Back in 2004 a San Francisco state court judge and jury found that the bank violated California consumer laws when it appropriated depositors' Social Security funds to cover overdrafts and fees. Stepping in for the appeal, O'Melveny got the verdict overturned and on Monday saw that result upheld by the state's highest court.

A plan for local governments to seize underwater home loans—the target of a major new lawsuit this week—is in large part the work of a Cornell Law School professor and a former Sullivan & Cromwell associate who became friends at Oxford.

The Tousa ruling created a tsunami of backlash last year, after a bankruptcy court judge ruled the homebuilder's $450 million loan repayment was a fraudulent transfer. Now a federal district court judge says the bankruptcy judge was dead wrong. And he's not pulling any punches.