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PROXY STATEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS

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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN PROXY STATEMENT
SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No.          )

Filed by the Registrantý


Filed by a Party other than the Registranto


Check the appropriate box:


o

 

Preliminary Proxy Statement


o

 

Confidential, for Use of the Commission Only (as permitted by Rule 14a-6(e)(2))


ý

 

Definitive Proxy Statement


o

 

Definitive Additional Materials


o

 

Soliciting Material Pursuant tounder §240.14a-12



CRA INTERNATIONAL, INC.

(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)

Not Applicable

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

ý

 

No fee required.

o

 

Fee computed on table below per Exchange Act Rules 14a-6(i)(1) and 0-11.
  (1) Title of each class of securities to which transaction applies:
         
  (2) Aggregate number of securities to which transaction applies:
         
  (3) Per unit price or other underlying value of transaction computed pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 0-11 (set forth the amount on which the filing fee is calculated and state how it was determined):
         
  (4) Proposed maximum aggregate value of transaction:
         
  (5) Total fee paid:
         

o

 

Fee paid previously with preliminary materials.

o

 

Check box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Exchange Act Rule 0-11(a)(2) and identify the filing for which the offsetting fee was paid previously. Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or the Form or Schedule and the date of its filing.

 

 

(1)

 

Amount Previously Paid:
        
 
  (2) Form, Schedule or Registration Statement No.:
         
  (3) Filing Party:
         
  (4) Date Filed:
         

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GRAPHIC

CRA INTERNATIONAL, INC.


Notice of Special Meeting in lieu of Annual Meeting of Shareholders
to be held on May 18, 2011June 7, 2012

        CRA International, Inc. hereby gives notice that it will hold a special meeting of shareholders in lieu of an annual meeting of shareholders at its offices in the offices of White & Case,John Hancock Tower, 200 Clarendon Street, 33rd Floor, Boston, Massachusetts on the 40th floor of the building that houses CRA's New York office, which is located at 1155 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York, on Wednesday, May 18, 2011,Thursday, June 7, 2012, beginning at 8:00 A.M., local time, for the following purposes:

        Our board of directors has fixed the close of business on Friday, March 18, 2011,Monday, April 9, 2012, as the record date for the determination of theour shareholders entitled to receive notice of, and to vote at, the special meeting and any adjournment thereof. Only shareholders of record on March 18, 2011,April 9, 2012 are entitled to receive notice of, and to vote at, the special meeting or any adjournment thereof.

  By order of the board of directors,

 

 


GRAPHIC
  Peter M. Rosenblum
Secretary
Boston, Massachusetts
March 25, 2011April 27, 2012
  

YOUR VOTE IS IMPORTANT
Please sign and return the enclosed proxy, whether or not you
plan to attend the special meeting.

  
IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF PROXY MATERIALS
FOR THE SPECIAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS IN LIEU OF ANNUAL MEETING OF
SHAREHOLDERS TO BE HELD ON MAY 18, 2011:JUNE 7, 2012:
 

The Proxy Statement and 20102011 Annual Report to Shareholders
are available at
http://www.crai.com/proxy

 
  

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CRA INTERNATIONAL, INC.
200 Clarendon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
(617) 425-3000

PROXY STATEMENT

SPECIAL MEETING IN LIEU OF ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS
to be held on May 18, 2011June 7, 2012

        This proxy statement relates to the special meeting of shareholders in lieu of the 20112012 annual meeting of shareholders of CRA International, Inc. The special meeting will take place in the building that housesat our New York officeBoston offices as follows:

  Date:
Time:
Place:
 May 18, 2011June 7, 2012
8:00 A.M.a.m.
Offices of White & CaseCRA International, Inc.
1155 Avenue of the AmericasJohn Hancock Tower
40th200 Clarendon Street
33rd Floor
New York, New YorkBoston, Massachusetts
     

        Our board of directors is soliciting proxies for the special meeting and any and all adjournments of the special meeting. The shares represented by your properly signed proxy will be voted in accordance with your directions. If you are a registered holder and do not specify a choice with respect to a proposal for which our board of directors has made a recommendation, the shares covered by your signed proxy will be voted as recommended in this proxy statement. We encourage you to vote on all matters to be considered. You may revoke your proxy at any time before it has been exercised.

        We are mailing this proxy statement and the enclosed form of proxy to shareholders on or about April 1, 2011.May 4, 2012.


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PROXY STATEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Special Meeting in lieu of Annual Meeting of Shareholders

 1

Purpose of the special meeting

 1

Record date

 1

Quorum

 1

Vote required; tabulation of votesvotes; revocation of proxy

 1

Solicitation of proxies

 2

Internet access to proxy materials

 2

Directions to our offices

 2

By-law amendments

 3

Proposal One: Election of Directors

 4

Corporate Governance

 5

Executive Officers and Directors

 6

Executive officers and directors

 6

Board and committee meetings

 9

Audit committee

 9

Nominating and corporate governance committee

 10

Compensation committee

 10

Executive committee

 10

Board leadership structure and role in risk oversight

 10

Director candidates and selection processes

 11

Communications with our board of directors

 12

Transactions with Related Parties

 12

Review, approval or ratification of transactions with related parties

 12

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management

13

Principal shareholders

13

Compensation of Directors and Executive Officers

 1315

Director compensation

 1315

Compensation committee interlocks and insider participation

 1516

Compensation processes and procedures

17

Compensation discussion and analysis

 1518

Compensation committee report

 2930

Executive compensation

 3031

Compensation policies and practices as they relate to risk management

 3846

Proposal Two: Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation

 3948

Proposal Three: Advisory Vote on Frequency of Advisory Votes on Executive CompensationAmendments to Our 2006 Equity Incentive Plan

 4049

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and ManagementSummary

 4149

Principal shareholdersReasons underlying Proposal Three

 4149

Summary of our 2006 equity incentive plan, as amended

52

Federal tax consequences of the plan

58

New plan benefits

60

Equity Compensation Plans

 4262

Proposal Four: Reapproval of Our Cash Incentive Plan

63

Summary

63

Reasons underlying Proposal Four

63

Summary of our cash incentive plan, as amended

64

Federal tax consequences of the plan

67

New plan benefits

67

Report of the Audit Committee

 4569

Proposal Four:Five: Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accountants

 4771

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

 4771

Pre-approval policies and procedures

 4872

Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance

 4872

Shareholder Proposals

 4872

Available Information

 4973

Annex A: Amended and Restated 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended

A-1

Annex B: Cash Incentive Plan, as amended

B-1

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SPECIAL MEETING IN LIEU OF ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

Purpose of the special meeting

        At the special meeting, we will submit the following proposals to our shareholders:

        Proposal One:    To elect two Class III directors to a three-year term;

        Proposal Two:    To approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to our named executive officers, as disclosed in this proxy statement pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K (including in the compensation discussion and analysis, compensation tables and accompanying narrative disclosures);

        Proposal Three:    To approve on an advisory basis, the preferred frequency of holding advisory shareholder votes to approve the compensation paidamendments to our named executive officers, as disclosed pursuant to Item 4022006 equity incentive plan, including increasing the number of Regulation S-K (includingshares of our common stock issuable under the compensation discussionplan by 2,500,000 shares;

        Proposal Four:    To reapprove our cash incentive plan and analysis, compensation tables and accompanying narrative disclosures)extend its effectiveness through the 2017 annual meeting of our shareholders (or any special meeting held in lieu thereof); and

        Proposal Four:Five:    To ratify the appointment by our audit committee of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accountants for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2011.29, 2012.

        Our board of directors does not intend to present to the special meeting any business other than the proposals described in this proxy statement. Our board of directors was not aware, a reasonable time before mailing this proxy statement to our shareholders, of any other business that properly may be presented for action at the special meeting. If any other business should come before the special meeting, the persons present will have discretionary authority to vote the shares they own or represent by proxy in accordance with their judgment, to the extent authorized by applicable regulations.


Record date

        Our board of directors has fixed the close of business on Friday, March 18, 2011,Monday, April 9, 2012 as the record date for the special meeting. Only shareholders of record at the close of business on that date are entitled to receive notice of the special meeting and to vote at the special meeting. At the close of business on the record date, 10,847,49310,416,288 shares of our common stock were issued and outstanding. A list of the shareholders entitled to notice of the special meeting is available for inspection by any shareholder at our principal office at 200 Clarendon Street, T-33, Boston, Massachusetts.


Quorum

        Our by-laws provide that a quorum consists of a majority in interest of all shares of our common stock issued, outstanding and entitled to vote at the special meeting. Shares of our common stock represented by a properly signed and returned proxy will be treated as present at the special meeting for purposes of determining the existence of a quorum at the special meeting. In general, votes withheld from any nominee for election as director, abstentions, if applicable, and broker "non-votes," if applicable, are counted as present or represented for purposes of determining the existence of a quorum at the special meeting. A broker "non-vote" occurs when a broker or nominee holding shares for a beneficial owner returns a proxy but does not vote on a proposal because the broker or nominee does not have discretionary voting power and has not received instructions from the beneficial owner.


Vote required; tabulation of votesvotes; revocation of proxy

        A plurality of the votes properly cast at the special meeting will be necessary to elect the two Class III directors to a three-year term and to approve, on an advisory basis, the preferred frequency of holding advisory shareholder votes to approve the compensation paid to the company's named executive officers, as disclosed pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K.term. A majority of the votes properly cast at the special meeting will be necessary to approve, on an advisory basis, the


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compensation paid to the company's namedour executive officers, as disclosed in this proxy statement pursuant to Item 402 of Regulation S-K, to approve the amendments to our 2006 equity incentive plan, to reapprove our cash incentive plan and extend its effectiveness


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through the 2017 annual meeting of our shareholders (or any special meeting in lieu thereof), and to ratify the appointment by our audit committee of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accountants for our fiscal year ending December 31, 2011.29, 2012. Abstentions and broker "non-votes" will not be considered when determining whether or not the necessary proportion of votes properly cast at the special meeting on any proposal were achieved. If you are a registered shareholder and you return an executed proxy card with specific instruction on how to vote, the designated proxies will vote according to your instructions. However, if you are a registered shareholder and you return an executed proxy card without specific instructions on how to vote, the designated proxies will vote in accordance with the recommendations of our board of directors set forth in this proxy statement. You may revoke your proxy at any time before it has been exercised.

        Each share of our common stock outstanding on the record date will be entitled to cast one vote.

        Our transfer agent, Computershare, will tabulate the votes at the special meeting.


Solicitation of proxies

        No compensation will be paid by any person in connection with our solicitation of proxies. We will reimburse brokers, banks and other nominees for the out-of-pocket expenses and other reasonable clerical expenses they incur in obtaining instructions from beneficial owners of our common stock. In addition to our solicitation by mail, our directors, officers and employees may make special solicitations of proxies personally or by telephone, facsimile, courier or e-mail. We expect that the expense of any special solicitationsolicitations will be nominal, and we will pay all expenses incurred in connection with it.them.


Internet access to proxy materials

        The notice of special meeting, this proxy statement and our 20102011 annual report to shareholders are available on the Internet athttp://www.crai.com/proxy. This web sitewebsite does not use "cookies" to track or identify visitors to the web site.website.


Directions to our offices

        The special meeting will be held at our offices in the offices of White & Case, on the 40th floor of the building that houses our New York office, which is located at 1155 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. This address is between 44thJohn Hancock Tower, 200 Clarendon Street, and 45th Street, and the main entrance to the building is on Avenue of the Americas, which is also known as 6th Avenue. If you are33rd Floor, Boston, Massachusetts. For those planning to attend the special meeting, please check in at the security desk in the lobby and indicate that youdirections to these offices are attending the Charles River Associates or CRA International special meeting.

        1155 Avenue of the Americas is easily accessible by public transportation via the Mass Transit Authority subway system. Below is a list of subway lines and train stops providing access to 1155 Avenue of the Americas:below.


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