Four years after regulators began investigating alleged collusion by the banks controlling the CDS market, private antitrust litigation is finally starting to take shape.

Akin Gump triggered a worldwide criminal probe back in 2008 when it accused Pittsburgh-based Alcoa of racketeering and fraud on behalf of Aluminium Bahrain. On Tuesday, the firm beat prosecutors to the punch yet again, wresting a long-awaited settlement from Alcoa.

Bahrain Aluminum's bribery case against Alcoa was administratively closed in 2008 to allow the Justice Department to build its own criminal case against the company. But Alcoa's lawyers wanted the opportunity to move to dismiss the civil case on the grounds that Bahrain Aluminum's RICO claims are barred by the Supreme Court's Morrison decision. On Tuesday they won their chance.

Lawyers for various Lehman Brothers directors and officers, including former CEO Richard Fuld, filed papers Wednesday in Lehman's Manhattan federal bankruptcy proceedings seeking the release of $90 million in insurance funds to settle securities fraud claims pending since June 2008.

We're beginning to reap the consequences of the sweeping Lehman examiner's report. Plaintiffs in a long-pending securities class action have now filed an amended complaint that adds allegations about Lehman's now-infamous Repo 105 balance sheet asset transfers--and adds Lehman's auditor, Ernst & Young, as a defendant.

Thanks to our colleagues at The National Law Journal, we've got everything you need to know about the upcoming Senate hearings to confirm Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, including the list of individuals scheduled to testify, and a dozen themes that will likely frame the proceedings when they begin on Monday.