Judge Jed Rakoff almost fell off the bench when a pension fund administrator told him Coughlin Stoia monitors his fund's investments for free in order to identify potential securities cases. But is the practice in fact common in the securities class action bar?

Indian business leaders who got swept up in the accounting scandal known as "India's Enron" escaped a U.S. shareholder class action this week, thanks to their lawyers at Weil Gotshal & Manges, Cooley, and Debevoise & Plimpton.

Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch has sparked 160 shareholder lawsuits. Not surprisingly, the competition for lead plaintiff and lead counsel positions is attracting some heavy hitters.

Stuart Grant of Grant & Eisenhofer called the Delaware Supreme Court's ruling "incomprehensible," saying it's both unjust and at odds with the court's earlier statements related to Countrywide and Bank of America.

Among the findings: Thirty-four percent of the cases were either dismissed or dropped--but half settled before a final ruling on dismissal. Insurers pony up for settlements more often than not, but directors and officers rarely contribute. Plus: The latest Cornerstone report shows the aggregate amount of securities class action settlements was up in 2009.

Plaintiffs lawyers got J. Crew to agree to changes in the merger process, but whether that will result in an improved bid is an open question.

Merck replaced Evan Chesler with Kannon Shanmugam of Williams & Connolly in its attempt to overturn a Third Circuit ruling that said shareholders filed their Vioxx-related securities fraud ruling before the statute of limitations ran out. But according to Tony Mauro, the W&C lawyer had a rough go at the high court. Meanwhile, the Roberts Court continues to take on thorny business issues, granting cert--over the SEC's objections--in the leading f-cubed case.

BlackRobe Capital may have been backed by plenty of high-profile legal talent, but it turns out that wasn't enough to keep the litigation funding firm afloat.