Starting Monday, a team of high-profile litigators led by Quinn Emanuel's Charles Verhoeven will defend Samsung against Apple's claims that its rival "slavishly" copied features of the iPad and iPhone.

Quinn Emanuel's litigation record is still impressive by any measure. But last month's high-profile loss against Apple is an unwelcome reminder that even the winningest firms have to lose sometimes.

Ever since Visa and MasterCard reached a $7.2 billion agreement to resolve merchant claims over credit card "swipe fees," critics have been coming out of the woodwork. Now they've formally opposed the class action settlement in court, with the objector's lawyers at Constantine Cannon warning of "serious risks" if the deal is approved.

A Delaware Chancery Court ruling in shareholder litigation over Allergan's Botox marketing had some stinging language for the plaintiffs bar, but the sting was worse for Allergan and other defendants. Now, thanks to lawyers at Gibson Dunn and Morris Nichols, it's been erased.

Judge Lucy Koh on Monday decided that she couldn't issue permanent injunctions against 26 Samsung products that a federal jury found violated Apple's patents. Her order applies a heightened standard established by the Federal Circuit that requires patentholders to show a direct link between lost market-share and a specific infringing feature of a competitor's product.

Samsung's bid to undo the $1 billion jury verdict it lost to Apple in August took a fascinating turn this week, when Samsung's lawyers at Quinn Emanuel unsealed allegations that the jury foreman lied during voir dire. And if the attack on the juror succeeds, it may be thanks to a Quinn Emanuel lawyer who wasn't even involved in the case.

The novelty of IP litigation being "hot" wore off long ago, but never did the practice dominate headlines quite as much as in 2012.

When a nine-employee outdoor equipment company got hit with infringement claims by a much larger rival last year, the company's founder was "devastated." But with a targeted litigation strategy engineered by Eric Walters of Davis Wright Tremaine, the company turned the tables on its accuser.