It's not clear how the Supreme Court's landmark Concepcion arbitration ruling might apply to shareholder litigation. The Carlyle Group and its lawyers at Simpson Thacher are ready to test whether a public company can ban shareholder class actions.

Deutsche Bank found out the hard way that there's a downside to litigation finance, getting nothing for its investment in a $500 million suit against Bank of America. But the real question is why banks are dabbling in the litigation finance business--and whether such shadow investments should be exposed.

The pro-business lobby is up in arms about a supposed Treasury Department plan to permit plaintiffs lawyers to deduct their expenses in the year in which they're incurred. Tort reform types claim the policy change is a $1.6 billion "subsidy" that will encourage unfounded suits. We say it's merely correcting an inequality in the tax code that's based on an archaic legal fiction.