Companies are bracing themselves for greater exposure to both litigation & regulatory proceedings say Antony Corsi & Kirill Vahoni
The sixth annual Fulbright & Jaworski LLP Litigation Trends Survey, which canvassed the views of over 400 corporate counsel including over 125 from the UK, indicates that UK businesses are bracing themselves for an increase in litigation and regulatory enforcement activity over the next 12 months.
The expected impact of the economic crisis
Continuing a clear upward trend, 40% of respondents anticipate an increase in legal disputes in the year to come. Significantly, it is the second successive annual leap in the proportion of respondents expecting to face greater litigation in the coming year. In 2008, 31% of respondents expected an increase in disputes, whereas in 2007 the figure was 22%.
Large businesses appear particularly concerned. More than half of companies valued in excess of US$1bn forecast an increase in legal disputes over the next year. Only a small percentage of those larger companies expect to see fewer disputes.
When the data is broken down by industry, it is businesses that operate in
