After nearly four months of testimony and 21 grueling days of deliberations, on Oct. 19 it was finally over. The criminal fraud trial of Dewey & LeBoeuf's former leaders ended in a mistrial when jurors convinced Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Robert Stolz that they were hopelessly deadlocked.

And yet for the defendants, their lawyers and prosecutors, it wasn't over. They have a new deadline by which to retool strategy and decide next steps: Nov. 16, when Stolz instructed them to return to court for a status conference. What's next? One key factor will be whether the unity seen during trial among defendants Steven Davis, the former Dewey chair; Joel Sanders, the former CFO; and Stephen DiCarmine, the former executive director, erodes as all sides learn more about the jurors' perspective.

To be sure, the mistrial was terrible news for the Manhattan district attorney's office. The charges—that Dewey's leaders led a scheme to deceive banks and investors about the firm's finances before its 2012 collapse—never hit home with the jury.