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.

Lodsys's infringement claims against app developers and other companies have won it plenty of attention--maybe more than the patent holding company bargained for.