Former FERC Economist Shaun Ledgerwood Joins The Brattle Group's Energy Practice

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brattle Group, a global provider of consulting and expert testimony in economics, finance, and regulation, announced today that Dr. Shaun Ledgerwood has joined the firm's Washington, DC office as a senior consultant in the energy practice.  He brings a breadth of industry experience in market surveillance and has participated in numerous litigation matters pursuant to claims of market manipulation, specifically in the energy and natural gas sectors.

Dr. Ledgerwood has advised companies and clients in regulated industries for eighteen years.  He specializes in the detection and analysis of market manipulation in commodities markets; the assessment of claims based on alleged abuse of market power; the analysis of issues pertinent to economic regulation, ratemaking, power supply, resource planning, and electric asset valuation; and the computation of damages pursuant to actions in tort or contract.  He has testified as an expert witness before state utility commissions and in federal court.

Prior to joining Brattle, he was an economist and attorney in the Office of Enforcement at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  In that role, he focused on the oversight and surveillance of the energy industry and evaluated the impact that proposed environmental and financial reform legislation would have on the Commission's jurisdiction.  During his tenure at the FERC, he played a key role in the investigation and enforcement of high-profile cases of alleged market manipulation in the wholesale natural gas and electricity sectors, including the analysis of potentially relevant economic evidence and the critique of analyses prepared by opposing economic experts.  He previously spent more than ten years as an economist with consultancy C.H. Guernsey and Company, where he maintained an energy consulting practice and performed market studies to support petitions before the FERC and other regulatory authorities for clients including generation and transmission cooperatives, public power authorities, and associated distribution systems.

He has built upon this experience of analyzing behavior in energy markets to develop frameworks for detecting market manipulation, as discussed in his recent paper "Screens for the Detection of Manipulative Intent."  This paper was attached to comments filed by The Brattle Group with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on January 3, 2011 concerning the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Prohibition of Market Manipulation.  The Brattle comments make the recommendation that the CFTC adopt a definition of manipulation that focuses upon anomalous price-making behavior intended to benefit the manipulator's related price-taking positions.  This definition would provide behavioral guidance to market participants and sharpen the boundary between legitimate and illegitimate activities.  The comments and Dr. Ledgerwood's paper are available for download on Brattle's website.

"Shaun's experience at the FERC makes him uniquely positioned to assist clients affected by or accused of manipulation in wholesale energy markets, particularly in the wake of the Dodd-Frank legislation," noted Matthew O'Loughlin, president of The Brattle Group.  "We continue to focus on developing practices that are relevant within the changing regulatory environment, and Shaun's expertise is an important addition to our growing energy practice."

The Brattle Group has offices in Cambridge, MA; San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC; Brussels; London; and Madrid.  Areas of expertise include antitrust and competition, valuation and damages, utility regulatory policy and ratemaking, and regulation and planning in network industries.  For more information, please visit www.brattle.com.

SOURCE The Brattle Group