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October 15, 2026
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Alliance pairs Michael Best's LuminEdge IP intelligence platform with Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC’s Management Consulting practice to support PE funds and middle-market companies across growth, M&A and value creation
New York, NY — October 15, 2026 — Michael Best & Friedrich LLP (“Michael Best”), an Am Law 200 full-service law firm, and Citrin Cooperman, the premier professional services provider for private, middle-market businesses and high-net-worth individuals, today announced a strategic alliance to bring together intellectual property (IP) strategy and management consulting for middle-market companies and private equity funds in the life sciences, technology, manufacturing and other sectors.
The alliance connects Michael Best's IP practice — including Best LuminEdge, the firm's proprietary platform for mining global patent and IP data into clear, decision-ready intelligence — with Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC’s Management Consulting practice, which advises middle-market and private-equity-backed companies on strategy, growth, and exit readiness. Together, the firms will help clients develop IP strategies that are built into overall business and growth planning from the outset, rather than treated as a separate legal exercise late in a company's lifecycle.
“Clients increasingly need to understand not only whether they own and protect their IP, but how that IP supports their competitive position and long-term business strategy,” said Jonathan Hughes, Managing Partner, Management Consulting, Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC. “This alliance gives us another way to help management teams and investors connect those questions and make better-informed decisions across growth and transactions.”
Too often, IP strategy and business strategy are developed on separate tracks, and IP due diligence stops at confirming ownership and status — leaving significant commercial, competitive, and valuation opportunities and risks unaddressed. The alliance helps to close this gap in two ways:
- IP-integrated growth strategy — Helping companies align decisions around IP — what to file, when, how to protect it, and how to monetize it — with their broader growth strategy, competitive positioning, and eventual exit plans.
- Integrated IP and commercial due diligence — Combining Best LuminEdge's IP and competitive intelligence with CCA’s commercial and operational due diligence to provide private equity funds and acquirers a single, integrated view of a target's IP position. The capabilities are particularly relevant for IP-intensive sectors including life sciences, technology, and manufacturing.
“Traditional IP diligence often answers important legal questions, but investors and management teams also need to understand what an IP portfolio says about a company’s market position, competitors and future opportunities,” said Christopher Austin, Intellectual Property Co-Chair and Equity Partner, Michael Best. “Combining Best LuminEdge intelligence with Citrin Cooperman’s business and transaction expertise allows clients to put that information into a broader commercial context.”
The alliance is effective immediately, with joint engagement teams available to mid-market companies and private equity sponsors across the U.S.
About Michael Best & Friedrich LLP
Michael Best is a leading law firm providing a full range of legal services to clients around the world. The firm has more than 450 legal professionals serving clients in 18 offices across the U.S. in California; Colorado; Illinois; Nebraska; New York, North Carolina; Texas; Utah; Washington, D.C.; and Wisconsin. Michael Best’s areas of practice include intellectual property; labor and employment relations (including employee benefits); litigation; corporate; government relations, political law, and public policy; privacy and cybersecurity; real estate; regulatory; tax; and wealth planning. The firm serves a variety of industries, such as advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, banking, and financial services, digital technology, energy, food and beverage, healthcare, higher education, and life sciences. For more information, visit michaelbest.com.
About Citrin Cooperman
Citrin Cooperman is the nation’s premier accounting and advisory provider for private, middle-market businesses and high net-worth individuals. Consistently recognized as a great place to work and among the fastest growing top 20 U.S. firms, our more than 3,600 professionals focus on what counts to positively impact the lives of our people, clients, and communities. Our commitment to outstanding client service, professional excellence and deep industry expertise underpins a strategic growth approach that powers our dynamic, innovative culture.
Citrin Cooperman is an independent member firm of Moore North America, Inc. (MNA) Association, which is itself a regional member of Moore Global Network Limited (MGNL), one of the world’s leading accountancy and advisory networks with over 37,000 professionals across 227 independent firms working in more than 114 countries. All the firms associated with MNA are independently owned and managed entities. Their membership in, or association with, MNA should not be construed as constituting or implying any partnership between them.
"Citrin Cooperman" is the brand under which Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP, and Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC serve clients' business needs in an alternative practice structure in accordance with the AICPA's Code of Professional Conduct and applicable law, regulations, and professional standards. Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP, a licensed independent CPA firm, provides attest services and Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC provides business advisory and non-attest services. Learn more about Citrin Cooperman at www.citrincooperman.com.
All services referred to in this announcement are performed by Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC.
About Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC’s Management Consulting Practice
The Management Consulting practice helps organizations address strategic, operational, and organizational challenges, with services spanning strategy development, operating model and organizational design, digital transformation, finance transformation and the entire transaction life cycle from due diligence to value creation.
