Laurel Van Allen is President of Coherent Economics and the founder of its finance practice. With over 20 years of consulting and expert witness experience, Laurel leads her team and collaborates with clients to solve complex economic problems through sound advice, rigorous analysis, and clear, effective opinions.
Laurel’s expertise spans a wide range of economic issues, including securities litigation, financial markets, disputed mergers and acquisitions, ERISA-related matters, patent disputes, breach of contract claims, price-fixing and anticompetitive conduct allegations, valuation, loss causation, and damages. She has deep experience in class action matters at both the class certification and merits stages — having served as both a testifying and consulting expert on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants — and has worked extensively on antitrust matters involving price-fixing conspiracies, anticompetitive tying, bid-rigging, and output restriction across a broad array of industries.
Laurel has successfully testified at trial and been deposed as an expert witness in federal courts and arbitration proceedings, with favorable rulings on behalf of her clients. Her testimony and expert reports have addressed complex economic issues in high-profile matters including securities class actions, disputed acquisitions, antitrust litigation, ERISA disputes, bankruptcy-related matters, and cases arising from the financial crisis. She has advised clients at every stage of litigation — from pre-litigation and expert discovery through mediation, settlement, and trial — and has served as a consulting expert on numerous significant engagements where her work directly shaped litigation strategy and outcomes.
With experience across diverse industries — including financial services, technology, energy, healthcare, retail, and media — Laurel brings a principled, rigorous, and strategically informed approach to every engagement. Her ability to work across the full spectrum of complex economic disputes gives her rare insight into what makes expert testimony most effective.
In addition to her practice, Laurel serves on the Global Steering Committee of Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses and is a member of the American Economic Association, the American Finance Association, the American Law and Economics Association, the American Bar Association, and The Econometric Society. She is a Trustee of the Spertus Institute, a Board Member of Moriah Congregation, and a Member of the TAMU Economics Advisory and Development Council.
Laurel holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics with honors from Texas A&M University, a Master of Science in Economics (Ph.D.-level coursework) from the University of Chicago, and a Master of Business Administration with honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
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