Since 2013, Crowell & Moring has started each year by publishing a Litigation Forecast focused on what we expected would affect our clients’ approach to litigation in the months to come. But this volume is different. As with so many aspects of our lives, COVID-19 has changed the way that litigation is conducted, in ways that will be with us forever.
This past year challenged both courts and litigants to adapt—constantly—to changing circumstances. Courts were closed, reopened, and closed again. Hearings and depositions went remote. Technology achieved an unprecedented prominence.
Some of these changes are permanent; many are clearly beneficial: Both courts and litigation proceedings, for example, are likely to be more efficient. This means fundamental changes in the art of preparing your case and presenting your arguments.
The Forecast this year provides a guide to the future of litigation. Informed by 2020, it looks ahead to the many ways in which litigants must now adapt to meet a future that’s coming faster than ever before.
Read the Forecast here.
