A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday conditionally approved a $602 million insider trading settlement that SAC Capital Advisors reached with the SEC last month. But he also became the latest judge to question the SEC's practice of allowing defendants to settle enforcement actions without admitting or denying the allegations.

Chancellor Leo Strine Jr. ruled on Tuesday that companies can designate Delaware as the exclusive forum for shareholder derivative lawsuits. The decision is expected to make it easier and cheaper for corporations to defend themselves against such suits.

Will Barry Berke of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel help stymie the ever-widening insider trading probe of the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors? Or will Berke's client be just another step up the ladder for prosecutors determined to nab the fund's billionaire founder, Steven Cohen?

We're beginning to reap the consequences of the sweeping Lehman examiner's report. Plaintiffs in a long-pending securities class action have now filed an amended complaint that adds allegations about Lehman's now-infamous Repo 105 balance sheet asset transfers--and adds Lehman's auditor, Ernst & Young, as a defendant.

We're not holding our breaths, but Manhattan federal district court judge Loretta Preska gave the Federal Reserve Board just five days to cough up more results of a FOIA search that the judge found "inadequate." Bloomberg sued over the Fed's refusal to hand over certain records pertaining to the agency's emergency lending program. Judge Preska didn't buy the argument that releasing the documents could hurt shareholders and be unfair to bailed out banks.