Cornerstone Research internships

Evidence snapshot: 2026-09-04. This is a dated research summary, not a live vacancy feed.

Program: Eight-week Summer Analyst experience, beginning with three days of orientation. [C3]

Apply: Source calendar: U.S. Summer Analyst September 27, 2026; UK December 13. Full-time and early-access dates are different. [C4]

Eligibility: Use the Summer Analyst posting; do not substitute First-Year Foundations, Sophomore Summit or experienced Analyst criteria. [C3][C4]

Pay: No role-specific amount established.

Locations: U.S. and UK recruiting have separate calendars; confirm the office on the posting. [C4]

Routes: Antitrust/competition; securities; intellectual property; investigations; healthcare; technology/digital economy. [C7–C12][C14]

Distinctives: Summer Analyst, full-time Analyst and early-access programs are separate applications, with different dates. Official cases concern securities and intellectual property. [C3–C6]

Prepare: Practice the official cases, interpreting data and responding to feedback; retain the employer’s assessment tool restrictions. [C5][C6][C13]

The Summer Analyst Experience is an eight-week internship. The first three days are orientation, designed to provide the knowledge and skills needed to start case work. Interns then join case teams and perform work that closely resembles the full-time Analyst role. [C3]

Cornerstone’s case teams typically include an academic or industry expert, senior consultants and analysts. This team structure is important because interns can see how raw analysis becomes expert testimony. They are not simply building internal presentations; their work can inform an argument that is reviewed by lawyers, experts, regulators or opposing parties.

Intern contributions can span developing case strategy, conducting analyses and preparing experts for testimony. Cornerstone also provides professional training, panels and social/team-building activities. [C3]

The firm’s full-time Analyst role is the main post-undergraduate entry point. Cornerstone says analysts contribute to research, quantitative analysis, case strategy and expert preparation from the beginning. The internship should therefore be understood as a trial of that career rather than a general company rotation. [C3]

Cornerstone says its professionals have provided economic and financial analysis in commercial litigation and regulatory proceedings for thirty-five years. The firm works with leading academic and industry experts and supports cases from early strategy and discovery through expert testimony, deposition, trial and appeal. [C1][C2]

The work starts with the legal or regulatory question but depends on economics, finance and data. Teams can help identify which business issues matter, what data should be collected, what analyses are required and which expert is appropriate. They can estimate damages, evaluate competing explanations, prepare experts for testimony and support attorneys in depositions and cross-examination. [C2]

Cornerstone also supports internal and government investigations. Its official materials reference matters involving the SEC, DOJ, CFTC, FDA, FERC, FTC and IRS and describe work on accounting, auditing, disclosure, fraud and regulatory-compliance questions. [C9]

Technology is part of the analytical toolkit rather than a separate consumer-product business. Cornerstone currently describes integrating economics and finance with artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science, and its Applied Research Center develops advanced analytical methods for high-stakes litigation. [C1][C10]

This means a student should think of Cornerstone as a research and evidence firm. The final deliverable can be a model, exhibit, expert report support, damages analysis, market analysis, data analysis or litigation strategy input. The standard is not merely that the analysis is clever; it has to be defensible under scrutiny.

Cornerstone’s Antitrust and Competition practice analyzes mergers, alleged anticompetitive conduct, class certification, damages, pricing and market behavior. The firm describes applying economic theory and quantitative methods to define markets, identify close competitors, study price effects, evaluate foreclosure and assess efficiencies. [C7]

A Summer Analyst can support research, data construction, statistical analysis, market definition or damages work on such cases. The key skill is causal and competitive reasoning. A market can be large while still being concentrated; a price increase can coincide with conduct without being caused by it; and a merger can change incentives differently across customer groups.

Economics students have an obvious route, but statistics, mathematics, computer science, finance and other quantitative backgrounds can also fit. Strong preparation includes microeconomics, industrial organization, regression, market structure and clear written reasoning.

A useful project is a public-data analysis of competition in a market. Define the product and geography, identify potential substitutes, analyze concentration or pricing and state what additional evidence would change your conclusion.

Cornerstone has deep securities and financial-consulting experience. Its current Securities Litigation practice describes work on class actions, price formation, class certification, damages, settlements and regulatory matters. [C8]

Analysts can study stock-price movements, disclosures, market efficiency, investor losses, valuation and financial instruments. The official interview example for securities asks candidates to reason about the effect of an announcement on a company’s stock price. [C5][C6]

Finance students should prepare beyond valuation formulas. A strong candidate can explain event-study logic, what benchmark is appropriate, what other information hit the market and how uncertainty should be handled. Accounting knowledge can matter when the alleged issue concerns financial statements or disclosures.

Cornerstone’s broader finance expertise also covers banks, securities firms, investment advisers, hedge funds, insurance, consumer finance, market manipulation, foreign exchange, complex portfolios and private equity or venture-capital related matters. [C11]

Cornerstone’s intellectual-property work includes lost profits, damages, valuation, competition and technology markets. The official Summer Analyst interview preparation includes an IP case involving alleged use of patented manufacturing techniques and the question of whether that conduct caused lost earnings. [C6]

The analytical discipline is causation. Revenue can fall for many reasons. An analyst should ask whether customers would actually have bought from the claimant, whether demand changed, whether competitors changed behavior and how damages should be measured.

Engineering and technical students can bring valuable product knowledge, while economics and finance students can bring market and damages analysis. The strongest application connects technical facts to economic consequences.

Cornerstone’s current Technology, Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence practice addresses competition, data, algorithms, privacy, security, intellectual property, fintech, blockchain and consumer-finance issues. It also describes specialized big-data, machine-learning and data-science skills. [C12]

A technical student can contribute without being a product engineer. The work may involve large data sets, algorithmic behavior, platform economics, data privacy, market manipulation or quantitative evidence in litigation. A computer-science project is more useful when the candidate can explain the system, data, incentives and consequences rather than only the code.

Cornerstone’s careers page says AI is increasingly part of its consultants’ toolkit while emphasizing strong analytical foundations, economic intuition and judgment. Generative AI is presented as a supplement to expertise rather than a replacement. [C13]

Cornerstone’s healthcare work includes health-insurance competition, pharmaceutical competition, hospital and physician mergers, drug pricing, healthcare regulation and other disputes. [C14]

A health-care or life-science student should be able to translate clinical, policy or industry evidence into an economic question. A merger case may require understanding provider competition and patient flows. A pharmaceutical matter may require market definition, pricing, generic entry, intellectual property and insurer behavior.

Economics, public health, biostatistics, health policy, biology, medicine and data backgrounds can all be relevant depending on the case. The candidate should not claim clinical authority they do not possess; the value is analytical rigor and the ability to learn the domain.

Cornerstone’s data-science capability is integrated across practices. The firm’s public materials mention large data sets, econometric and statistical applications, proprietary software, machine learning and artificial intelligence. [C2][C10][C12]

A Summer Analyst should not assume they will join a dedicated data-science team, but quantitative and programming skill can materially improve case work. The strongest candidate can build a reproducible workflow and explain why the method is suitable.

Good preparation includes Python or R, SQL, statistics, econometrics, visualization and careful data documentation. A model should be auditable: another analyst should be able to reproduce the output from the same source data and assumptions.

Ask which cases and advisor an intern is assigned, and how training is protected during demanding case periods.

Cornerstone’s Corporate and Government Investigations practice works on matters involving regulators including the SEC, DOJ, CFTC, FDA, FERC, FTC and IRS. It describes analysis of accounting, auditing, disclosure, fraud, compliance and transaction records. [C9]

Students interested in forensic analysis, accounting, compliance or regulatory work can find this especially relevant. The standard is evidence, not suspicion. A pattern in data may indicate a question worth investigating, but the analyst must test alternative explanations and document the reasoning.

A useful preparation exercise is to analyze a public data anomaly, identify plausible explanations and state which evidence would distinguish among them.

Cornerstone Research’s Summer Analyst experience is an introduction to economic consulting and expert evidence, not a general management rotation. Its published cases concern securities and intellectual property. The internship deadline also differs from full-time Analyst and early-access program dates. [C3–C6]