Lex Machina is excited to release its regional report, Employment Litigation in the Midwest. This report focuses on Employment Litigation in federal district courts located in the Seventh and Eighth Circuits. These districts are located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

Legal analytics is used for planning, business development, and litigation strategy. Readers can compare their home district to others to gain insight about areas of particular focus. The metrics in this report may help readers decide whom to pursue as clients, which claims to include in a complaint, or when to settle. This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in litigation.

Highlights include:

  • Plaintiffs filed over 29,000 Employment cases in the region since 2009. Employment case filings in the region have remained generally steady with exactly 2,882 cases filed in both 2009 and 2018, although there was a noticeable drop between 2012 and 2013.
  • Given that the Northern District of Illinois encompasses the populous city of Chicago, it had the most case filings by a large margin. The next most active district was the Southern District of Indiana, which encompasses Indianapolis.
  • The most active plaintiffs’ law firm, the Sanford Law Firm, filed 250 cases from 2016 to 2018, 96% of which had an FLSA claim. Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart was the most active defendants’ law firm with 571 cases and appearances in all 17 districts in the region.
  • The City of Chicago was the most active defendant in the region with 62 cases filed from 2016 to 2018. The list includes several other government parties in the Chicago area.
  • Case resolutions and findings overwhelmingly favor employers with a large number of decisions made at the summary judgment stage in this practice area.

Lex Machina’s “Employment” case type includes cases with one or more claims of employment law violation, including: 1) discrimination, harassment, or retaliation under federal employment law based in civil rights; 2) wage and hour claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); or 3) interference and retaliation claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which often relate to leave and absence issues.

Request a copy of the report here.