Corporations at the Courthouse

Fulbright & Jaworski's latest annual tally of in-house counsel quantifies the soft-ening of U.S. corporate litigation: Companies that had new lawsuits filed against them in the previous twelve months fell to 79 percent in the 2008 Fulbright Litiga tion Trends Survey, from 83 percent the year before. Likewise, just 56 percent of companies brought at least one legal action against a party in the preceding twelve months, a significant drop from four years previous, when 88 percent did so. The recent survey also reveals that insurers get sued the most, while financial-services companies are the most likely to sue.

To be sure, some types of suits are rising in number. Nearly a third of companies reported an increase in multi-plaintiff suits stemming from wage-and-hour claims, while 29 percent said they saw more discrimination suits.

Litigation costs, meanwhile, show no signs of slackening: 45 percent of U.S. companies are spending at least $1 million annually on litigation, up 1 percent from the previous year.

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