Norton Rose Fulbright’s 2024 Annual Litigation Trends Survey finds that in-house legal teams are likely to grow in the year ahead.
As organizations expect more legal disputes across the board in 2024, more than half (52%) expect to hire internally to meet demand – much higher than the 36% who said the same in our 2023 Annual Litigation Trends Survey report.
In 2023, most in-house disputes teams were small, with the majority having 10 or fewer lawyers, while organizations tended to spread their litigation work among multiple law firms.
In addition, 2023 saw a notable drop in corporate counsel’s confidence in their ability to handle litigation, as organizations confront legal issues ranging from mounting regulatory investigations to heightened dispute exposure in 2024.
Only 29% of respondents say their organizations are very prepared to address litigation in 2024, compared to 43% in last year’s report. The majority (51%) place themselves in the “somewhat prepared” category, compared to 40% last year, reflecting a more tempered outlook for the year ahead.
Download the 2024 Annual Litigation Trends Survey for more details.