WASHINGTON – A case stemming from Allen Stanford's spectacular $7 billion fraud will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7, the first day of the court's fall term.

But law firms won't be watching to learn more details about Stanford's Ponzi scheme, which earned him a 110-year prison term last year. Instead, they fret that the outcome could expose fraudsters' law firms and other third parties to billions of dollars of liability in securities class actions in state courts.