BRG Expands Securities and Financial Markets Capabilities with Addition of Dr. Andria van der Merwe

BRG today announced that Dr. Andria van der Merwe has joined as a managing director in the firm’s Securities & Financial Markets practice, based in Chicago. An economist with fifteen years of economic consulting experience specializing in antitrust, securities, and financial regulation, she has testified in matters involving credit default swap hedging strategies and cryptocurrencies.

Dr. van der Merwe has led engagements involving allegations of market manipulation, anticompetitive conduct, collusion, and the classification of digital assets under federal and state securities laws. Her work applies economic, statistical, and econometric analysis to assess liability, market efficiency, price impact, class certification, and damages in litigation, arbitration, and regulatory investigations.

“Andria’s deep expertise in financial markets and derivatives, combined with firsthand experience in the financial services industry, makes her an immediate asset to our clients,” said BRG Vice Chairman David Sunding, leader of the firm’s Economics, Disputes & Investigations service line. “Securities and financial markets work represents a significant growth opportunity for BRG, and Andria’s combination of testifying experience, technical rigor, and industry perspective positions us to take on the most complex disputes in credit, derivatives, and digital assets. We are delighted to welcome her to the firm.”

Before joining BRG, Dr. van der Merwe was executive vice president at a leading economic consulting firm. She previously served as director of portfolio management at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, where her work centered on financial markets trading. She began her career as an engineer in advanced research and development.

Dr. van der Merwe is an adjunct associate professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she teaches a course on cryptocurrency. She wrote Market Liquidity Risk: Implications for Asset Pricing, Risk Management, and Financial Regulation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and coauthored Credit Default Swaps: Mechanics and Empirical Evidence on Benefits, Costs, and Inter-Market Relations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). Her research has been published in international journals on topics including the economic analysis of cryptocurrency, and she has presented to the American Bar Association, the Swiss Finance Institute, and 100 Women in Hedge Funds.

“I am delighted to join BRG as the firm enters a new phase of growth in the securities practice,” said Dr. van der Merwe. “Answering the complex questions our clients face requires economic rigor alongside a practical understanding of how these markets operate for the institutions trading in them. BRG’s multidisciplinary platform and its commitment to growing this practice give me the colleagues and resources to do that work well for clients.”

Dr. van der Merwe earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in finance, econometrics, and accounting, and a PhD in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University.