Identifying, addressing and remediating companies' class-action vulnerabilities "therefore deserve a place at the top of corporate counsels' priorities list for 2008," according to Mr. Maatman. The report highlights four key developments in 2007:

o The volume of wage-and-hour litigation is increasing exponentially.

Collective actions pursued in federal court under the Fair Labor Standards Act produced more rulings in 2007 than did class actions for employment discrimination or under ERISA, the report noted.

While the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida experienced more wage-and-hour filings than any other federal jurisdiction, the most significant growth in wage-and-hour litigation was centered at the state court level--especially in California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

This trend is seen likely to continue in 2008, the report said.

o The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 continued to have significant effects on workplace litigation--primarily wage-and-hour class actions filed in state court.

The past 12 months saw evolving case law developments on jurisdictional issues under CAFA. As the plaintiffs' bar continues to devise techniques to adapt to CAFA, rulings on the scope, meaning and application of the law are already numerous for a statute of such recent vintage, the report noted.

This also results in fights over whether an employer in a workplace class-action must defend itself in state court or in federal court, the report said.

o The financial stakes in workplace class actions increased yet again in 2007.

Plaintiffs' lawyers have continued to push the envelope in crafting damages theories to expand the size of classes and the scope of recoveries, according to the report, resulting in a series of massive settlements in nationwide class actions. This trend is also unlikely to abate in 2008.

o Plaintiffs' lawyers have resorted to state court forums more frequently to pursue employment-related class actions.

The civil justice system in each state is obviously different, and the resulting impact on businesses often varies from county to county within certain jurisdictions, the report noted.

Some states and certain counties within those states are viewed by litigants as safe havens for opportunistic class-action lawsuits, which position those jurisdictions as launching platforms for dubious claims or novel theories of recovery, the report added.

A variety of factors--including forum shopping, discovery abuse, consolidation and joinder practices, lax evidentiary standards for experts, the absence of limitations on damages, and class certification precedents--tend to spawn more class actions in these jurisdictions, which include California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas, the report said.

The report noted another significant trend from 2007. While shareholder and securities class-action filings experienced a slight uptick in the last 12 months, employment-related class action filings increased significantly.

Anecdotally, according to Mr. Maatman, surveys of corporate counsel confirmed that workplace litigation--and especially class-action and multiplaintiff lawsuits--continue as the chief exposure driving corporate legal budget expenditures.