On August 4th, 2022, Lex Machina hosted a webcast on the recently released Employment Litigation Report 2022. The webcast featured Greg Brumfield (author of the report and Lex Machina’s Employment Legal Data Expert) and Rachel Bailey (Data Relations Manager and Legal Data Expert).
During the webcast, panelists discussed the latest findings and trends in federal employment litigation over the last three years and offered insights on judges, parties, law firms, case filings, findings and resolutions, timing, damages, and more. The webcast included a look at emerging trends in Title VII, ADA, FLSA, and FMLA cases, as well as appellate outcomes in federal employment litigation.
“I’ve never seen so many cases filed on so many different grounds directly influenced by a specific event, and that specific event is the pandemic,” explained Greg Brumfield. “You’ll see the same fact patterns [filed] using the Family First Act or the ADA, the EPSLA. These things are just showing an explosion in pandemic-related cases.”
Regarding the most active employment litigation law firms, Rachel Bailey explained, “The most active law firm representing plaintiffs was Morgan & Morgan, followed by Spitz Law Firm and Sanford Law Firm. Looking at the most active law firms for defendants, we see Littler Mendelson had the most cases in the last three years, followed by Jackson Lewis and then Ogletree.”
Greg provided insight on how lawyers use this information by adding, “When faced with a new lawsuit, it’s super important to quickly get a sense for the opposing party and their counsel. How have they planned to go about their litigation strategy in the past, especially in front of a particular judge? Around what time do they file a 12(b)(6) motion for summary judgment and what kind of approach they will go with? Lex Machina provides answers to all of these questions.”
Listen to a recording of the webcast or read the transcript.