In a legal profession populated by the risk-averse, litigators stand out as an intrepid lot. So it should come as little surprise that each year a handful of high-profile practitioners opt to leave the comforts of large, established law firms to strike out on their own.

After Starwood's Cahill lawyers won an injunction in what they called the most egregious case of trade secret theft ever, the two sides are talking. But that doesn't mean Hilton's out of the woods.

Even with a platoon of top-shelf appellate lawyers, Big Tobacco hasn't had much luck pressing a constitutional challenge to the way the Florida courts are handling the so-called "Engle progeny" litigation. That proved true again on Monday, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the tobacco companies' claims that judges in Florida are trampling their due process rights.

Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department WILLIAM F. MASTRO, J.P. ANITA R. FLORIO RANDALL T. ENG CHERYL E. CH

Tuesday was supposed to be the day that the federal government showed it's getting tougher on Wall Street malefactors. But we just kept getting reminded of how doggedly private lawyers have been hounding the banks at the center of the financial crisis.

Justice Eileen Bransten NEW YORK COUNTY Supreme Court Joshua A. Siegel, Esq. of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP (for Plaintiff Williams Real Estate) and

Someday, class counsel in the Vivendi securities litigation will get their chance to argue on appeal that billions of dollars in class claims brought by ordinary Vivendi shareholders never should have been thrown out. But in one of his last rulings before leaving the bench for private practice, Manhattan federal district court judge Richard Holwell insured that it ain't gonna happen soon.