A dozen Am Law firms failed to convince a federal judge in San Francisco to throw out claims that many of the world's leading consumer electronics companies conspired to fix prices for CD, DVD and Blu Ray recordable and rewritable drives.

Given that patent litigation brought by non-performing entities (n�e patent trolls) continues in full blossom, it's no surprise that Big Firm castaways are leaping in to get a piece of the action on the plaintiffs side. But representing trolls carries risks for lawyers who earned their patent pedigrees at defense firms, as a pair of decisions highlighted on Thursday.

The fight over the validity of so-called unfinished business claims in law firm bankruptcies is heating up in courts on both coasts this week.