Class action litigation is beginning to take shape over allegations that major banks manipulated Libor, the benchmark rate used to calculate interest on trillions of dollars in securities globally. On Monday the federal district court judge hearing the litigation consolidated 20 class complaints, and appointed interim class counsel.

For litigators, it pays to be both tenacious and creative. For evidence, look no further than William Isaacson's long antitrust crusade against Chinese vitamin C manufacturers, which culminated this month in an historic $162 million jury verdict.