David Boies has had many victories in his career, but his win on Monday for the plaintiffs in the Halliburton securities class action has special meaning for him. Boies took over the case from his daughter Caryl Boies, who died last December from lung cancer at age 48.

Manhattan federal district judge Jed Rakoff swiftly dispensed with any notion that the Supreme Court's ruling in the Wal-Mart employment case should affect this securities case. "The Court finds that Wal-Mart has little to no bearing on the issues before the Court," he wrote.

When Judge Denny Chin was elevated to the Second Circuit, Judge Kevin Castel volunteered to take over the BofA securities class action. Whatever happens before him, BofA and its lawyers at least know they won't be on the receiving end of angry orders from Judge Rakoff--an experience they're all too familiar with.

In the enormous Bank of America securities class action, plaintiffs lawyers seeking the appointment of lead counsel are starting to make the case for themselves--and against their rivals.

Before the major copyright infringement class action against YouTube was filed in New York federal court two years ago, Robert Tur, a helicopter journalist, had initiated his own suit against the video-sharing site in the Central District of California. On Tuesday, against the protests of YouTube, the Ninth Circuit allowed Tur to transfer his suit to New York and join the class action.

It didn't take long for News Corp. and its independent directors to round up some of the top white-collar, internal investigations, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act lawyers in the country.

Wall Street critics were pleased to see JPMorgan admit that a breakdown in controls and leadership caused the losses, but the SEC still came under fire over fine print in the admissions and for letting high-ranking execs off the hook.

We've long known that securities class actions have gone global. But a new report by the RiskMetrics Group, which can be accessed here (subscription required), attempts to quantify just how much. For example, from 1996 through 2007, it counts 234 times that an international institutional investor has sought to be named lead plaintiff. The study also notes that in every year since 2002, international investors have filed motions to become lead plaintiff in more then 5 percent of all new federal securities class actions.