Claiming that Russian oligarchs seized its interest in an oil company, Norex Petroleum tried to enjoin ongoing buyout talks between the oligarchs and BP over a Russian partnership. BP's lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell called this an improper attempt to embroil a U.S. court in a foreign matter.

Winning an outright reversal of a lower court decision is never easy. And when you're litigating against a score of the largest banks in the world, backed by a half-dozen of the country's top law firms, that makes the victory all the more sweet.

The plaintiffs' lawyers filed a 388-page complaint, but a Seattle federal district court judge called it "verbose" and "disorganized." She dismissed several claims and told lead counsel from Bernstein Litowitz to shape up or she'd ship them out.

In the pitched battle over MBIA's controversial restructuring, Giuffra convinced the New York Court of Appeals to reinstate a fraudulent conveyance and contract lawsuit brought by a group of banks concerned about the insurer's ability to honor policies covering billions of dollars in complex financial instruments.