2019 Annual Litigation Trends Survey

Fifteenth edition highlights concerns about increasing litigation associated with an anticipated economic downturn 

In global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s 2019 Litigation Trends Annual Survey, a majority of corporate counsel respondents said they foresee an economic downturn that will lead to a rise in disputes. Many companies, the survey found, have begun taking preventative steps to manage the increased risk posed by the growing number of disputes.

Most survey respondents fear that the extended economic recovery following the Great Recession will give way to a downturn, and the economic slowdown will lead to increased litigation, particularly in employment and labor as well as contract disputes.

The 2017 and 2018 editions of Litigation Trends saw cybersecurity and data protection concerns coming to the forefront as a key challenge in dispute management. That trend escalates even more greatly this year, with respondents reporting an increase in data privacy disputes.

The number of in-house counsel who rated cybersecurity and data privacy as the most important litigation issue facing them doubled from 2018 to 2019. More than half of those surveyed (52 percent) feel more exposed than previously to such disputes