On February 1, 2023, the global litigation consulting and economic advisory firm Secretariat International announced the acquisition of Intensity LLC, a leading finance and data science professional services firm based in San Diego with five offices across the US.

Founded in 2014, Intensity is well-known for its strong research, analysis, and expertise delivered when solving complex economic and financial challenges for its clients. Intensity’s customer base includes AmLaw 100 firms, Fortune 500 and organizations in highly regulated industries, from pharma to IT. This is the latest acquisition in the litigation consulting market by Secretariat, whose track record counts four companies acquired in the last five years.

In July 2021, Secretariat announced the acquisition of DC-based Economists Inc which led to the creation of their Economic Analytics & Strategy practice with 50+ professionals. The Intensity acquisition further diversifies Secretariat’s offerings and adds expertise to their economic and regulatory advisory practice. The firm seems intentioned to invest in growing the practice’s team of industry-leading economists both in the US and internationally.

The complexity of today’s disputes and litigation landscape is huge. For a firm like Secretariat, growing its capabilities becomes even more important. Earlier this year, they announced the creation of a new Data Solutions practice with the addition of industry veterans in eDiscovery and digital forensics.

The nature of litigation is changing immensely. Litigation processes are evolving with updates to discovery staffing models that reduce the cost of associates for document review and bring in a multitude of benefits.

Looking ahead to 2023, litigation is set for its 3rd year in a row of increased spending. It’ll be more selective than in the last two years. More and more law firms are offering advanced budget monitoring tools to gain an edge.

More broadly, we’ll see consolidation trends in the legal industry this year to respond to key challenges, including the complexity of compliance requirements, higher performance expectations, growing talent concerns, and the increasing demand of emerging areas such as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). The Secretariat/Intensity deal is the first that we’ve seen, more to come.

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