(I’m going to take my own advice and blog my response rather than send an e-mail, especially to a closed network.)

I know that everyone loves the Fulbright Litigation Trends Survey, and I do too. Lots of great information in there. But there are points, such as companies choosing litigation over arbitration, 55% to 32%, with 13% having no preference (page 21) that did not ring true for me, especially from what I’m hearing from general counsel and litigators.

Please note: I am no Ann Lee Gibson or Dr. Mark Greene, I don’t even pretend to play a CI professional at my work. However, my skeptical alert always goes up on studies like this. So what is written below is coming from a lay-person’s reading of the study.

Respondents’ Headquarters Locations (page 7)

4% – West

5% – Atlantic

6% – California (hmmmm. I thought we were in the west)

8% – South

11% – East Coast/New England

12% – Other U.K. (12%)

14% – Midwest

15% – London

26% – TEXAS

Wow. 26% of the respondents are from Texas! I know Texas is a big state, but should they be allocated 26% of the respondent pool?? Won’t that skew the results in favor of Texas’ economy, Texas’ laws and Texas’s business culture? Having worked at a few AmLaw 200 firms, I don’t see any of those firm’s footprints here.

In reality, the study is skewed towards Fulbright’s client base, as it should be. This is a study that has the most relevance to Fulbright and they are kind enough to share it with all of us.

So, please, before extrapolating the entire study to the entire industry, or to your firm, read the numbers. Use the study as a jumping off point for exploring what’s going on in your industry, your marketplace, and your client practice.