Appearances Plaintiffs' Lead Counsel for Consolidated Securities Class Action: By: Donald R. Hall, Jr., Esq., Frederic Scott Fox, Esq., Robert N. Kaplan, Esq., Kaplan Fox & Kils

On Tuesday SEC chairman Mary Jo White said her agency would try to extract admissions of wrongdoing from defendants in some settlements. But judging by the SEC's settlement with Revlon, says columnist Susan Beck, it appears the agency is intent on making life easier, not harder, for companies that violate securities laws.

U.S. DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK For Plaintiff: Robert Morse, Esq. Michael Nussbaum For Defendant: Pro se Judge Stein Pl

District Judge Arthur D. Spatt U.S. DISRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Attorneys for the Plaintiff By: Joel C. Feffer, Esq., Daniella Quitt,

Before: Newman, Calabresi, B.D. Parker, C.JJ. U.S. COURT OF APPEALS SECOND CIRCUIT Thomas A. Dubbs (James W. Johnson and Barry Michael Okun, on the brief), Labaton Such

For all the sound and fury the case generated, the $150 million settlement Judge Rakoff reluctantly approved this week doesn't clarify corporate disclosure requirements at all. The bank still says there was nothing wrong with its disclosures, the SEC still provides no guidance to M&A advisers--and American shareholders are still the big losers.

Was it wise for Bank of America to choose Wachtell to lead its defense when the firm advised the company on the underlying disclosure issues behind Friday's $2.43 billion settlement? "I have the highest respect for Wachtell," said Columbia Law School professor John Coffee Jr. "But you have problems when you're defending advice you gave the client."