by Robert Ambrogi BullsEye: January 2010 IMS ExpertServices™ is the legal industry's premier full-service
expert witness provider.
The New Year has barely begun, but all indications suggest 2010 will
bring a surge in litigation involving major corporations. With that
surge will come increasing demand for expert witnesses across a range
of business-to-business disputes.
Demand for expert witnesses is already growing and will continue
throughout the year, a survey of expert witnesses conducted by IMS
ExpertServices™ indicates. Three-quarters of the experts surveyed said
their work in 2009 either increased or remained stable. More than half
predicted they would have heavier caseloads in 2010 and another third
said their workloads would at least remain level.
"We perceive there will be substantial
growth in business-to-business litigation in 2010," said the president
of IMS ExpertServices™, Bill Wein, who closely monitors trends throughout
the United States in litigation and use of expert witnesses. "With that
growth will come demand for sophisticated and specialized expertise."
A
big chunk of the growth in litigation will be seen in those areas that
typically pick up when times get tough, Wein said. Call it the see-saw
effect: As the economy goes down, litigation goes up in such areas as bankruptcy,
contracts and employment.
At the same time, a series of economic catastrophes
is driving a dramatic rise in litigation in the financial services
sector. From the collapse of the secondary-mortgage market to the discovery
of multiple massive Ponzi schemes, this sector will continue to see increasing
volumes of litigation for years to come.
Additionally, other areas of litigation
that have seen relatively modest growth in recent years are likely to see
much greater levels of activity. One such area, said Wein, is intellectual
property litigation, which will see continued expansion as businesses take
steps to protect and enforce their intellectual-property assets.
Financial Services Litigation In the financial services sector, new lawsuits will arrive in waves,
reflecting the waves of crises the sector experienced in recent years.
In fact, some of those waves are already hitting shore, even as others
appear on the horizon, Michael Mittleman, regional director of financial
services for IMS ExpertServices™ , observed.
The subprime mortgage crisis propelled the
first waves of cases, Mittleman noted. Following them to shore will be
cases involving collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and credit default
swaps. Still on the horizon are lawsuits stemming from commercial mortgage-backed
securities and from the failures of large numbers of hedge funds.
These
cases will continue to drive up demand for expert witnesses with hands-on
experience in banking and finance, Mittleman says. "There will be a
demand for experts who worked at these firms and who were involved
in structuring these transactions."
Also in demand in financial services
litigation will be experts with backgrounds in statistics and others
with expertise in due diligence and standards of care. "Wall Street created
a lot of esoteric securities and financial transactions," Mittleman says. "Lawyers
want experts who can explain how and why these were created."
Tracking Other Indicators
These predictions of a litigation surge in 2010 are corroborated by legal
industry surveys. One, the annual Litigation Trends Survey published
in October by the law firm Fulbright & Jaworski, found that companies
were already seeing a litigation wave that corporate counsel expected
to swell during 2010.
Forty-two percent of corporate counsel anticipate
an increase in the legal disputes their companies will face this
year, the Fulbright survey reported. That is up from 34 percent in
the prior year. The 2010 increases will follow what was already a
busy 2009, with 83 percent of companies having new litigation filed
against them and half of major companies seeing increases in their caseloads.
Across the
board, businesses report significant increases in litigation in three
areas tied directly to the economy: bankruptcy, contracts and employment.
They report more modest increases in intellectual property, insurance
and regulatory actions.
A major focus of litigation in 2010 will be cases resulting
from regulatory investigations and whistleblower allegations, the
Fulbright survey predicted. Sixteen percent of all GC – and 23 percent
of those in large-cap companies – say they expect an increase in
the number of internal investigations their companies face.
One area of
litigation unlikely to see a surge in 2010 is class actions. The
Fulbright survey reported in 2007 that 51 percent of companies had class
actions brought against them. In 2008, that dropped to 23 percent, and
it remained at that level in 2009. Although class actions may increase
in specific areas in 2010, such as employment, they are unlikely to increase
across the board.
Uptick in Legal Spending Another industry survey that forecasts an uptick in litigation
for 2010 is the survey of corporate legal spending conducted by The
BTI Consulting Group. Companies will increase their spending on litigation
by 2.3 percent this year, resulting in a $13.5 billion market, BTI
says.
IP litigation is likely to see the most substantial growth, BTI predicts,
if only because patent and trademark cases saw slower growth during
the height of the financial crisis, while companies addressed more
urgent economic issues.
BTI also predicts a continuing surge in bankruptcy,
labor and employment and financial matters. Like Fulbright, BTI predicts
decreases in 2010 for class actions and bet-the-company litigation.
"We
are seeing a clear turnaround in the economy and an increase in litigation
of all types," said Mike Wein, IMS ExpertServices™ founder
and chief executive officer. "From all the indicators we track, 2010
will be a busy year for trial lawyers and experts."
IMS Expert Services is the premier expert
witness and litigation consultant search firm in the legal
industry. IMS is focused exclusively on providing custom expert
witness search services. We are proud to be the choice of over
95 of the AmLaw Top 100.
Call us at 877-838-8464.
Our Contact :