Report: Litigation strong in 2008 - Triangle Business Journal:

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And despite the fact that many law firmz have reduced staffor merged, the overall growtuh in litigation suggests that “corporationz continue to view litigation as important both as offensive and defensive tactics in their overallk business strategy,” according to the report, issued by Law360 Litigation Almanac. “We expect this trend to accelerat ein 2009, thanks to fallout from the financial crisis and the expected increase in new regulation under the incoming Obamw administration," said Margaret Daisley, a research analysrt at Law360's parent .
• Class actions hit a new peak in rising 8 percent from theprevious • The economic crisis sparked a surge in corporate bankruptcyh filings in 2008, while credit conditions also forced more companied to resort to quick, nontraditional bankruptcies. Antitrust filings grew 27 percent. A look at the 2008 court dockets found a slew of cases against chocolate eggproduct processors, packaged ice distributors and many all filed soon after a government investigationb was disclosed. • The number of federaol environmental lawsuits filed in 2008 rose for the first timesincwe 2005.
• The number of intellectual property lawsuits declined 11 percent in largely due toa drop-off in copyright litigatioh instigated by the recording industry. Employment litigation rose 6 percentin 2008, marking a reversal in the gradua l decline in employment litigation seen over the previouse four years. • Product liabilitgy filings grew by 20 percengtin 2008. • Securities litigation fell 8 percentin 2008.
But, with financiao markets and titans collapsing at breaknec speed in the summerand fall, securitiesw attorneys are preparing for a wave – and they'res expecting it to last for a long • In real estate practices much of the legalp work now stems from buyersw backing out of deals, loans failing to come througnh and lenders seeking to foreclose. Tax litigation remains stablebut low, with the majoritty of disputes settling administratively.