Patchwork data privacy laws deepen corporate legal exposure
19th Annual Survey of In-House Corporate Counsel
Litigation Trends for 2024
What’s in this report from Norton Rose Fulbright:
Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s 19th annual litigation trends survey finds that risks and evolving regulation around technology and cybersecurity dominate corporate counsel concerns heading into 2024, as cyberattacks and a patchwork of data privacy laws deepen litigation exposure.
Four in 10 respondents said their exposure to cybersecurity and data protection disputes increased in 2023 — more than any other category — and those risks appear here to stay, with that area also topping the list of 2024 litigation concerns amid mounting challenges posed by data management and artificial intelligence (AI).
Questions surrounding AI’s role in patent inventorship, copyright ownership and fair use cases are also expected to fuel intellectual property dispute exposure in the year ahead. Nearly half of respondents expect that increased use of AI technology will deepen their vulnerability to such litigation in 2024.
Other highlights include:
- 40% of respondents experienced regulatory and investigations-related litigation over the past 12 months, on par with cybersecurity and data protection as the third most common type of litigation.
- 52% of corporate counsel surveyed expect to increase the number of in-house litigators in response to increasing litigation and decreasing outside counsel engagement, up from 36% last year.
- Nearly one-quarter (24%) of respondents saw their ESG dispute exposure increase over the last year, with respondents in the energy, real estate and construction and technology sectors most concerned about ESG exposure in 2024.
