panic on the streets of london

maybe this is unprofessional, i don't know. here we go.

i. what i do

i work at a finance and economic consulting firm. we primarily provide litigation support, but also conduct limited public policy analysis. this means when firms sue each other over economic-related matters (for example, intellectual property, antitrust, securities fraud, breach of contract), we help law firms retain professors or industry leaders to weigh in because they are "experts" in their field. as part of their opinion, the "expert" usually conducts some kind of analysis, which is what i work on. this kind of niche service exists only because the american legal system allows for outside, "independent" testimony from "experts". think forensic scientists in oj simpson but with less blood.

ii. what i really do

i sit at my computer. i go to meetings. i put together excel models. i work with datasets large and small. sometimes i write small programs. i watch youtube. sometimes i run lots of regressions or datamine. i read a lot. sometimes i summarize information into memos or reports. i post on my blog or chat on gmail. i delegate work. i teach younger analysts excel tricks, how to get the cases they want, and how to stay organized.

iii. what does that have to do with the world

well, it is an unglamorous but lucrative part of the legal process. any major piece of economic-related litigation, (think microsoft antitrust, enron bankruptcy, martha stewart insider trading, marsh bid-rigging, and lately, subprime mortgage stuff), will eventually go through the firm. the legal process is slow, though, so most of the issues i've dealt with are big news items... from the late 1990s or early 2000s. and since most law suits don't go to trial, the analysis i do is often used by attorneys to pressure the other side into a settlement.

iv. what's wrong with that

a lot and nothing.

most of what i do is unrelated to what is going on now; it's about not-so-interesting history. everything is backwards-looking and a little abstract. i don't produce anything. i help part of the legal process go. (i'm not sure that is so great.) you could argue that we leach money off of attorneys, who leach money off of firms. (a lot of these lawsuits are kind of crap or free-for-all grabs for money.) i don't know if that "adds value" to society; it might actually subtract value.

i also wonder if what i do is very ethical. i've run thousands of regressions to find a model that is favorable to the client. sometimes we go backwards -- start with the "right" number, then come up with an economic justification for it. afterall, you can justify anything.

i don't object to the organization itself. if i created an organization, i would hope that it could be as well-run and thoughtfully managed as this one.