchanges and over the counter. Professor Hendershott’s research has been published in leading academic journals and has received numerous awards.
Professor Hendershott has extensive testifying experience, including in depositions, arbitrations, and trials. He has provided testimony in cases involving a wide range of market microstructure issues. He has analyzed claims related to market manipulation and disruptive trading, high-frequency and algorithmic trading, trading execution, financial market design, as well as market efficiency and price discovery.
In the context of antitrust litigation, securities litigation, regulatory enforcement actions, and commercial disputes, Professor Hendershott has addressed class certification, loss causation, and damages issues. His consulting and testifying experience encompasses U.S. and international financial markets, including equities, exchange-traded funds, corporate and government debt, commodities, foreign exchanges, futures, and other products.
In his academic research, Professor Hendershott examines the design, regulation, and structure of stock exchanges, electronic communications networks, and over-the-counter markets. He has analyzed how different market participants, such as market makers, high-frequency traders, and institutional investors, affect price discovery and liquidity. In that context, he has also analyzed the interplay of and competition between electronic and traditional markets, as well as the role of information technology.
Professor Hendershott has received numerous honors for his research. These include the Michael J. Brennan Award for the best paper published in the Review of Financial Studies; the New York Stock Exchange best paper on equity trading, awarded by the Western Finance Association; the Outstanding Publication Award from the Financial Review; and the NASDAQ Award for the best paper on market microstructure, awarded by the Financial Management Association International. He has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, the Journal of Financial Markets, and Information Systems Research.
Professor Hendershott chaired the NASDAQ Economic Advisory Board and served as a visiting economist at the NYSE.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Paul Zurek
Vice President
Paul Zurek specializes in matters related to financial markets, securities, risk management, valuation, complex data, and statistical and econometric analysis.
Dr. Zurek has more than a decade of consulting experience, including as an expert witness. He has submitted numerous expert reports and declarations, and testified in depositions, arbitration, and regulatory investigations. In addition to serving as an expert witness, Dr. Zurek supports clients and leads large analytical teams in government and regulatory inquiries, civil litigation, and international arbitration. He works with academic and industry experts at all stages of litigation, and has significant trial experience, both in the U.S. and internationally.
Dr. Zurek’s expertise spans industries that include banking, hedge funds, investment management, manufacturing, private equity, pharmaceuticals and biotech, retail, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. Dr. Zurek has also been engaged on pro bono matters on behalf of organizations such as the ACLU and Children’s Rights.
Markets
- Analyze equity, fixed income, and foreign exchange (FX) markets, both exchanges and over-the-counter (OTC) markets
- Analyzed alleged fraudulent trading, including developing algorithms to identify unauthorized trading and computing damages
- Assessed high-frequency trading models and examined trading patterns related to alleged market manipulation and short squeezes
- Analyzed transaction execution and issues related to best execution
- Analyzed market participant behavior and trading in antitrust litigations alleging collusive behavior by dealers
Securities litigation
- Assess Section 10b-5, 11, and 12 matters, analyzing market efficiency, price impact, loss causation, and damages at class certification and merits stages
- Addressed issues involving both domestic and foreign defendants, including control person and insider trading claims
- Supported multiple experts in In re BP p.l.c. Securities Litigation, which resulted in class certification being denied for the first time on Comcast grounds
Risk management and derivatives
- Analyzed complex derivative transaction risks
- Evaluated market, operational, and compliance risk management procedures at financial institutions
- Quantitatively analyzed risks embedded in financial portfolios using Value-at-Risk (VAR) and simulation methods
- Evaluated risks and returns of hedge fund, private equity, and mutual fund investment strategies
- Evaluated rating agency models of default in collateralized debt obligation (CDO) portfolios
Valuation
- Value companies and financial institutions in commercial disputes, appraisal and bankruptcy proceedings, arbitration, in federal and state court and in Cayman Islands appraisal matters
- Valued a large portfolio of OTC derivatives in an International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) close-out
- Valued hedge fund and private equity managers, fintech, and pharmaceutical and biotech companies
Complex data analysis
- Designed econometric models of mortgage default and performed damages calculations in residential mortgage-backed securities litigation
- Analyzed the impact of an online home-sharing platform on housing market prices
- Performed statistical sampling in litigation alleging discrimination in university admissions
- Assisted clients with discovery and production of large and complex datasets
Dr. Zurek coauthored a chapter titled “Market Approach or Comparables,” which appears in multiple editions of the Guide to Damages in International Arbitration, published by the Global Arbitration Review. He also coauthored a chapter on mutual fund returns and strategies in Commodities: Markets, Performance, and Strategies, published by Oxford University Press.
Dr. Zurek is a fellow at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, he worked as an analyst in mergers and acquisitions at a global investment bank and taught courses in economics and finance to undergraduate and MBA students and executives.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Christine A. Parlour
Sylvan C. Coleman Chair in Finance and Accounting,
Haas School of Business,
University of California, Berkeley
Christine A. Parlour is a finance expert who focuses on market microstructure, limit order markets, cryptocurrencies, FinTech, and payment systems. Professor Parlour provides expert testimony on a range of institutionally complex topics involving financial markets, institutions, market manipulation, cryptocurrency, and regulation. She is the president of the Western Finance Association and a former member of the Nasdaq Economic Advisory Board. She has also served as visiting economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
For more than twenty years, Professor Parlour has researched issues related to the economics of financial exchanges. She specializes in financial markets, including equity markets, debt markets, and cryptocurrencies. In equity markets, she has examined price dynamics, competition for order flow, payment for order flow, and informed trading. Her research on cryptocurrencies addresses the effect of Central Bank Digital Currency on banking system stability, the costs of settlement on the Bitcoin Ledger, and how initial coin offerings (ICOs) differ from traditional funding.
Widely published, Professor Parlour’s award-winning research has appeared in leading finance and economics journals, including the American Economic Review, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Finance, and the Journal of Financial Economics. She is an editor at the Review of Finance; associate editor of the Journal of Financial Markets, the Journal of Financial Intermediation, and the Journal of Financial Services Research; and a former associate editor of Management Science and the Journal of Finance.
Professor Parlour has taught courses in investment analysis, FinTech, auctions and microstructure, and capital markets. She is a winner of the Haas School’s Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching.
She has held visiting academic appointments at INSEAD, the London School of Economics and Politics, and Paris Dauphine University. Professor Parlour is a past president of the Finance Theory Group.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Erik R. Sirri
Professor of Finance, Babson College;
Former Director, SEC Division of Trading and Markets;
Senior Advisor, Cornerstone Research
Erik Sirri consults with clients and provides expert testimony in matters related to securities trading, including high-frequency trading; asset management, including robo-advising, mutual funds, and exchange traded products; and financial institutions, with a special emphasis on broker-dealer issues.
Professor Sirri’s research focuses on the interaction of securities law and finance, securities market structure, investment management, and capital markets. From 2006 through 2009 he was director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he was responsible for matters related to the regulation of stock and options exchanges, national securities associations, brokers, dealers, clearing agencies, and credit ratings agencies. Professor Sirri served as chief economist of the SEC from 1996 through 1999, and was an assistant professor of finance at Harvard Business School from 1989 to 1995.
His writings appear in academic journals, practitioner journals, and books. Professor Sirri’s articles have been published in the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Markets, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and other journals and books. He has served on the boards of securities exchanges, mutual funds, industry associations, and foundations. Professor Sirri has consulted for securities firms, stock exchanges, mutual fund companies, issuers, and information vendors on a variety of regulatory and business matters.
Market Manipulation Capabilities
We evaluate allegations of trading behavior allegedly impacting or attempting to impact prices of different products and contracts at market closing or fixing windows.
We evaluate trading data and positions to assess allegations of strategic misreporting of trade data to PRAs in order to benefit market positions.
Cornerstone Research conducts screening analysis of large proprietary financial datasets to identify potential problematic conduct, assess the scope of conduct in question, and analyze trading patterns.
Our staff and experts have utilized transaction-level data to analyze trading in derivatives and their respective underlying products.
Cornerstone Research conducts in-depth analysis of complex financial instruments, trading and hedging activities, and electronic communications and audio records to identify potential problematic conduct and assess market impact.
We analyze trading and order data to evaluate allegations of wash trading and prearranged trading in various financial markets.
Market Microstructure Capabilities
We have experience working on various aspects of high-frequency and low-latency trading, including assessing trading strategies, trading algorithms, and the impact of HFT trading on market dynamics. We have also examined broker-dealers’ and trading platforms’ order handling algorithms in the HFT environment.
We have experience with order handling, rules involving price quoting, clearing and settlement, uncovered short sales, best execution, markups, and trade reporting.
Market Manipulation
Benchmarks
Spoofing and layering
Front running
Corners and squeezes
Wash trading
Market Microstructure
High-frequency trading
Order handling
Price quoting
Best execution
Clearing and settlement
Uncovered short sales
Trade reporting
Product Types
Agricultural commodities
Cryptocurrencies
Energy commodities
Equity investments and derivatives
Fixed income securities and derivatives
Foreign exchange
Interest rate products
Precious and base metals
Markets
Cash and derivatives
Domestic and international
Electronic Exchanges and Over-the-Counter (OTC)
Futures and exchanges
Primary offerings and syndication
Physical and financial
Wholesale, intermediary, and retail markets
Areas of Specialization
Class certification
Criminal matters
Joint defense groups
Litigation
Private and internal investigations
Regulatory and governmental enforcement actions
Featured Cases
Selected Professionals
Our staff consultants contribute expertise in economics, finance, accounting, and marketing, as well as business acumen, familiarity with the litigation process, and a commitment to provide outstanding support.
Featured Publications
How can we help you?
For more information or assistance with a specific matter, please contact us.
