Aon | Professional Services Practice
The Changing Claims Landscape for Consulting Services: At the Max or Going Higher?
Release Date: February 2026Firms that provide advisory services have long faced the potential for lawsuits alleging service or delivery failure, most notably in the context of IT consulting and actuarial work. In some but not all cases, these disputes have been reported and described in the press. Recently, there has been an increase in the quantum, frequency and causation diversity of publicly reported matters. Based on our review of these matters, we report some compelling trends in publicly known consulting matters.
Key Takeaways
- Monitoring publicly known matters (PKMs) allows for discussions of key risk trends, including quantum and frequency
- Our PKM database includes consulting firm matters going back over a decade
- An analysis of these consulting matters indicates increases in PKM quantum, frequency and causation diversity
An examination of publicly available consulting professional liability claims over the last ten years shows a changing risk landscape with some notable trends:
Severity
The occurrence of high-severity claims is increasing. Over the past five years, several high value matters have materially elevated the average quantum of consulting PKMs.
Frequency
While the lion’s share of large disputes has traditionally been confined to IT consulting work, recent years have seen an increase in claims involving management consulting work. Such activity includes advisory work and advice-based deliverables, as well as the provision of tools, data and analysis.
Geography
In the past, high quantum disputes typically arose in the U.S. Generally, this is still the case, although the pace of Ex-U.S. disputes has picked up in recent years.
Liability
Some service providers have paid out large settlements in disputes with no direct allegations of flawed or deficient work product. In these cases, other types of alleged wrongdoing have generated claims, including regulatory violations and contested intellectual property ownership.
Causation
Certain service providers have been subject to increased government scrutiny, parliamentary and judicial inquiries and regulatory sanctions, including monetary penalties and suspensions. Public sector work has given rise to several notable matters in both the U.S. and Ex-U.S.
The Professional Services Practice monitors and summarizes publicly known matters to help illuminate the risk landscape faced by consulting firms and other professional service firms providing advisory services.
Contact
The Professional Services Practice at Aon values your feedback. To discuss any of the topics raised in this article, please contact Daniel Hacikyaner or Catherine Jones or a member of your Aon client service team.
Daniel Hacikyaner
Vice President and Director
Montreal
Catherine Jones
Senior Vice President and Executive Director, Consulting Firm Leader
New York
About Aon
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