An army of lawyers for BP, Transocean, the DOJ and others began staking out their positions at trial on Monday in New Orleans, nearly three years after the catastrophic spill that fouled the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding coastlines.

How to choose between a record $2 billion ICSID award and a $2 billion ICC award that's also in record terrain? We've decided to throw up our hands and pronounce a tie for the 2012 Global Lawyer of the Year. We're honoring Debevoise & Plimpton's David W. Rivkin for his ICSID win in Occidental v. Ecuador, and Shearman & Sterling's Henry Weisburg, for prevailing in The Dow Chemical Company's ICC feud with Kuwait.

The Justice Department has suffered consecutive setbacks in an economic espionage case against four Chinese companies because they have no U.S. employees to serve with a summons, and no U.S. office where one can be mailed. That's why the department is hoping to eliminate certain requirements for service on foreign businesses.