Compass Lexecon had a very successful year in 2010. We added new affiliations with several world-class experts including Robert Engle (a professor of finance at NYU and the winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics), Allen Ferrell (a professor of finance at Harvard Law School), Douglas Lichtman (a professor at UCLA and a nationally recognized expert in intellectual property rights), and Scott Meadow (a professor of private equity and entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago). As a result, our preeminent competition, finance, energy, intellectual property, and general litigation practices are now stronger than ever. We have developed cutting-edge expertise and experience in a range of areas, including credit markets, derivatives and credit default swaps, hedge funds, private equity, the use of innovative econometric techniques to analyze the competitive and synergistic effects of mergers (in particular with regard to hospital and airline mergers), economic analysis of the requirements for class certification, sophisticated tests of the competitive effects and rationales of challenged business practices, and the determinants of energy prices.

Compass Lexecon had a very successful year in 2009 notwithstanding the difficult economic environment. We opened new offices in New York and Century City and hired more than 20 new professionals. We also added several world-class experts including Ben Klein (formerly affiliated with LECG), Ken Lehn (formerly affiliated with Cornerstone), Atanu Saha (formerly affiliated with Alix Partners and Analysis Group), Mary Coleman (formerly affiliated with LECG), and David Mordecai (formerly working in the financial sector). And while we continue to be considerably (and intentionally) smaller than many of our competitors, we also continue to be retained and have success in a higher percentage than any other firm of the biggest and most complex cases and transactions as described more fully below. We are proud to present this summary of the 2009 highlights of our consulting practice.

At the beginning of January, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the creation of Compass Lexecon, which was formed by the merger of COMPASS and Lexecon. We are thrilled about our success over the past year; we have been fortunate to have been retained on many of the most prominent, challenging, and complex cases. In our June 2008 newsletter, we described many of these cases. Here, we highlight cases from the second half of 2008, which was just as eventful as the first half of the year.

After a period of active and successful collaboration between COMPASS and Lexecon, our two firms merged on January 1, 2008, creating Compass Lexecon. We now have offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., Cambridge, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and Tucson. We also expect to open an office in New York in the near future.

Our preeminent competition, finance, energy and general litigation practices are now stronger than ever. We have developed cutting-edge expertise and extensive experience in a range of areas, including credit markets, derivatives and credit default swaps, private equity, the use of innovative econometric techniques to analyze the competitive and synergistic effects of mergers, economic analysis of the requirements for class certification, sophisticated tests of the competitive effects and rationales of challenged business practices, and the determinants of energy prices. We continue to be retained in a high percentage of the biggest and most complex cases and transactions. For example, Deal.com lists mergers that publicly received Second Requests from either the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission. A review of that list shows that Compass Lexecon experts are typically retained in close to 75 percent of these mergers. Because of our reputation for excellence and track record of success, we continue to attract and employ the most highly qualified professionals.