The threat of litigation is rising for global organizations as they navigate rapid digitalization, growing accountability on environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, newly empowered stakeholder voices and increasingly coordinated global enforcement efforts.
These factors have only been accelerated by COVID-19, with some companies beginning to uncover vulnerabilities arising from their response to disruption, and governments under pressure to fill holes in domestic finances. As a result, organizations are braced for a rise in complex, high-value disputes.
In this episode, Daniela Fonseca Puggina, partner in our Miami office and Jennifer Ancona Semko, a partner in our Washington, D.C. office discuss litigation readiness for financial institutions (FIs). The episode covers potential vulnerabilities and disputes that they need to prepare for, current and emerging trends in litigation (from our Litigation Intelligence: Ready for Anything? Report), and how they can benefit from litigation preparedness.
Here are other takeaways from the episode:
- Litigation readiness refers to a wide range of actions, procedures and a general mindset within a company that empowers a company to anticipate, prepare for, and quickly and effectively respond to disputes when they arise.
- Financial institutions (FIs) that we surveyed spent an average of USD 272 million each on litigation last year – higher than any other industry. However, readiness strategies for FIs may not be keeping up with the scale of the challenge that face them.
- Potential weak spots for FIs include global coordination of litigation preparation and protocols and inadequate training for employees on dispute-related topics like the protection of privileged information.
- Multi-jurisdictional coordination and stakeholder management is key for FI companies. They often attract interest from regulators in the areas of money laundering, cybersecurity and data privacy as well as anticorruption and sanctions law.
We have also launched a self-assessment tool (the Litigation Intelligence Tool, or LIT) to help companies evaluate and identify weaknesses in their litigation preparedness, as well as benchmark themselves against peer companies. Companies can use LIT to assess where they stand on litigation preparedness and identify what they can do to better equip themselves to face the challenges ahead.
