A survey of law departments shows in-house counsel are bracing for a jump in litigation, according to a survey of law departments released Wednesday. The Fulbright Litigation Trends Survey showed that corporate counsel expects a continuation of the upward trend in litigation that began with the economic downturn. 93% of US respondents expect US legal disputes to increase or remain the same this coming year, a large increase from 42% who expected this in the survey conducted last year.

The reason cited for the upturn is that with an increasingly regulated and lagging economy, more litigation is a natural result. As the country begins coming out of the recession nearly a third of companies are seeing the strict regulation as a major concern. Regulators have been investigating companies in a variety of sectors, most prominently banking, health care and energy. The survey notes that even at small-cap companies, regulatory investigations have almost doubled.

Big companies draw a greater number of lawsuits, not surprisingly, but even small and medium sized are likely to deal with litigation in the near future. Some industries are seeing a much larger spike in litigation than others. The energy sector saw the biggest jump in litigation this past year, 57% encountered at least one arbitration. Insurance (45%), manufacturing (43%) and financial services (38%) also saw a lot of action from regulatory investigations.
The conclusion of the survey was that the climb in litigation is not projected to stop this year. And with nerves on edge, companies are spending more on litigation budgets to keep up with new regulations and tougher oversight. 
 

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