Claims & Disputes Professionals | Private Equity or Privately Owned Consultancy?

The construction claims and disputes consultancy market is evolving quickly. While an increasing number of consultancies are now backed by private equity, we are also seeing more independent boutique firms being established by experienced experts and senior industry professionals.

For professionals in this sector; whether you're a Quantity Surveyor moving into quantum work or a seasoned Delay Expert, the ownership structure of the consultancy you join can shape your experience more than you might think.

Here’s a deep dive into the key differences, the pros and cons, and what each model can offer in the context of claims, disputes, and expert witness services.

          Strategic Growth

Private Equity Consultancy

• These businesses receive investment from private equity firms with the goal of accelerated growth, regional or international expansion, and eventual exit of the investor. Their focus tends to be on scaling the team, growing market share, and achieving strong performance within a fixed time window.
• These businesses often undergo rapid transformation with new service lines, office openings, international expansion, and active headhunting of senior talent. There’s a clear commercial focus and growth is the mandate, often at speed.
• In the claims and disputes space, we have seen numerous boutique consultancies acquired and quickly scaled across regions, with professional processes and a broader client base targeted.

Privately Owned Consultancy

•       Privately-owned consultancies are often founder-led or managed by a small group of senior professionals with long-standing reputations in the market. Their growth strategy is usually more measured and closely aligned with the firm’s technical identity, client relationships, and long-term reputation.
•           Rather than pursuing rapid expansion, these firms may prioritise controlled growth, technical excellence, client trust, and the quality of work they take on. Decisions are often made with a longer-term view, rather than being driven by an investor's timeline.
•       Many privately-owned firms rely heavily on referrals, repeat instructions, and the personal reputation of their senior experts. This can result in a more selective approach to growth, where preserving quality and credibility is just as important as increasing headcount or revenue. 

           Culture & Working Environment

Private Equity Consultancy

•       With private equity involvement, the working environment can become more corporate, structured, and performance driven. There is often greater focus on billable hours, utilisation rates, revenue targets, margin analysis, and overall profitability.

•           As the business scales, employees may see more formalised systems, clearer reporting lines, standardised processes, and additional senior management brought in to support growth. This can provide useful structure, particularly for professionals who value defined expectations and measurable progression.

•       These environments can suit commercially minded professionals who enjoy pace, change, and being part of a business that is actively expanding. There may be opportunities to contribute to new service lines, support international growth, or help shape the development of a larger disputes platform.

•       However, the pace of change may not suit everyone. Professionals who prefer a quieter, more traditional, or highly personalised working environment may find the shift towards corporate processes and commercial targets less appealing.

Privately Owned Consultancy

•       Privately-owned consultancies often retain a more collegiate, relationship-led, and technically focused culture. Senior leaders are typically more visible in the day-to-day business and may still be heavily involved in expert appointments, report writing, client relationships, and mentoring.

•          The working environment can feel more personal and less hierarchical, with decisions often made closer to the people delivering the work. There may be a stronger emphasis on trust, professional judgement, and long-term development.

•           These firms can be particularly attractive to professionals who value close access to experienced experts, technical mentoring, and a stable team environment. They may also suit those who prefer to build their career through depth of expertise rather than operating within a highly target-driven structure.

•          That said, a less formal culture can sometimes mean fewer written career frameworks, less structured feedback, or slower change when it comes to internal systems and processes.

          Financial Rewards

Private Equity Consultancy

•           PE-backed firms may offer clearly defined career pathways and attractive financial incentives, particularly for individuals who contribute directly to growth, revenue generation, client development, or leadership of a key service line.

•           In some cases, senior employees may have access to equity, bonus schemes, or long-term incentive plans linked to the success of the business or a future exit. This can create significant upside for those in the right position at the right time.

•          There may also be opportunities to take on commercially strategic roles, such as leading a new office, building a regional disputes team, supporting acquisition activity, or developing a specialist practice area.

•          However, financial rewards in these environments are often closely linked to performance metrics. Professionals may be expected to demonstrate strong utilisation, fee generation, client development, and commercial contribution alongside technical delivery.

Privately Owned Consultancy

•           In privately-owned firms, financial progression may be less formulaic, but strong performance, loyalty, technical contribution, and client trust are often recognised over time.

•           Some privately-owned consultancies offer highly competitive salaries, bonus structures, profit-share arrangements, and routes to partnership or equity, particularly where they are keen to retain senior talent and develop future leaders.

•           Progression may happen more organically, with individuals moving into senior roles as they build internal trust, client relationships, and technical credibility. For many professionals, this can feel more personal and merit-based.

•          However, financial incentives may be more modest compared to the upside of a future PE exit. 

Route to becoming a Testifying Expert

One of the most important considerations for professionals in the disputes and expert witness market is whether a role will genuinely support the journey towards becoming a testifying expert.

Becoming an expert is not simply about years of experience. It requires credibility, technical depth, strong report-writing ability, independence, client confidence, and exposure to the right type/s of disputes. The ownership structure of the consultancy can influence how quickly and how effectively that development happens.

Private Equity Consultancy

•           PE-backed consultancies may offer strong opportunities to work on a high volume and wide variety of disputes across sectors, regions, and jurisdictions. For professionals still building their experience, this can be extremely valuable. A larger platform may provide access to major international disputes, high-profile clients, cross-border teams, and more structured internal training.

•           There may also be clearer career frameworks, formal appraisal systems, and defined expectations around progression from analyst or consultant level through to director, expert, or testifying expert.

•           However, in a lot of these firms, we find many mid-senior level professionals stuck as the No.2/ lead assistant to the expert for many years.

•       There is also a possibility that the pathway to becoming a testifying expert becomes more competitive. In larger firms, there may already be several established experts, and junior or mid-level professionals may need to work hard to build visibility, win internal sponsorship, and demonstrate that they are ready to step into an expert role.

•           For those who are proactive, commercially aware, and able to seek out mentorship, a PE-backed platform can accelerate exposure and broaden experience. But it is important to ask how many people have actually progressed internally into testifying expert roles, rather than assuming that a bigger platform automatically means a faster route. 

Privately Owned Consultancy

Privately-owned consultancies can offer a more traditional and often more personal route to becoming a testifying expert. Because senior experts are usually closely involved in the business and its casework, professionals may have more direct access to mentoring, report drafting, expert meetings, hearings, and the decision-making process behind expert opinions.

•           This can be particularly valuable for those who want to understand not just how claims are prepared, but how expert evidence is formed, tested, and defended.

•           In a smaller or founder-led environment, professionals may have the chance to work closely with recognised experts over several years, gradually building credibility and technical confidence. They may also benefit from more consistent exposure to high-quality, carefully selected disputes.

•           The potential downside is that the route may be slower or less formally defined. If the firm has a small number of established experts, opportunities to step into a testifying role may depend on timing, succession planning, client confidence, and senior leaders' willingness to create space for the next generation.

•           For professionals who value technical depth, close mentoring, and long-term expert development, privately-owned consultancies can be an excellent environment. However, it is still important to understand whether the firm has a genuine track record of developing new experts, or whether most testifying roles remain concentrated among the founders or the senior leadership team.

     Client Focus

Private Equity Consultancy

•          To support growth targets, these businesses often cast a wide net, taking on a variety of disputes across sectors and geographies. While this creates opportunity, it may mean less selectivity about case type or complexity.

Privately Owned Consultancy

•       These firms are often more selective, choosing cases based on technical challenge, expert credibility, or strategic fit. The result is often fewer but higher-value engagements, especially in expert witness work. 

    Stability vs Exit Strategy

Private Equity Consultancy

•           The nature of private equity means there is usually a planned exit, such as a sale, merger, or IPO. This can result in leadership changes, rebranding, or integration into a larger platform.

•          For some professionals, this creates exciting new challenges; for others, it introduces uncertainty or change fatigue. 

•          In some cases, a sale or integration process can lead to restructuring, changes in reporting lines, revised commercial targets or duplication of roles being reviewed. This does not always result in redundancies, but it can create a period of uncertainty for employees.

Privately Owned Consultancy

• Stability is often a selling point. These businesses may have succession plans, but rarely face abrupt shifts in ownership or leadership. The pace of change is slower, but there’s often greater control over the firm's direction.

Conclusion

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to comparing private equity backed consultancies with privately owned firms. Both models can offer excellent opportunities, but the right environment will depend on your career goals, working style, appetite for change, and long-term ambitions.

Moreover, while the points outlined above are highly relevant, they will not apply to every consultancy in the same way. For example, at Maxim Recruitment, we have worked with PE-backed consultancies that have retained their original culture and operate with less pressure around margins and billings than might typically be expected. Equally, we have worked with privately-owned consultancies that offer highly competitive salaries, strong bonus structures, and a route to partnership or equity.

This is why it is important to look beyond ownership structure alone. Speaking with a specialist recruiter can help you understand the nuances between different firms, compare multiple options and make a more informed career decision.

If you would like to discuss the current market or explore what type of consultancy may be the right fit for you, please feel free to get in touch with our specialist recruitment consultants.

Nilam Modhwadia
Senior Recruitment Consultant
Maxim Recruitment
LinkedIn

Nilam is a Senior Recruitment Consultant based at our head office in Leicester, where she leads the UK and international Construction Disputes division. She specialises in recruiting top-tier professionals across the construction disputes sector; including claims consultants, quantum experts, delay analysts, and dispute resolution specialists. Nilam partners with premium, and often exclusive, employer clients, connecting them with exceptional talent to drive project success.