Lex Machina 2026 Law Firms Activity Report: Government Agencies Dominate Contested Judicial Outcomes While Private Firms Drive Billion-Dollar Jury Verdicts

New report analyzes counsel performance in major civil litigation outcomes from 2023 to 2025, highlighting trends in high-value trials and damage awards across U.S. federal courts and select state courts.

San Jose, CA — June 16, 2026 — LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional today released the Lex Machina^® 2026 Law Firms Activity Report, a data-driven analysis designed to help corporate legal departments and law firms evaluate outside counsel experience, benchmark litigation teams, and plan strategy for high-stakes civil matters. Using litigation data analytics from Lex Machina, the LexisNexis^® Legal Analytics^® platform, the report analyzes major damage awards, trials, and appeals from 2023 to 2025 across U.S. federal courts and select state courts.

Key findings from the report include:

• Government entities dominated contested judicial outcomes in federal district and appellate courts: From 2023 through 2025, federal government agencies secured the largest damages awards through contested judicial rulings, including summary judgment and bench trial outcomes. During the same period, government attorneys also led in terms of civil appellate victories in the federal circuit courts, both for appellants and appellees, even excluding prisoner rights and Social Security appeals.

• Private law firms led for jury trial awards in federal courts: For jury-awarded damages, private law firms dominate the list of top earning law offices from 2023 to 2025, with ten law firms each directly responsible for achieving more than $1 billion in principal damages via plaintiffs’ jury verdicts in federal courts from 2023 to 2025.

• Massive jury verdict awards in Los Angeles Superior Court: From 2023 through 2025, plaintiffs secured more than $2.4 billion in principal damages through jury verdicts in Los Angeles Superior Court alone, underscoring the scale of high-exposure civil litigation in one of the nation’s busiest trial courts.

“No doubt, the Lex Machina 2026 Law Firms Activity Report is a great tool for corporate legal departments when looking for experienced civil legal counsel, and it is also a great source of information for students and researchers, as it allows them to learn who the top civil law firm litigators are in some of the most active courts in the US, the amounts awarded in their lawsuits, and the issues that are the subject of litigation,” said Juan-Andrés Fuentes, research librarian at Harvard Law School.

“High-stakes litigation decisions are too important to rely on anecdote alone,” said Eric Wright, senior vice president for Lex Machina at LexisNexis. “The Law Firms Activity Report helps general counsel, corporate legal teams, and law firms evaluate demonstrated experience in trials, damages awards, contested rulings, and appeals. With Lex Machina, legal teams can make more data-informed decisions about outside counsel selection, matter staffing, litigation strategy, and business development.”

To request a copy of the report, visit LexisNexis.com/LexMachina.  

The Lex Machina platform equips litigation professionals to develop stronger case strategies and generate business. From precise timing metrics that inform legal budgeting to trend data on top law firms and leading judges, Lex Machina supplements traditional legal research and experience with customized, data-backed insights. These insights help lawyers identify and pursue new matters, navigate motion and trial strategies, and negotiate smarter settlements, ultimately giving firms a competitive edge in litigation.

About LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional 

LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional provides AI-powered legal, regulatory, business information, analytics and workflows that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis^® and Nexis^® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,900 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina 

Lex Machina^® fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 22 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to anticipate the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, supporting more effective case strategy and business development efforts.

Lex Machina was named Winner of the “Overall LegalTech Data Solution Provider of the Year” LegalTech Breakthrough Award 2025, “Best Data Analytics & Insight Solution” 2025 CODiE Award, and Winner of the “Media Excellence Award” for Analytics/Big Data 2024. Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis^®, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit https://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/products/lex-machina.page.

Juan-Andrés Fuentes is a customer of Lex Machina.

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