Vault’s Verdict

Insiders at Brattle view their colleagues as bright, humble, and willing to help. The firm promotes this environment through a flat organizational structure, minimizing competition among analysts, and promoting the idea that its employees should have a robust life outside of the office. To put its money where its mouth is, the firm even offers its “Beyond Brattle” program, which insiders say contributes up to $625 USD or local equivalent per year toward the hobby of their choice.

Additional factors that contribute to work-life balance at Brattle include a structured hybrid attendance policy that offers some flexibility around work hours and in-office days, especially once employees have established trust with their supervisors. The firm’s informal staffing system is not difficult to navigate, say insiders. However, hours often vary greatly and are tied to legal deadlines, which means that although the firm tries to limit working nights, weekends, and holidays, it does occur at times.

Brattle’s support for career growth and equitable compensation balances the time commitment required for working within consulting. . The firm starts new employees’ tenure with a week-long orientation, followed by a week of formal training ,. Onboarding and further skill development follow. Compensation is aligned with other economic consulting firms, and the firm uses salary bands to drive pay equity. Advancing to the firm’s top levels usually requires an advanced degree but offers the chance for long-term growth as the firm continues its sustainable expansion.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “I like the ‘Beyond Brattle’ benefit that reimburses employees up to $625 for a hobby. The firm also has many happy hours and events which is great to get to know my colleagues. If multiple deadlines collide, it can get stressful, but that is consulting for you.”
• “There’s an excellent firm culture, with a focus on collaboration and very little competition. Hours worked are variable and centered around legal calendars, leading to some very high and some relatively low utilization weeks. Travel is not expected for entry-level employees, and vacation policy is generous.”
• “Hard work is rewarded, but there is not a culture of billing for the sake of billing.”
• “Firm culture is incredible. My colleagues are very smart and educated, but also humble and helpful, always willing to support and mentor.”

Quality of Life

• “Brattle is generally very flexible in terms of hours and in office days. As long as you get your work done, there will not be any complaints if you need to take time off in the middle of the day for childcare or other appointments, or if you choose to work remotely for a week when traveling for personal reasons.”
• “Brattle has a very flexible work schedule once you establish trust with your project managers to work independently. It is easy to take PTO, and it is actually respected. Our informal staffing process is extremely easy to navigate. My colleagues are intellectually engaged, top-notch experts. However, due to the nature of our work (often litigious), week-to-week staffing can vary a lot. In order to keep a full schedule, you often have to work on two or more projects at a single time.”
• “I travel to other Brattle offices about four to five times a year. Brattle does a good job of encouraging time-off when cases aren’t very busy. The nature of consulting is that, sometimes things are just really busy.”
• “Genuinely try to avoid working long hours/weekends/holidays unless absolutely necessary. Culture doesn’t encourage long hours just for the sake of it.”

Career Development

• “I appreciate the wide range of career development resources available, particularly our internal learning platform, which makes it easy to access structured training and refresh skills on demand. The brownbag sessions are another strength, offering an informal yet effective way to share knowledge across teams and learn directly from colleagues’ experiences. I also find the firm’s podcast to be a unique resource, providing convenient exposure to leadership perspectives and industry insights in a more engaging format.”
• “Lots of responsibility for managing projects, clients, and experts early on. Due to our relatively flat organizational structure, there are lots of opportunities to lead projects and workstreams and work with more senior staff. However, there’s a bit too much grade inflation in our feedback systems, and people stay that might be better off finding a new career path.”
• “Practice areas are fairly flexible. Analysts in the Securities practice can easily flip flop between METRICS (anti-trust, etc.) and securities (finance-related) projects when there is a need and skills align.”
• “There is a weeklong in-person orientation to start your time at Brattle, which goes over many of the firm’s norms and practices. It is also a great way to meet entry-level peers. New consultant trainings occur about 10 times after the conference, and cover technical skills like coding, accounting, etc.”

Compensation

• “I think that Brattle’s compensation package is highly competitive for the industry and company work dynamic when compared to our competitors. There is strong pay equality for employees, with everyone making the same base salary, and robust fairness measures for the bonuses. My favorite perks are the free gym in our building in DC, our $625 wellness stipend, meals if I have to work late, and our monthly commuter benefits.”
• “I love how they proactively gave us a raise to match the market even in the middle of the year rather than waiting for the next.”
• “Salaries are competitive, and the bonus structure is transparent. The healthcare plan is superb. Profit-sharing has been pretty limited, less than 401(k) match many other employers offer.”
• “Brattle offers all its employees a $625 wellness fund. We also have access to eight therapy sessions and eight coaching sessions through Modern Health, although I don’t believe many people use it. Generally, there is widespread buy-in and support for the fact that junior staff have lives outside of work.”

Business Outlook

• “Over the three years that I’ve been with the firm, Brattle has always performed well and has always had more demand for our work than we are able to fill. As long as the legal industry is thriving, we are thriving.”
• “Brattle has a top-notch energy practice. The rest of the firm sometimes gets overshadowed by competitors, but I believe that’s because Brattle is focused on sustainable growth and is owned by the partners. We can’t be as big as certain competitors just by nature. Aside from size, I see no deficits we have compared to other top economic consulting firms.”
• “Quarterly meetings lend a sense of confidence that Brattle is doing well; the firm continues to do well even as AI changes the way of work.”
• “We seem to be well staffed with projects. However, business varies greatly within the firm.”

Hiring Process

• “Resume review, first-round interview, and a final-round interview (in person). We are seeking highly motivated individuals from top ranked schools with very strong academic backgrounds and quantitative experience in internships (or research).”
• “In the analyst recruiting process, the firm has two stages of interviews. The first stage is a 45-minute interview with  consultants. The second and final stage is an approximately four-hour interview in the office, including a coffee chat, analyst interview, case interview, lunch interview, and principal interview. Brattle is looking for people with a strong quantitative background, who possess strong attention to detail, have a results-oriented mindset, and are willing to help out team members.”
• “Seeking candidates with a background in economics, high GPA, research experience, and experience working with large amounts of data.”
• “Someone who has worked extensively on research projects with multiple collaborators and has proven themselves to be a driven and devoted teammate. Perfectionists with a drive to learn and encounter a wide range of projects with interest and openness.”

Interview Questions

• “Provide examples of research projects you did in the past, examples of detail orientation, collaborating in a team, etc. Why do you want to be in economic consulting and why Brattle?”
• “Tell us about yourself. Why Brattle? What have you done in the past that you feel equips you for this role? Tell us about your research experience or time spent working with data.”
• “Behavioral: Examples of challenges when working with a team, describe quantitative research project and a situation where you had to address messy or incomplete data, various questions designed to probe intellectual curiosity.”
• “Econometric questions during the case interview, a focus on research and technical experience in the behavioral rounds.”

Uppers

• “The methods and tools used for analysis here are more interesting and complex compared to other industries. The people at the firm are almost all very pleasant individuals. The hybrid WFH policies are fairly lenient.”
• “Collegial environment with very smart colleagues..”
• “Strong expertise, development culture, commitment to quality and career opportunities.”
• “Great people, interesting work, good compensation.”

Downers

• “Sometimes work hours are unpredictable.”
• “Work can be repetitive.”
• “Remote policies are becoming stricter.”
• “A steep learning curve at the start.”