Legal Commentary

Fulbright & Jaworski has released its seventh "Litigation Trends Survey," with the not-unexpected results that the 403 corporate counsel respondents predict another "litigious, cost-conscious" year. Just about everyone (93% U.S. and 97% U.K.) expects that legal disputes will either increase or remain the same next year. Also not surprisingly, 42% of energy companies are bracing for more disputes, the report notes. And 87% of U.S. respondents said they encountered new litigation last year; 54% of all respondents initiated a suit.

Stricter regulation has replaced bankrutpcy as a top concern of this crowd, as governments focus on banking, health care, and energy, says F&J. (I would add personal identity protection to that list.) Other worries: corruption, bribery, and whistleblower allegations.

The survey also queried respondents about managing data. Asked if EDD for civil actions needs to be curtailed in the U.S., 70% agreed, and 50% said the U.K. "also needs some tailoring." Roughly half (55%) said they rely on custodians to preserve their own data, and the companies suspend automatic deletion; 54% preserve everything in searchable databases; 43% use automated search software.

As for social media, more than 25% of compaines use LinkedIn, 22% use Twitter and 17% use Facebook. About a quarter of respondents' companies have blogs.