New England Biz Law Update

Employers increasingly focusing on sexual orientation bias in workplace

The overall number of lawsuits filed against companies is down to 2005 levels, and companies are relying less on outside counsel than two years ago, according to a recent survey of corporate litigation trends conducted by Fulbright & Jaworski. The fourth annual survey looked at litigation trends from the perspective of in-house counsel.

A growing number of law firms are willing to share the risk of patent litigation by taking cases on a contingent fee basis - a move that will help in-house counsel control legal costs for companies with patent portfolios.

Some in-house counsel are using a novel strategy to handle legal matters: They're turning to plaintiffs' trial lawyers.