Anyone who hoped commercial litigation would help law firms weather the recession was surely disappointed last year. That's judging by recoveries that National Law Journal affiliate VerdictSearch counted among its Top 100 Verdicts of 2009. Commercial verdicts, including breach-of-contract recoveries, fell from $1.4 billion in 2008 to just $421 million last year. One reason for the drop: Corporate clients worked to control costs by waiting to file suits -- a trend apt to continue for the first half of this year. More

Washington Mutual's estate has reached a proposed settlement with JPMorgan Chase and federal regulators that will result in the return of $4 billion in deposits and nearly $2 billion in other cash that will be used to pay WaMu creditors, according to lawyers involved in the matter. As part of the proposed settlement, which still requires bondholder approval, the bankrupt WaMu estate agreed not to pursue claims against JPMorgan and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over the bank's collapse. More

Thomas Russo's old life as GC of the collapsed Lehman Brothers is in the news again with the release of the bankruptcy examiners' report. Russo and Lehman's legal department weren't blamed for accounting chicanery, according to the report. But it shows they were involved in negotiations with other financial institutions as the bank fought for its survival, and it makes clear Russo's aversion to even preparing for Lehman's eventual bankruptcy filing, believing it would set up a "self-fulfilling prophecy." More

In large, multinational organizations, implementing a legal hold is difficult, says consultant Brett Burney. It can be impossible to know exactly where data resides, and tracking hold notices for several thousand employees can be quite hopeless, but now PSS Systems Atlas can assist. More

In rejecting the bulk of New York's content-based restrictions on attorney advertising, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Friday that a ban on the use of nicknames like "Heavy Hitters" or client testimonials about pending cases violates the First Amendment. The circuit also held that preventing lawyers from employing special effects or portraying a judge in an ad did not "materially advance" the state's interest in prohibiting misleading speech. More

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled Friday that thimerosal-containing vaccines do not cause autism, rejecting a second theory advanced by plaintiffs lawyers who blame the injections for contributing to the developmental disorder in children. The rulings in three test cases mark the second defeat for plaintiffs lawyers who are litigating autism-related claims in the federal claims court in Washington. More than 5,500 families have filed claims in the Federal Vaccine Compensation Program. More

Davis Polk & Wardwell achieved what few New York firms were able to do last year, scoring fat increases in both revenue and profits per equity partner. The firm's revenue grew by about 7 percent, the highest percentage growth among New York firms. The firm's PPP rose an astonishing 10 percent -- at least 5 percent higher than about a dozen other elite New York firms. By comparison, revenue and profits per equity partner at Sullivan & Cromwell were up 1 percent and were basically flat at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. More

After the Supreme Court ruled that companies can spend freely on political advertising campaigns, good-government advocates, liberal commentators and even the president warned that a flood of corporate money would overwhelm elections and subvert democracy. But the real impact of the decision may be much less extreme, say in-house attorneys and election law experts. Few companies are looking for new ways to spend money in these tight times. Plus, many businesses are aware of the dangers of appearing excessively partisan. More

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. did not list at least six U.S. Supreme Court briefs that a questionnaire asked him to disclose during his confirmation process in late 2008, the Justice Department acknowledged Friday. Holder spokesman Matthew Miller said the briefs "should have been disclosed as part of the confirmation process" and that they were "unfortunately and inadvertently missed" in preparing thousands of pages of records. Republicans have made it clear that they plan to press Holder on the issue. More

Pillsbury Winthrop is losing nine real estate lawyers -- including the managing partner of its 190-lawyer D.C. office -- to Boston-based Goulston & Storrs, which is known for its real estate expertise. Maureen Dwyer, who has been head of Pillsbury's D.C. office since the firm's merger with Shaw Pittman in 2005, called the move "such a good opportunity we couldn't say no." The Pillsbury group has been practicing together for 20 years, Dwyer said -- originally at Wilkes Artis, then Shaw Pittman, then Pillsbury. More

Participants in the massive, often bitter litigation over respiratory illnesses suffered by police, firefighters and private workers during the response and cleanup at the World Trade Center after 9/11 hailed as historic the settlement reached Thursday. A lawyer with an insurance entity created with a FEMA grant to help the city and contractors manage claims called the case "the largest, certainly the most emotionally wrenching, most medically and scientifically novel and legally complex mass tort litigation in the country." More

The New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments last week on whether a corporation should be awarded counsel fees in a successful coverage dispute when it prevailed in a state that does not normally provide for them. A state appeals court held that since the corporation was successful in New Jersey on its coverage claim, it could recover counsel fees for the cost of fighting a suit in Illinois, because it was part of the overall controversy. The insurer appealed, protesting that Illinois law does not allow such recovery. More

A former in-house attorney who used company funds to cover rent for his summer home won't be practicing in Washington anytime soon. The D.C. Court of Appeals stopped short of disbarring former Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing attorney Oscar W. Weekes Jr., who argued that he had filed an affidavit in 2005 that provided adequate notice in Washington of his suspension from practice in Massachusetts. The panel determined the affidavit was insufficient and issued a five-year suspension effective on June 24, 2008. More

KB Home's former CEO "secretly padded his pay" by about $11 million when he backdated his own stock options without the knowledge of others at the company, including its in-house lawyers, a federal prosecutor alleged during opening statements in the criminal trial against Bruce Karatz. "He was the one who stood to benefit the most from the backdating," Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Bustamante said. Karatz's attorney said that no one at the company, including Karatz, thought they were doing anything improper or illegal. More

A callback interview is not the time to coast on the success of earlier interviews, say consultants Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass. It's a good idea to brainstorm and come up with some fresh information to discuss, and be prepared to be "on" for many hours with more than one interviewer. More

The debate over where to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is defined by sharp disagreement over the legal rights of accused terrorists and the relative strengths and weaknesses of civilian and military commission systems. The Obama administration is nearing a decision on where to hold a trial once slated for New York, and officials are struggling to develop a clear rationale for sending some detainees into federal court, others into trial by military commission, and detaining others without any trial at all. More