Norton Rose Fulbright’s 20th Annual Litigation Trends Survey finds substantial uptick in regulatory proceedings, with more expected in 2025

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright's 20^th Annual Litigation Trends Survey, released today, finds that corporate counsel experienced a sharp rise in regulatory proceedings in the last year of the Biden administration, with additional exposure in both regulatory and litigation matters expected in the coming year.

The 2025 report marks the 20^th anniversary of the longest-running survey of corporate counsel on litigation issues and trends, which provides critical guidance for in-house litigation leaders facing a shifting and complex litigation landscape.

This year's survey shows 70% of respondents reported involvement in at least one regulatory proceeding in 2024, compared to 61% in 2023 and 50% in 2022. Nearly half of respondents - and 60% of those with more than US$1 billion in revenue - expect to see more regulatory investigations and proceedings against their organizations in the coming year, though areas of exposure may shift under the Trump administration.

Corporate counsel also expect to see more litigation (61%) and uncertainty (73%) in regulated industries following the Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron deference doctrine, with the majority of respondents predicting a more cautious approach to developing new regulations (70%) and anticipating more specific or narrowly-written laws (64%).

Further complicating the litigation landscape, 82% of corporate counsel find it more difficult to reach pretrial settlements due to rising legal costs, regulatory changes and high settlement demands from an increasingly aggressive plaintiffs' bar. Eight in 10 corporate counsel were also increasingly concerned with the growing prominence of "nuclear verdicts," or unexpectedly high jury awards, over the past 12 months.

Despite these challenges, in-house legal leaders are confident in their litigation preparation, as they invest in AI and other technology to help spot risk and implement robust planning and compliance frameworks. Nearly half (43%) say they are "very prepared" to address litigation over the next 12 months, compared to 29% last year.

"Corporate counsel are facing challenges on a number of fronts as the litigation landscape continues to evolve, from the growing adoption of AI tools to the rise of nuclear verdicts along with heightened regulatory activity," said Steve Jansma, Norton Rose Fulbright's US Head of Litigation and Disputes. "Having tracked important and emerging trends for two decades, we're excited to continue offering corporate counsel the quantitative benchmarks and qualitative analysis needed to help prepare for what's around the corner."

The 20^th anniversary report is based on a survey of more than 400 general counsel and in-house litigation leaders in the United States and Canada in industries such as financial services, technology, healthcare, energy, retail, real estate and construction, among others. The research also includes findings from in-depth interviews with corporate counsel to more fully understand the concerns and priorities of industry leaders.

"Over the last 20 years, we've seen profound changes affecting litigation - both cultural shifts and technological innovations - that have significantly reshaped the daily operations of corporate counsel and the broader corporate environment," said Richard Krumholz, Norton Rose Fulbright's Global Head of Litigation and Disputes. "Litigation has also become more expensive as the amount of information litigators must absorb continues to grow exponentially, though new technologies like AI may offer cost-saving solutions."

The top two most common types of litigation in 2024 were employment and labor along with cybersecurity, data protection and data privacy. Last year also saw notable jumps in the share of respondents whose organizations experienced banking and finance disputes - which doubled to reach one in five respondents - as well as antitrust, trade and competition lawsuits. Additionally, more than a quarter expect to see their environmental, social and governance (ESG) exposure grow in 2025, as this remains an area of political polarization.

Other highlights include:

• The average litigation spend for companies with US$1 billion or more in revenue in 2024 was US$4.3 million, up from US$3.9 million in 2023.
• Eighty-two percent of corporate counsel surveyed were involved in at least one lawsuit in 2024.
• Sixty-one percent of corporate counsel expect to increase their number of in-house litigators this year, up from 52% in 2024.
• A large majority believe that settling disputes before trial is important (92%), but more than half (56%) say it has become moderately or significantly more difficult to do so over the past year.
• Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents support generative AI use by outside counsel to assist with their company's litigation work, a more than twofold increase over the 36% indicating the same in 2023.

A comprehensive report detailing the survey's findings is available at litigationtrends.com.

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