The annual Fulbright & Jaworski survey of litigation trends found that over half of
Commenting on the findings, Chris Warren-Smith, who heads Fulbright’s international financial services disputes team, said: “The UK appears to be catching up with the US in terms of exposure to regulatory matters and, in particular, the increase in the number of corporate investigations over here would appear to mirror the US situation that we witnessed during the stock market downturn five or six years ago.”
The proportion of respondent companies in the
The survey of 303 businesses found that the number of court proceedings issued against companies had dipped from last year’s mark to 2005 levels and only one in five respondents in both the UK and US expected more litigation next year than in 2007.
An increasing number of settlements are being reached prior to final court or arbitration hearings, with 70% of respondents saying approximately half of the actions initiated by their company last year had settled.
Fulbright London chief Lista Cannon commented: “The upper end of the litigation market remains strong. We are seeing the effects of the credit crunch feed through into the disputes arena and the increasing use of third-party litigation funding.”
