Litigation Used to Be What Happened When Business Went Wrong

Litigation used to be what happened when business went wrong.

In 2027, it increasingly determines what the business gets to do next.

For decades, companies wanted litigation contained, settled, budgeted for, and made to disappear.

Not anymore.

Litigation has a new job.

Protect growth. Clear strategic obstacles. Defend revenue. Protect new products. And, increasingly, determine whether the company gets to execute its strategy at all.

Our new BTI Litigation Outlook 2027 finds litigation increasingly intertwined with launching products, generating revenue, executing business strategy, and companies aggressively protecting – and claiming – their rights.

Corporate counsel are responding in kind.

They are settling less. Fighting harder. Spending more.

BTI projects only 36.7% of matters will resolve in 2027 – the lowest level in our 2015–2027 data. Plaintiffs increasingly want precedent and bigger awards. Defendants worry anything short of a win can derail strategic initiatives.

And there is simply more to fight about.

More matters. More complexity. More novel claims. More riding on the outcome. New matters are growing faster than spending – building a backlog of complex work.

56% of clients are increasing litigation spending. More than 60% of those increasing budgets expect jumps of 10% or more. And bet-the-company – the work clients once prayed they’d never have – is now the fastest growing segment of the market.

There is a lot more money on the table. It won’t be divided evenly.

Clients are moving work. They are looking for firms comfortable where precedent disappears, legal and business strategy collide, and somebody to make the call before all the facts arrive.

The BTI Litigation Outlook 2027 pinpoints where the money is moving, where premium rates prevail, the fastest growing practices, the industries with the greatest needs, and – by name – the firms clients want when the stakes jump.

For decades, litigation’s job was dealing with what already happened. Now it is increasingly helping decide what happens next.

The getting is good. Don’t settle. Go get it.