Judicial hell-holes, and an idea to index the risk of lawsuits

As summarized in InsideCounsel, May 2006 at 17, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce surveyed 1,400 “in-house counsel and other senior corporate litigators.” The Chamber asked the respondents to rank states for legal fairness. West Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi rank among the worst whereas Delaware, Nebraska and Virginia ranked the best. The survey drills down even to some counties.

Law departments that want to assess their litigation portfolio for likely expenditures on defense and possible resolution costs might consider an index weight for each case which factors in the impartiality of courts.