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WHS Law Briefing
Welcome to our WHS Law Briefing. This briefing identifies key issues and emerging trends in WHS Law, and details significant legislative and case law developments from August 2024 to date in February 2025.
Cybersecurity and data privacy
2025 Annual Litigation Trends Survey
United States | Publication | January 2025
Norton Rose Fulbright’s 2025 Annual Litigation Trends Survey indicates that cybersecurity and data privacy issues continue to be a challenge for organizations amid escalating cyberattacks, growing disclosure burdens and uncertainty stemming from AI tools.
More than a third (36%) of respondents say their organizations were more exposed to cybersecurity and data privacy disputes over the past 12 months – the greatest increase in any dispute category for the second year in a row. This issue is unlikely to abate any time soon, as the majority of respondents expect their exposure to stay the same (46%) or grow even more (33%) in 2025.
Disputes are a particular concern to industries like healthcare and financial services that amass large volumes of highly sensitive data. Forty-five percent and 41% of respondents in these industries, respectively, report increased exposure. Such critical infrastructure appears to be a favorite target for cybercriminals.
The increase in dispute risk is a significant concern for technology respondents as well, with approximately half (49%) saying their exposure deepened over the last year. Major technology companies have faced backlash and legal action due to data privacy concerns involving AI training data, including those around feeding personal and copyrighted data into proprietary AI systems for training purposes.
In fact, 61% of respondents across all industries who anticipate more exposure to cybersecurity and data privacy disputes expect the increasing use of AI and corresponding data issues to be a contributor to these disputes going forward – a nine-percentage-point increase compared to last year and the most selected contributing factor.
Navigating the shifting patchwork of data privacy regulations is also a challenge. More than half (58%) of these respondents also said compliance with evolving cybersecurity and data privacy regulations and requirements is an issue that could heighten their exposure in the coming year, compared to just 43% who said the same in 2024.
Download the 2025 Annual Litigation Trends Survey report for more details.
Key litigation trends
Contacts
Head of Litigation and Disputes, United States
Email
steven.jansma@nortonrosefulbright.com
Deputy General Counsel, Compliance
Email
mayling.blanco@nortonrosefulbright.com
Co-Head of Litigation and Disputes, Houston
Email
kimberly.cheeseman@nortonrosefulbright.com
US Head of Technology and US Head of eDiscovery and Information Governance
Email
andrea.dambra@nortonrosefulbright.com
Partner
Email
stephanie.debrow@nortonrosefulbright.com
Co-Head of Litigation and Disputes, Chicago
Email
josh.lee@nortonrosefulbright.com
Partner, Canadian National Chair, Litigation and Disputes
Email
francois-david.pare@nortonrosefulbright.com
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