The CRA interviewer is not grading your MECE tree. They are listening for whether your reasoning would survive an opposing expert tearing at it in deposition. That is the gap most strategy-case prep never closes.
Charles River Associates sells economic and financial testimony to law firms, corporations, and governments. Fiscal 2024 revenue was $687.4 million, with Legal & Regulatory as the growth engine. In the room, that means your answers need numbers, named concepts, and honest limits, not a polished recommendation deck.
After this piece you should know what CRA publicly says it tests, how to run a guided economic case end to end, and which one arithmetic move separates candidates who memorized HHI thresholds from candidates who can defend them.
What CRA is actually hiring for
CRA describes itself as a firm that combines economic, financial, and strategic expertise for high-stakes litigation and regulatory work (About CRA). Career practices include Antitrust & Competition Economics, Energy, Finance, Financial Economics, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Life Sciences, Transfer Pricing, and others (our practices).
The interview tracks that work. A competition candidate gets market definition and concentration. An IP candidate gets royalties and commercial success. A life sciences candidate gets pricing and access. Reciting a profitability framework on a merger review case is the fastest way to signal you prepared for the wrong firm.
| Practice flavor | What the case usually tests | Tools you should be ready to name |
|---|---|---|
| Antitrust / competition | Market definition, concentration, price effects | Relevant market, HHI, diversion, elasticity |
| Financial economics | Damages, valuation, event studies | But-for world, discounting, attribution |
| Life sciences | Pricing, access, competitive dynamics | Demand shifters, payer mix, substitution |
| Energy / regulation | Market design, tariffs, modeling | Supply curves, constraints, counterfactuals |
Ask your recruiter which practice owns the interview. Prep to that practice, not to "consulting" in the abstract.
What CRA says the interview evaluates
CRA's own careers page is unusually plain about case interviews. They look for how you react with limited information, how you apply logic, what data you draw on, and how you bring the interviewer along while showing your math (Prepare to Apply & Interview). They also note that assessments may cover numeracy, writing, and critical thinking, and that group interviews test how you speak and listen with strangers.
That is a different scoring sheet from MBB. Strategy cases reward ownership of the problem structure. CRA cases reward clean economic answers to the interviewer's questions, with arithmetic visible and caveats named.
On process shape, CRA is equally blunt. Specific interview processes vary by office and practice. First round is on-campus or virtual; second round is usually in an office with several consultants plus informal coffee or lunch (CRA careers FAQs). Candidate folklore fills in "two cases," "group case," and "writing sample." Some of that is real for some offices. Treat office-specific extras as confirm-with-recruiter items, not as a firm-wide guarantee.
| Stage | What is well supported | What is folklore until confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| Application | Resume plus cover letter; name practice and office | Exact screening cutoffs |
| First round | Behavioral plus problem-solving; campus or virtual | Exact case length and count |
| Assessments | Numeracy, writing, critical thinking may appear | Which roles get which test |
| Final round | Several consultants in-office; informal meet-and-greet | Group case or writing sample for every candidate |
The scoring heuristic: implication, then limit
When I score economic cases, three moves decide the outcome.
- Name the concept in one line before you compute. "This is an HHI question under the 2023 Merger Guidelines."
- Show the arithmetic slowly enough that an opposing expert could audit it.
- State the implication and one missing data request. A number without a so-what is unfinished. A so-what without a limit sounds like advocacy, not analysis.
Ned's rule. At CRA, the "right" answer is a defensible chain: concept, calculation, implication, and the one data point that would falsify you. Candidates who stop at the number look junior. Candidates who overclaim look like they have never been cross-examined.
Strategy frameworks fail here because they hide the economic question under a generic tree. The interviewer already gave you the question. Answer it.
Worked example: adhesive merger, HHI math you can reproduce
Invented company. Plausible numbers. Do the arithmetic yourself before reading the answer.
Setup. Two industrial adhesive makers, BondLine and GripCo, propose to merge. Counsel asks CRA for a competition analysis ahead of agency review. The interviewer leads with three questions.
Q1. How would you define the relevant market?
Product market: industrial adhesives used in packaging and assembly, not consumer glue sticks. Test substitutes: hot-melt vs. water-based vs. mechanical fasteners for the same customers. Geographic market: likely regional for bulk shipments with high transport costs, national if customers dual-source freely. Say which dimension is uncertain and what evidence would settle it (switching data, shipping costs, customer testimony).
Q2. Shares on the Mid-Atlantic packaging adhesives market are BondLine 35%, GripCo 25%, SealRight 20%, GlueWorks 12%, fringe 8%. Pre-merger HHI? Delta from the merger? Does that trigger a structural presumption under the 2023 Guidelines?
HHI is the sum of squared shares:
| Firm | Share | Share squared |
|---|---|---|
| BondLine | 35 | 1,225 |
| GripCo | 25 | 625 |
| SealRight | 20 | 400 |
| GlueWorks | 12 | 144 |
| Fringe | 8 | 64 |
| Pre-merger HHI | 2,458 |
Post-merger, BondLine+GripCo is 60%. Replace 1,225 + 625 with 60 squared = 3,600. Post-merger HHI = 3,600 + 400 + 144 + 64 = 4,208.
Delta = 4,208 − 2,458 = 1,750. Shortcut for a two-firm merger: 2 × s1 × s2 = 2 × 35 × 25 = 1,750. Same answer, no extra squaring.
Under the 2023 Merger Guidelines, markets with HHI above 1,800 are highly concentrated, and an increase of more than 100 points is significant. Post-merger HHI of 4,208 with a 1,750-point jump clears both bars. The merged firm's 60% share also sits above the 30% share screen that the Guidelines treat as a separate structural presumption when paired with a greater-than-100 HHI increase. Implication: strong presumption of competitive harm; expect scrutiny and a need for either remedy design or a serious efficiency defense.
Q3. What data would you want before estimating the price effect?
Diversion ratios between BondLine and GripCo, route- or segment-level price histories around prior consolidations, demand elasticities by customer type, and cost synergies that counsel claims. Without diversion, HHI is a screen, not a damages model.
That sequence is the interview: define, compute, interpret, then ask for the falsifying data.
A one-week prep plan that matches the scoring sheet
Do not run twenty PE cases. Run a narrow stack.
| Day | Focus | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Practice pages + practice map | One-page note: why CRA, why this practice, three research projects you can defend |
| 2 | Market definition drills | Three product/geo definitions with a substitute test each |
| 3 | HHI and elasticities | Ten share tables; compute HHI and delta cold; refresh the 1,800 / 100 thresholds |
| 4 | Guided cases aloud | Two 25-minute interviewer-led sessions; force concept-calc-implication-limit every answer |
| 5 | Writing / numeracy pace | One timed article summary and one timed table read if your recruiter flagged assessments |
| 6 | Behavioral | Why economic consulting, messy dataset story, disagreement-under-pressure story |
| 7 | Full mock | One practice-specific case + one behavioral; record yourself; cut filler |
If you are coming from MBB prep, spend Day 2 and Day 3 unlearning framework openings. Open with the economic question the interviewer asked.
Practice this today
Take the BondLine/GripCo share table above. Cover the answer. Compute pre-merger HHI, post-merger HHI, and delta with the 2 × s1 × s2 shortcut. Then say aloud, in under 45 seconds, the Guidelines implication and one data request.
When that feels automatic, run a full interactive case on CoachNed: start with the five-minute first rep at /start, then a live voice case at /interview, or drill math and structure at /drills/math and /drills/structure. Everything is open for seven days, no card; then $120 for a recruiting season or $49 a month.
Frequently asked questions
Does CRA use the same case format as McKinsey or BCG?
No. CRA's published guidance emphasizes logic under limited information, visible math, and communication, not a candidate-owned full structure. Expect guided economic questions tied to the practice you applied to.
How many interview rounds does CRA run?
CRA states that processes vary by office and practice, with a first round on campus or virtual and a second round usually in-office with several consultants. Exact case counts and extras like group exercises are not uniform firm-wide.
What HHI numbers should I know for a CRA competition case?
As of the 2023 DOJ/FTC Merger Guidelines, HHI above 1,800 marks a highly concentrated market, and an increase of more than 100 points is a significant increase that can support a structural presumption. Also know the merged-firm share screen of over 30% paired with a greater-than-100 HHI increase.
Do I need a law degree to interview at CRA?
No. CRA states it is not a law firm and that applicants do not need a legal background; in many matters the clients are attorneys.
Should I prepare a writing sample?
CRA lists writing and critical thinking among possible assessments. Whether you see one depends on role and office. Confirm with your recruiter rather than assuming every final round includes it.
Sources
- Prepare to Apply & Interview | CRA Careers — official description of case, behavioral, assessment, and group interview styles. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Frequently Asked Questions | CRA Careers — process vary-by-office language; first vs. second round shape; no law degree required. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Practices | CRA Careers — practice list used for interview targeting. Checked 2026-09-24.
- About CRA — firm positioning in economic, financial, and strategic consulting. Checked 2026-09-24.
- CRA FY 2024 earnings press release (SEC Exhibit 99.1) — $687.4 million revenue and practice growth context. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Guideline 1 | 2023 Merger Guidelines | DOJ — HHI 1,800 / 100-point thresholds and 30% share screen. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Herfindahl-Hirschman Index | DOJ — HHI definition and worked share example. Checked 2026-09-24.
CoachNed is not affiliated with Charles River Associates or CRA International, Inc.