After months of reading submissions, vetting, and interviews, The American Lawyer has announced the winners of the magazine's sixth biennial Litigation Department of the Year contest. Gibson Dunn cinched the top billing for the second time in a row, but plenty of additional firms and more than a half-dozen individual litigators shared in the spotlight.

Viacom International is getting a second shot at proving that YouTube massively infringed its copyrights by hosting clips from shows like "The Daily Show" and "Family Guy" without its permission. And whether Viacom and its lawyers succeed or not, they've already managed to shape the developing case law over copyrighted content that users illegally upload to the Internet.

The start-up Aereo Inc., which streams live television to subscribers without paying a cent in retransmission fees to network broadcasters, was an invitation to litigation. But its odds for survival are looking up, thanks to a win this week for the company and its lawyers.

For the second time in three years, Schapiro and Kramer persuaded a judge to knock out Viacom's seminal copyright infringement lawsuit over thousands of video clips posted on YouTube.

In its biggest suit yet, the National Credit Union Administration claims Bear Stearns sold $3.6 billion in shoddy mortgage-backed securities to four failed credit unions. But just like the cases that the Federal Housing Finance Agency brought against a slew of banks, the NCUA suits are in limbo as federal appeals courts weigh whether the agencies waited too long to sue.