Mississippi lawyers are painfully aware that there is less litigation than there used to be. The Blog of Legal Times reports on a Fulbright & Jaworski survey of corporate counsel that they do not expect the trend to continue, at least on a national level:

The lull in litigation is not expected to last, as 92 percent of corporate counsels polled predict litigation levels to remain the same or increase within the next year. The report cited stricter regulation and company growth as factors for the expected litigation increase.

To the extent that there is a growth area in litigation, it is expected to come from the regulatory side:

On the regulatory front, 55 percent of U.S. companies retained outside counsel to conduct regulatory investigations, which reached a four-year high. The bulk of investigations were initiated by the Department of Justice, state attorneys general, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

My Take:

First, I don’t put much weight on what corporate counsel says. Their department budget’s are tied to litigation levels and less litigation means lower department budgets. So they have an incentive to always predict the same or growing litigation levels. Plus, many in-house lawyers are complete morons.

Second, I don’t know where all this regulatory litigation takes place. But it’s not Mississippi. Attorney General Jim Hood’s office has an active litigation practice against corporations on behalf of the State. But it’s not that many cases and it does not keep that many lawyers busy outside the A.G.’s office.

I expect the litigation recession in Mississippi to continue. Major factors include no mass-joinder or Rule 23 in State Court, tort reform, conservative juries and a conservative judiciary.

But there are other factors in play such as the fact that there is less commerce and and development to throw off commercial disputes due to the Great Recession and roads and products are getting safer over time.

Barring an unforeseen event that causes a lot of litigation, I do not expect things to change significantly in Mississippi. And my opinion is the same even if the Supreme Court rules that the non-economic damages caps are unconstitutional.