The biggest environmental crimes case in history ended in dramatic fashion Friday, when a federal jury in Montana acquitted W.R. Grace and three former executives of conspiring to cover up the release of deadly asbestos in a small mining town. The Lit Daily talks to Bernick about his closing argument, Montana, and prosecutorial misconduct.

John Beisner, the influential head of O'Melveny's class action practice, is headed to Skadden. O'Melveny has appointed Richard Goetz to replace him as leader of the practice group.

After a court battle that lasted half a decade, Sears may finally be free of allegations that it should have disclosed talks leading up to its merger with Kmart before the deal was announced in late 2004.

The practice is dubbed "pay to delay," or "reverse settlement." It happens when a brand-name drug company gives a generic challenger a lot of money, and the generic company agrees to keep its product off the market. On Monday the Justice Department filed a brief at the request of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, stating that these settlements presumptively are anticompetitive violations of the Sherman Act.

On Monday BP and Anadarko finally decided to end the multibillion-dollar game of finger pointing that's been keeping the companies' lawyers busy since the Deepwater rig exploded last year.

The Blog at Legal Times reports on a qualified loss for tobacco companies in their appeal of the government's massive RICO case, United States v. Philip Morris. Reporter Mike Scarcella writes that the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld D.C. federal district court judge Gladys Kessler's landmark ruling and found Big Tobacco liable in a decades-long conspiracy to deceive consumers about the adverse health effects of smoking. The appeals court, however, rejected the government's request to seize billions of dollars in corporate profit.

Deutsche Bank and Citigroup agreed to pay up rather than join Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Scotland, and JPMorgan Chase on the list of banks sued by the National Credit Union Administration and its lawyers at Korein Tillery and Kellogg Huber.