We apply financial and economic analysis to issues that arise in the changing energy and commodities markets, including those related to allegations of market manipulation and price fixing, breach of contract, merger reviews, trading disputes, asset valuation, and environmental impact.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
James A. Overdahl
Former Chief Economist,
Former Director, Office of Economic Analysis,
Securities and Exchange Commission;
Former Chief Economist,
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
James Overdahl is an authority on financial and commodities markets, financial regulation, and securities. His areas of expertise include exchange-traded futures and options, over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, algorithmic trading, risk management, and short selling.
Dr. Overdahl has testified in complex securities litigation, including matters involving alleged insider trading, market manipulation, and false reporting. He has analyzed class certification, loss causation, and damages in numerous securities class actions. In addition, Dr. Overdahl has significant experience assessing price and volume integrity issues in the context of cryptocurrency exchanges.
For more than three decades, Dr. Overdahl served at U.S. regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
As chief economist and director of the Office of Economic Analysis at the SEC, Dr. Overdahl oversaw the Commission’s economic analysis in all areas of policy, rulemaking, and enforcement. He advised on policy and rulemaking related to credit default swaps (CDS) and other OTC derivatives, OTC clearing, algorithmic trading, and securities lending.
Dr. Overdahl has testified before Congress on behalf of the SEC and CFTC. Since leaving government service, he has worked as a consulting expert and appeared before the staff of these agencies on numerous matters.
Widely published, Dr. Overdahl has contributed articles to leading economics and finance journals, including the Journal of Business, the Journal of Law and Economics, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. He is the coauthor of several books on financial derivatives and futures markets, all of which have been reprinted in multiple editions.
Dr. Overdahl has served as an adjunct professor of finance at the George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, Virginia Tech, and George Mason University.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Ashley Langer
Associate Professor of Economics,
Eller College of Management,
University of Arizona
Ashley Langer is an econometrics, energy, and industrial organization expert. Professor Langer applies sophisticated empirical methods to study regulation, competition, and firm and consumer behavior. She analyzes a range of economic issues, including those involving energy markets, transportation, and the environment. Professor Langer has testified on issues related to class certification and economic damages, including in such high-profile class actions as Guzman et al. v. Polaris Inc. et al. and Garcia et al. v. Volkswagen Group of America Inc. et al.
Professor Langer has analyzed consumer decisions, including those related to the automotive and oil industries. She has evaluated decisions on which vehicles to drive, how preferences form, when and where to purchase fuel, and whether to adopt electric vehicles. She has also investigated the impact of consumer demographic group preferences on vehicle pricing.
In her recent research, Professor Langer has assessed energy and environmental policy design issues. For example, she has analyzed international oil markets and the factors that influence pricing, as well as how Clean Air Act regulatory enforcement affects pollution levels and firms’ investment decisions. Further, she has studied the impact of energy policy on durable goods such as automobiles and residential solar. In particular, Professor Langer has examined how households respond to solar subsidies that change over time, how uncertainty surrounding policy enforcement affects coal power plant retirement and upgrade decisions, and how taxing vehicle mileage (rather than fuel consumption) changes Highway Trust Fund revenues. Her earlier work includes assessing the effect of congestion tolling on urban land use.
Professor Langer’s research has been published in leading academic journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Public Economics, and the Review of Economics and Statistics. She is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) has named Professor Langer a Future Leader among global competition experts and has also recommended her as a leading competition economist and consulting expert.
At the University of Arizona, Professor Langer teaches courses in business strategy, empirical research methods, environmental economics, energy and environmental policy, and government regulation. She has been honored with several teaching and advising awards. In addition, Professor Langer presents on industrial organization and empirical research methods, as well as transportation, energy, and environmental topics, at professional conferences and universities in the United States and internationally.
Professor Langer previously taught at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She was a visiting scholar at Columbia Business School and the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago, University of Chicago.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Daniel Sumner
Frank H. Buck Jr. Distinguished Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics,
Chair, California Agricultural Issues Lab,
University of California, Davis
Daniel Sumner is an expert in national and international competition in agricultural markets as well as agricultural economics and policy. His research and writing focus on the consequences of farm and trade policy for agriculture and the economy. Professor Sumner has analyzed markets for beef, dairy, wine, olive oil, rice, wheat, cotton, and many other agricultural products.
He has testified in numerous matters involving agriculture, including cases related to antitrust, false advertising, class certification, and cross-border trade. Professor Sumner has experience as an expert witness in depositions and trials in state and federal courts in the United States, with regulatory agencies, and before the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, and dispute settlement panels and the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization.
As chair of the California Agricultural Issues Lab, Professor Sumner oversees and conducts a university outreach program related to public issues concerning agriculture. Prior to his current positions, Professor Sumner was the assistant secretary for economics at the United States Department of Agriculture, where he was involved in policy formulation and analysis on the whole range of topics facing agriculture and rural America, from food and farm programs to trade, resources, and rural development. In his role as supervisor of the Department of Agriculture’s economics and statistics agencies, Professor Sumner was also responsible for data collection, outlook, and economic research. He has also served as a senior economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Professor Sumner is the author or coauthor of more than one hundred academic publications, including articles in the Journal of Political Economy, Agricultural Economics, and the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. He has also coauthored and contributed to a number of books and has written widely for industry outlets.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Gautam Gowrisankaran
Professor of Economics,
Columbia University;
Senior Advisor, Cornerstone Research
Gautam Gowrisankaran is an expert in industrial organization, healthcare economics, and energy and environmental economics. Professor Gowrisankaran has analyzed issues of market definition and market power, the competitive effects of mergers, and claims of attempted monopolization. He has also addressed allegations of tying, foreclosure, and other exclusionary practices arising in such industries as healthcare, consumer goods, high-tech products, payment services, and transportation.
An experienced expert witness, Professor Gowrisankaran has been retained by federal and state agencies as well as by private clients in numerous high-profile mergers, antitrust litigation matters, and consumer class actions. His trial testimony includes United States of America et al. v. JetBlue Airways Corporation and Spirit Airlines Inc.; United States et al. v. UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Change Healthcare Inc.; Sidibe v. Sutter Health; In re: Purdue Pharma L.P. et al.; and Federal Trade Commission v. Hackensack Meridian Health Inc. and Englewood Healthcare Foundation. He has consulted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on retail and technology issues and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on airline matters and mergers in the healthcare space.
In his research, Professor Gowrisankaran conducts both theoretical and empirical studies of topics related to industrial organization and competition. He has particular expertise in industries that are highly regulated and exhibit rapid technological change, such as healthcare and energy, as well as markets in which prices are negotiated.
One focus of Professor Gowrisankaran’s recent research is energy, including renewable energy integration, electricity regulation in the presence of energy transitions, and enforcement of environmental laws. He has also analyzed a variety of issues in healthcare markets, such as hospital competition, the impact of countervailing health insurer market power, and the price impact of hospital mergers.
A prolific author, Professor Gowrisankaran has published research in leading economics journals, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, and the Journal of Political Economy. He has served on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the American Economic Review and the RAND Journal of Economics. In addition, Professor Gowrisankaran has written analyses for a legal audience, including in the Antitrust Law Journal. He has been honored with best paper awards and recommended by Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) as a leading competition economist and consulting expert in the competition field.
Global Competition Review recognized Professor Gowrisankaran in its inaugural list of the world’s most important antitrust academics. He was also honored in Lexology’s 2022 Client Choice list.
Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, Professor Gowrisankaran was a tenured professor of economics and the Peter and Nancy Salter Chair in Healthcare Management at the University of Arizona. He has held visiting academic appointments at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University, among others.
Professor Gowrisankaran serves on the U.S. Congressional Budget Office Health Advisory Panel. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
Energy and Commodities Capabilities
Cornerstone Research has been involved in many high-profile energy and commodity market manipulation investigations. The combined experience of our staff and experts in energy markets, antitrust, and finance brings a multidisciplinary approach to the evaluation of market manipulation allegations.
Cornerstone Research has extensive experience in handling Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) disputes, enforcement, and commercial litigation. Our team delivers rigorous economic analysis and expert testimony to support clients in regulatory investigations, enforcement actions, and litigation. Through close collaboration with clients, including outside counsel, government agencies, and in-house counsel, we develop targeted economic arguments and strategies that address our clients’ unique needs, whether in regulatory proceedings, civil or criminal litigation, or internal investigations.
Our consultants have analyzed the effects of mergers, price-fixing allegations, and other potentially anticompetitive behavior in the energy industry. Such analysis typically requires applying the sophisticated techniques common in antitrust cases.
We have worked on litigation involving a variety of agricultural commodities, including grains, ethanol, dairy, tobacco, high-fructose corn syrup, and meatpacking. This includes extensive experience in the delivery procedures on physically delivered futures contracts involving shipping certificates and warehouse receipts. In these agricultural matters, we have analyzed antitrust issues, market manipulation, breach of contract claims, and mergers.
Analysis of economic issues and expert testimony on punitive damages form the basis of our work on environmental impact cases. These include litigation involving groundwater contamination, seafood poaching, and product liability.
Building on extensive experience in financial valuation, Cornerstone Research utilizes the financial asset attributes of commodities to develop valuation techniques for energy commodities, assets, liabilities, and risks, and to determine the implications of energy market dynamics for the valuation of firms participating in the industry.
We have applied industry expertise to numerous contract disputes involving energy and commodities. The issues involved in these matters include contract pricing provisions, regulatory impact, insurance coverage, and valuation of derivative contracts.
Cornerstone Research has worked on liability and damages issues in high-profile accounting cases in the energy industry. We address cases with a combination of economic analysis, understanding of industry dynamics, and knowledge of accounting principles.
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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.
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