{"id":3442,"date":"2021-04-27T09:36:16","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T17:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/be.unicourt.internal:9878\/site-blog\/?p=3442"},"modified":"2021-12-22T01:22:59","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T09:22:59","slug":"covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond \u2013 Josh Blandi Writes in Legal Business World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>COVID-19 has had a profound impact on court systems around the globe, and especially in the U.S. legal system, where courts have had to rapidly adopt the basic technology needed to go digital and ensure the public has continued access to justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re excited to share UniCourt\u2019s CEO, Josh Blandi\u2019s most recent article that was published in Legal Business World. Josh\u2019s article, \u201cCOVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond\u201d reviews year-over-year litigation trends from 2019-2020 across U.S. District Courts to reveal the immediate impacts COVID-19 has had on certain practice areas like <a href=\"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/courts\/federal\/us-district-courts-2\/personal-injury\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">personal injury<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/courts\/federal\/us-district-courts-2\/labor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">labor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/courts\/federal\/us-district-courts-2\/civil-right\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">civil rights<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/courts\/federal\/us-district-courts-2\/intellectual-property\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">intellectual property<\/a>, antitrust, and RICO cases. Josh also shares insights from COVID\u2019s impact on courts in the European Union, and how litigation data can be used for strategic planning and business development by law firms and legal departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here below is an excerpt from Josh\u2019s article in Legal Business World:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite widespread concerns that the impact of COVID-19 would significantly curtail legal services demands, litigation volumes for most practice areas in federal courts remained relatively stable in 2020. While some noteworthy exceptions remain, the consensus is that that litigation practices &#8211; and the legal services industry writ large &#8211; is alive and well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This article will review the year-over-year changes in case volumes from 2019 to 2020 for federal U.S. District Courts. It will also highlight trends for countries in the European Union and specific spikes seen for particular practice areas. Finally, we will touch on how law firms and legal departments can use litigation data for strategic planning to stay ahead of the curve and the competition &#8211; even in another global crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">U.S. Litigation Trends<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For most practice areas, <a href=\"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/litigation-trends-law-practice-planning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">litigation trends<\/a> have remained relatively stable in the federal courts. Labor law and civil rights cases, in particular, have seen high volumes of filings. However, there have been noticeable dips in others.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is a data-driven breakdown.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Personal Injury Cases<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the more interesting changes in litigation trends from 2019 to 2020 case volumes relates to the massive spike in personal injury cases filed in U.S. District Courts during 2020.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there were close to 77,000 personal injury cases filed in federal court in 2019, there were over 282,000 cases filed in 2020, nearly a four-fold increase. However, this increase is almost entirely attributable to over 227,000 personal injury &#8211; product liability lawsuits brought against 3M Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/n7Wv0JlmRmCDCh7QsOndtXcoKwsN4WTSmnxLQbPUpg0hviBM48vfA1hvez1iDlWEWwxB2mYIIN3Ze4NhPF75lcVnRFcAPrnlTUVlnW0ZEA_ol7A_y88AJzG_W93m77nggtQ27ww\" alt=\"Personal Injury Cases from 2019 to 2020\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/MQcUux0Lhx9tDNMYZxW6yaDxA0jpES2kFMNk5dWDfU-mVCgmKHgmtBfQsmkIhyRyP9X2Do-7a45YTgzNdGiXwN81Sk2BBvFwcTSjWuEWAVN1alYLecrWYT4ePoUW7258_DoqIVs\" alt=\"personal injury - other product liability cases\" width=\"700\" height=\"761\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Within the personal injury practice area, there were also two changes in litigation trends that could possibly be related to COVID: (1) a significant drop in airplane product liability litigation, likely due to a sharp decline in air travel during the height of the pandemic, and (2) a noticeable drop in medical\/pharmaceutical product liability cases, which may have been caused by a decline in the number of patients in the US receiving care for non-COVID related issues and injuries in 2020.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/cRJp7FPm2KvCdvrtz5r0buR8WzW92Ao0n-vsIR8kEzuwqO14JlGCFt6e2OluxgFhnhRzpLPyjonba69sJJ2r4cpcbzC6pACIvFKd1IoYhGAIaLYSf16B8jWva05536dkrBrYIDs\" alt=\"personal injury - airplane product liability cases\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/NM1ozJ8oARLgAspAFEpuORkoxHlUnIfU7JlIN1b8EDY2VjxqN-6st6FcHTjnp0Pdr929NR3RRMMt2fGlHICzmwqkYLDJE8ImLQwN_slDenteRG1BLlsFKiCDPHlriAZZK97Du30\" alt=\"personal injury - medical\/pharmaceutical product liability cases\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You can read the <a href=\"https:\/\/lbw2021us2.legalbusinesslibrary.com\/index-h5.html?page=1#page=50\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">full article here on Legal Business World<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniCourtInc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniCourtInc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/unicourtinc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> for legal tech updates!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Josh Blandi discusses how COVID-19 has impacted litigation in U.S. District Courts and courts in the E.U., and how law firms and legal departments can use litigation data for strategic planning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,79,54,98],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond \u2013 Josh Blandi Writes in Legal Business World &#8211; UniCourt Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Josh Blandi discusses how COVID-19 has impacted litigation in U.S. District Courts and courts in the E.U., and how law firms and legal departments can use litigation data for strategic planning.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond \u2013 Josh Blandi Writes in Legal Business World &#8211; UniCourt Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Josh Blandi discusses how COVID-19 has impacted litigation in U.S. District Courts and courts in the E.U., and how law firms and legal departments can use litigation data for strategic planning.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UniCourt Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-27T17:36:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-22T09:22:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.unicourt.com\/blog_resources\/uploadsproduction\/blog_resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/27043324\/COVID-19-Impacts-on-Litigation-Trends-for-2020-and-Beyond.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"868\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"579\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UniCourt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UniCourt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond \u2013 Josh Blandi Writes in Legal Business World &#8211; UniCourt Blog","description":"Josh Blandi discusses how COVID-19 has impacted litigation in U.S. District Courts and courts in the E.U., and how law firms and legal departments can use litigation data for strategic planning.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond \u2013 Josh Blandi Writes in Legal Business World &#8211; UniCourt Blog","og_description":"Josh Blandi discusses how COVID-19 has impacted litigation in U.S. District Courts and courts in the E.U., and how law firms and legal departments can use litigation data for strategic planning.","og_url":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/","og_site_name":"UniCourt Blog","article_published_time":"2021-04-27T17:36:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-22T09:22:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":868,"height":579,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.unicourt.com\/blog_resources\/uploadsproduction\/blog_resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/27043324\/COVID-19-Impacts-on-Litigation-Trends-for-2020-and-Beyond.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"UniCourt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UniCourt","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/","url":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/","name":"COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond \u2013 Josh Blandi Writes in Legal Business World &#8211; UniCourt Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/unicourtcache.s3.amazonaws.com\/production\/blog_resources\/uploadsproduction\/blog_resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/27043324\/COVID-19-Impacts-on-Litigation-Trends-for-2020-and-Beyond.jpg","datePublished":"2021-04-27T17:36:16+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-22T09:22:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6c658b783214885c8568ab9a9f9c1c06"},"description":"Josh Blandi discusses how COVID-19 has impacted litigation in U.S. District Courts and courts in the E.U., and how law firms and legal departments can use litigation data for strategic planning.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/unicourtcache.s3.amazonaws.com\/production\/blog_resources\/uploadsproduction\/blog_resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/27043324\/COVID-19-Impacts-on-Litigation-Trends-for-2020-and-Beyond.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/unicourtcache.s3.amazonaws.com\/production\/blog_resources\/uploadsproduction\/blog_resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/27043324\/COVID-19-Impacts-on-Litigation-Trends-for-2020-and-Beyond.jpg","width":868,"height":579,"caption":"COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/covid19-impacts-on-litigation-trends\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Insights","item":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/category\/insights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Future Law","item":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/category\/insights\/future-law\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"COVID-19 Impacts on Litigation Trends for 2020 and Beyond \u2013 Josh Blandi Writes in Legal Business World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/","name":"UniCourt Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6c658b783214885c8568ab9a9f9c1c06","name":"UniCourt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/be.unicourt.net:9879\/site-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e01a565716c5b9eeeae104d2236e698a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e01a565716c5b9eeeae104d2236e698a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UniCourt"},"url":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/author\/vivek\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3442"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3959,"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442\/revisions\/3959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unicourt.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}