Slowly but surely the firm is beating back suits that accuse it of complicity in the fraud that brought down the brokerage in 2005. Last month Mayer Brown was dismissed from a shareholder class action; Tuesday it escaped the Refco bankruptcy trustee's suit.

Judge Mariana Pfaelzer in L.A. put this case--unlike so many subprime-related shareholder suits--on track to settle when she denied Countrywide's motion to dismiss and later certified the class. Now the L.A. Daily Journal reports that Countrywide and top execs have agreed to a $600 million deal.

For any white-collar defense attorney, it's a big week when your client walks away from charges or is cleared of wrongdoing. If it happens twice in five days, it's a career milestone. Just ask Strassberg.

We've previously written about two of Levy's appellate victories. Now we have the sad duty to tell you of his apparent suicide. We talked to his last Supreme Court opponent, David Furlow, and to his old friend Seth Waxman about the Kilpatrick Stockton lawyer.