The following is a discussion and analysis of our consolidated financial condition and results of operations for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2009 and 2008 and significant factors that could affect our prospective financial condition and results of operations. This discussion should be read together with the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes and with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008. Historical results and any discussion of prospective results may not indicate our future performance. See "Forward Looking Statements."

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

We are a leading global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations protect and enhance their enterprise value. We work closely with our clients to help them anticipate, understand, manage and overcome complex business matters arising from such factors as the economy, financial and credit markets, governmental regulation and legislation and litigation. We assist clients in addressing a broad range of business challenges such as bankruptcy, restructuring, credit issues and indebtedness, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), interim business management, electronic discovery, the management and retrieval of electronically stored information, reputation management and strategic communications. Our experienced teams of professionals include many individuals who are widely recognized as experts in their respective fields. We believe clients retain us because of our recognized expertise and capabilities in highly specialized areas as well as our reputation for satisfying client needs.

We report financial results for the following five operating segments:

The Corporate Finance/Restructuring segment focuses on strategic, operational, financial and capital needs of businesses around the world and provides consulting and advisory services relating to turnaround, performance improvement, lending solutions, financial and operational restructuring, restructuring advisory, M&A, transaction advisory and interim management.

The Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment provides law firms, companies, government clients and other interested constituencies with dispute advisory, investigations, forensic accounting, business intelligence assessments and risk mitigation services.

The Strategic Communications segment provides advice and consulting services relating to financial communications, brand communications, public affairs and reputation management and business consulting.

The Technology segment provides products, services and consulting to law firms, companies, courts and government agencies worldwide with the principal business focus on the collection, preservation, review and production of electronically stored information.

The Economic Consulting segment provides law firms, companies, government entities and other interested parties with analysis of complex economic issues for use in legal and regulatory proceedings, strategic decision making and public policy debates in the U.S. and internationally.

We derive substantially all of our revenues from providing professional services to both U.S. and global clients. Over the past several years the growth in our revenues and profitability has resulted from the acquisitions we have completed and from our ability to attract new and recurring engagements.

Most of our services are rendered under time and expense arrangements that require the client to pay us a fee for the hours that we incur at agreed upon rates. Under this arrangement we also bill our clients for reimbursable expenses, which may include the cost of producing our work product, and other direct expenses that we incur on behalf of the client, such as travel costs. We also render services where the client is required to pay us a fixed monthly fee or recurring retainer. These arrangements are generally cancellable at any time. Some of

our engagements contain performance-based arrangements in which we earn a success fee when and if certain predefined outcomes occur. This type of success fee may supplement a time-and-expense or fixed-fee arrangement. Success fee revenues may cause significant variations in our revenues and operating results due to the timing of achieving the performance-based criteria. In our Technology segment, clients may also be billed based on the amount of data stored on our electronic systems, the volume of information processed and the number of users licensing our Ringtail ® and Attenex ® products for installation within their own environments. The licensing of these products is sold directly to end users as well as indirectly through our channel partner relationships. While our business has evolved over the last several years, seasonal factors, such as the timing of our revenue-generating professionals' vacations and holidays, continue to impact the timing of our revenues.

Our financial results are primarily driven by:

• the number of revenue-generating professionals;

• the utilization rates of the billable professionals we employ;

• the rate per hour we charge our clients for services;

• the number and size of engagements we secure;

• fees from clients on a retained basis; and

• licensing of our software products and other technology services.

We define EBITDA as operating income before depreciation and amortization of intangible assets plus non-operating litigation settlements. Although EBITDA is not a measure of financial condition or performance determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we believe that it can be a useful operating performance measure for evaluating our results of operations as compared from period to period and as compared to our competitors. EBITDA is a common alternative measure of operating performance used by investors, financial analysts and credit rating agencies to value and compare the financial performance of companies in our industry. We use EBITDA to evaluate and compare the operating performance of our segments and it is one of the primary measures used to determine employee bonuses. We also use EBITDA to value the businesses we acquire or anticipate acquiring. EBITDA is not defined in the same manner by all companies and may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies unless the definition is the same. This non-GAAP measure should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for or superior to, the information contained in our statements of income.

We evaluate the performance of our operating segments based on operating income excluding depreciation, amortization of other intangible assets, unallocated corporate expenses and including non-operating litigation settlements, which we refer to as "segment EBITDA." Segment EBITDA consists of the revenues generated by that segment, less the direct costs of revenues and selling, general and administrative costs that are incurred directly by that segment as well as an allocation of certain centrally managed costs, such as information technology services, accounting, marketing and facility costs. Although segment EBITDA is not a measure of financial condition or performance determined in accordance with GAAP, we use it to evaluate and compare the operating performance of our segments and it is one of the primary measures used to determine employee incentive compensation. Unallocated corporate expenses include costs related to centrally managed administrative functions which have not been allocated to the segments. These administrative costs include corporate office support costs, human resources, legal and company-wide business development functions, as well as costs related to overall corporate management. In addition, certain accounting and information technology costs are unallocated.

EXECUTIVE HIGHLIGHTS



                                                      Three Months Ended
                                                           March 31,
                                                     2009             2008
                                                        (in thousands,
                                                   except per share amounts)
       Revenues                                 $      347,846    $     307,102
       Operating income                                 60,631           59,111
       Net income                                       31,672           30,700
       Earnings per common share-diluted                  0.60             0.58
       EBITDA                                           73,963           68,034
       Total number of employees at March 31,            3,353            2,829

We define acquisition growth as the results of operations of acquired companies in the first year following the effective date of an acquisition. Our definition of organic growth is the change in the results of operations excluding the impact of acquisitions.

First Quarter 2009 Executive Highlights

Revenues for the quarter ended March 31, 2009 increased 13.3% to $347.8 million, compared to $307.1 million in the prior year. The Company grew organically at 2% with the balance coming from contributions from companies acquired during 2008. Excluding the estimated negative impact of the appreciation of the U.S. dollar against other currencies in the first quarter versus the prior year quarter, the Company experienced a 6% organic growth rate. Acquisitions contributed materially to the growth of the Corporate Finance/Restructuring, Forensic and Litigation Consulting, Strategic Communications and Technology segments. Revenue contribution from acquisitions in the Economic Consulting segment in the first quarter of 2009 was not material.

The higher revenues and operating income in the quarter were driven primarily by significant growth in the Company's restructuring activities and, to a lesser extent, by the commencement of work related to several large financial fraud cases. These served to offset weaker activity levels around the global capital markets and litigation and regulatory investigations.

EBITDA increased by $5.9 million, or 8.7%, to $74.0 million compared to $68.0 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily a result of extremely strong performance by the Company's Corporate Finance/Restructuring segment and, to a lesser extent by higher profits from the Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment, which offset declines in the Strategic Communications, Technology and Economic Consulting segments. EBITDA was 21.3% of revenue in the 2009 first quarter compared to 22.2% of revenue in the 2008 period.

Earnings per diluted share were $0.60 compared to $0.58 in the prior year period reflecting increased operating earnings. The estimated year over year foreign currency translation impact of a stronger U.S. dollar, primarily against the British pound, reduced earnings per diluted share by $0.03 in the quarter.

Cash used in operating activities in the 2009 first quarter was $8.5 million compared to $10.1 million used in the prior year reflecting higher earnings and stronger accounts receivable collections, partially offset by an increase in compensation related costs and income tax payments.

Headcount increased by 524, or 18.5%, to 3,353 through a combination of hiring to support the growth of the business and the retention of employees who joined the Company through acquired businesses.

Operational Highlights

The strong organic revenue growth experienced by the Company's Corporate Finance/Restructuring segment throughout 2008 continued in the first quarter of 2009 and was supplemented by revenue from acquired businesses. The segment continued to be active in restructuring assignments in a broad range of industries being impacted by the global credit crisis and economic recession such as financial services, retail, automotive and the homebuilding/real estate/construction markets. More recently, restructuring activity has spread to the high technology and leisure sectors. Segment growth was also enhanced by accelerating revenue from the U.K. restructuring practice which has increased headcount and expanded its range of offerings to meet demand for its services, as well as the initial contribution from the segment's newly-established practice in Toronto, which is experiencing demand for its services from Canada and Latin America. Profitability in the segment was strong as demand drove higher utilization and billing rates for our restructuring services.

The Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment, which relies on litigation and regulatory investigations and proceedings, reported higher revenue and operating earnings due to activities related to several large financial fraud investigations and contributions from acquired businesses. The overall business climate for the segment continues to be muted by lower levels of litigation, which we believe has been due to the challenging global economic environment and by the slowdown in regulatory investigations typically associated with the political calendar leading up to the change in Presidential administrations. Margins in the segment improved from recent levels due to higher utilization of professionals engaged on the financial fraud cases.

Revenues and operating income of the Technology segment declined year over year but were improved from recent quarters. The segment has collaborated with the Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment on large financial fraud investigations, revenues from which partially offset the lower contribution from large product liability cases in the same period a year ago. Profitability in the segment was lower than the prior year because of an increase in market competition and the discounting of unit based pricing. However profitability improved from recent quarters due to the increased level of work on large scale investigations that increased utilization of consulting personnel.

The recession and low level of capital markets activities impacted results in the Economic Consulting and Strategic Communications segments. Economic Consulting experienced a lower level of strategic M&A activity compared to the same period last year, which was only partially offset by increased anti-trust litigation and contract disputes following in the wake of the recession and credit crisis. Margins in the segment were negatively impacted by a slower than normal ramp up of new engagements, expansion of activities into new markets and infrastructure investments.

The Strategic Communications segment, which generates a significant amount of activity within the capital markets, was challenged in the quarter by the financial market collapse and continued impact of the global recession, which caused a decline in M&A engagements and pressure on fees from retained clients. In addition, the segment, which has the greatest proportion of revenues outside the U.S., experienced a significant negative impact from foreign currency translation. The segment was able to partially offset these impacts with an increase in its financial crisis management assignments.