Litigation expected to be even bigger US risk in 2025

Nearly half of US corporate counsel expect the number of lawsuits and regulatory investigations impacting their organisations to increase in the year ahead, according to Norton Rose Fulbright’s Annual Litigation Trends Survey. The law firm said corporate counsel confronted a difficult litigation environment in 2024 and the survey shows that many expect even bigger challenges in 2025, from an aggressive plaintiffs’ bar and heightened regulatory scrutiny to increasing difficulty settling disputes before trial. “The Trump administration may bring sharply different regulatory priorities that could lessen burdens in areas such as antitrust while fuelling new legal actions on environmental, social and governance initiatives, consumer protection frameworks and other issues,” said Norton Rose Fulbright. However, it added that more corporate counsel feel very prepared to meet the challenges ahead compared to last year, thanks to strong legal teams, proactive risk management and the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to spot risk. Cybersecurity and data privacy issues continue to be a challenge for organisations amid escalating cyberattacks, growing disclosure burdens and uncertainty stemming from AI tools, according to the survey. More than a third (36%) of respondents say their organisations were more exposed to cybersecurity and data privacy disputes over the past 12 months – the greatest increase in any dispute category for the second year in a row. The survey shows that nearly a quarter (24%) of all respondents experienced class action litigation in the last year. Employment and labour actions were the most common variety, experienced by approximately half (52%) of those who saw class action litigation over the past year. Consumer protection was the second most common type of class action, cited by 41% of respondents who experienced them in 2024. Norton Rose Fulbright said that ESG is another growing issue, cited by 15% of respondents who experienced class actions (compared to 11% last year). “Major class action cases concerning socially conscious investing and involving tens of thousands of plaintiffs could be a potential harbinger of what’s to come as ESG remains in the political crosshairs,” the survey notes. According to the survey, 27% of respondents saw their ESG dispute exposure grow over the past 12 months. Respondents expecting their ESG exposure to grow point to both pro-ESG and anti-ESG pressures as among the leading trends contributing to this increase, with pro-ESG regulatory pressure the most selected factor, at 46%. The effects of new regulations and requirements, such as the climate disclosure rules enacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission California’s climate disclosure laws, and the EU’s CSDDD, are still being determined given uncertainty about their interpretations and pending legal challenges, and this uncertainty may create fertile grounds for disputes, said the law firm. With organisations facing greater scrutiny over sustainability claims, 73% of respondents say they are considering or already adjusting their environmental or sustainability claims to mitigate exposure to greenwashing issues. The survey indicates that regulatory activity increased significantly over the past year, with 70% of respondents involved in at least one regulatory proceeding in 2024, compared to 61% who said the same in 2023. And a quarter of respondents say their intellectual property (IP) dispute exposure grew over the last year, with approximately the same share (26%) expecting to be more exposed in 2025. Patents once again appear to be fuelling this trend, with nearly half (46%) of those who saw their IP exposure grow last year reporting greater vulnerability to patent disputes over the past 12 months, said the law firm.

Litigation expected to be even bigger US risk in 2025

Annual Litigation Trends Survey highlights cyber, class actions and ESG

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