We recently released our 2015 litigation trends annual survey, the 11th overall and the most extensive in its history. More than 800 corporate counsel representing companies across 26 countries were polled on disputes-related issues and concerns. Click here to read our press release, and click here to see Law360’s extensive coverage.
Survey respondents – primarily general counsel – indicated that the increasing number of class action lawsuits and a more litigious business environment stood among the most important issues impacting their companies. Regulatory and investigations matters remained a focus for in-house counsel, with 39 percent of respondents citing those issues as their top concern.
Among life sciences and healthcare respondents:
- Labor/employment issues were ranked among the most numerous dispute type among life sciences and healthcare respondents, at 51 percent, compared with just 20 percent among all respondents.
- A total of 30 percent of life sciences and healthcare respondents listed product liability cases among their most prevalent disputes, far more often than respondents overall (11 percent).
- Industry respondents selected regulatory/investigations (47 percent) and labor/employment (43 percent) as top concerns going forward. Both of those figures were higher than the overall survey average (39 percent and 33 percent, respectively).
- Life sciences and healthcare respondents are also more concerned with IP/patent issues than their peers in other industries (45 percent to 21 percent), as well as product liability (32 percent to 14 percent) and professional malpractice (29 percent to 7 percent).
- Respondents from the life sciences and healthcare sector also reported the highest incidence of lawsuits against them, with 90 percent saying they had at least one commenced in 2014. They are also most likely to have at least one arbitration pending against them (51 percent) versus the total sample (35 percent).
