Alan Ratliff has more than 30 years of experience in client service and was StoneTurn’s first lateral partner, opening the firm’s Houston office in 2005. Alan serves as the firm’s longtime Risk Partner, a member of the DEI/ESG Council, and the partner representative on the Community Engagement Committee. Alan advises attorneys and their clients on the economics, accounting and valuation issues in disputes and investigations, as well as in various transactions including the valuation, commercialization, and licensing of intellectual assets and businesses.

Alan has consistently been recognized as one of the two dozen most “Highly Recommended” economic experts based on client and peer surveys in IAM’s Patent 1000. According to IAM’s 2014 through 2023 surveys (current results here), clients recognize Alan as a “forward thinking expert who is superb at providing detailed reports and testifying. The smart, organized and incredibly effective StoneTurn pro has one of the more diverse backgrounds among the economic experts appearing in the IAM Patent 1000,” and has “superb knowledge and skills…knows the commercial value of intellectual property and how to measure it precisely…a rare breed of financial consultant, having also served as a law clerk and attorney, litigators find him easy to work with, because he knows where they’re coming from …he also understands how evidence needs to be developed to satisfy legal criteria in patent disputes; he works fluently with legal professionals and drafts logical, well-structured reports. In a recent infringement case, client ISOLA was awarded the exact damages” to which he testified in Court.  “He’s unflappable and presents his theories in a clear, consistent and relatable manner.” As a “forensic accounting, economics and valuation expert” who “prepares five-star expert reports and, moreover, is phenomenally good in court…he lays out his logic early and is very confident, meaning he holds up superbly under tough cross-examination,…knows how to present damages arguments in a rational way that lay people can understand and…resonates with juries.” In a recent 2023 trial which StoneTurn’s client won, a jury research consultant in the audience remarked of Alan’s testimony, “I’ve been doing research for 25 years and have worked on hundreds of IP cases, and I thought you were the best damages expert I’ve ever heard.”  Alan is also an AV Preeminent-rated attorney by Martindale Hubble.

Over the course of his career, Alan’s client service experience has included stints in public accounting’s “Big Eight” including as a National Practice Leader; as a law clerk to a U.S. Court of Appeals judge; an attorney in an NLJ top 20 law firm; and now, for over 20 years, as a financial forensic consultant and expert witness. Alan has conducted accounting investigations, served as a court-appointed special master and arbitrator, and as a party-appointed contractual auditor. He has also served as a testifying expert witness in approximately 60 trials and arbitrations for both plaintiffs and defendants in disputes ranging from M&A transactions to patent infringement, breach of international contracts to breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation and fraud, and toxic torts to business torts, among other complex commercial disputes.

As a multi-disciplinary professional who has served clients across more than two dozen major industries, he brings a unique and comprehensive approach to solving clients’ problems. Among other things, Alan has served as a court-appointed special master, a party and court-appointed arbitrator, and a party and court-appointed auditor, in disputes involving M&A transactions, intellectual property, contracts, and domestic and international license and royalty audits.  Alan has also negotiated and supported the negotiation of license agreements and settlement agreements, advised counsel on FTC reverse payment, federal court antitrust, and state court monopsony disputes, and served clients in other wide-ranging complex commercial disputes, including individuals and universities, as well as dozens of Fortune 500 companies working with more than 50 NLJ250 law firms.

In addition to serving clients, Alan is active in the community having chaired five non-profit organization boards associated with youth education and mentoring causes, animal rescue, and as a two-term President of the Bar Association for the Southern District of Texas. Alan has been recognized twice by the City of Houston’s Mayor and City Council with proclamations declaring “Alan Ratliff Day” in 2006 and 2019, was honored with the inaugural “He’s in Her Corner” Award by Girls Inc. for mentoring youth and professional women in 2022, and with Volunteer Houston’s Greater Houston Youth Services Award in 2014. Alan has served in appointed positions with the federal government and City of Houston, was a three-term school board chair, has served on the board of a large off-Broadway musical theatre in Houston for the last 20 years including as its current Treasurer, and is a Trustee of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation.