MBIA may have landed a major blow in its multi-round fight with Bank of America, but neither side is about to go down for the count.

Those lawyer-provocateurs from Brown Rudnick represented Icahn. But the combination of the debtor, Donald Trump, and the biggest class of bondholders was too much competition.

In the pitched battle over MBIA's controversial restructuring, Giuffra convinced the New York Court of Appeals to reinstate a fraudulent conveyance and contract lawsuit brought by a group of banks concerned about the insurer's ability to honor policies covering billions of dollars in complex financial instruments.

Robert Giuffra Jr. of Sullivan & Cromwell, who represents banks challenging MBIA's restructuring, succeeded in convincing Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Barbara Kapnick to hold a trial for this Article 78 proceeding. But Kapnick said she would sharply restrict the scope of evidence that Bank of America and two other bank plaintiffs can present.

A decision Tuesday by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals adds to the list of unsuccessful defendants trying use the Supreme Court's Wal-Mart ruling outside the employment realm. In a 2-1 decision the court wrote that the facts and law in the Wal-Mart action "are clearly distinct from those of this case."

Bank of America's headaches over soured Countrywide Financial mortgage loans keep pounding harder, thanks in no small part to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

If there is a firm model built for the dawning post-recession era, it's probably a litigation boutique with low overhead and a flexible billing structure. That model has attracted two new converts: Steven Molo of Shearman & Sterling and Jeff Lamken of Baker Botts have announced that they're leaving their firms to start up MoloLamken.