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.

The W&C partner and "lawyer's lawyer" won a Second Circuit ruling for Mayer Brown that confers broad protection for law firms named in securities fraud suits.

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.

Manhattan federal judge Kevin Castel dismissed claims relating to BofA's decision to keep mum about mounting Merrill losses, but he said investors had adequately established scienter with regard to BofA's failure to disclose a multibillion dollar Merrill bonus pool.