According to firm founder David Grais, Cyrulnik was the architect of Grais & Ellsworth's strategy to remove the proceedings over Bank of America's $8.5 billion settlement with mortgage-backed securities investors to federal court. On Wednesday that strategy appeared to pay off big time, when Manhattan federal district court judge William Pauley refused to remand the case back to state court. And though the outcome of the case is far from clear, it's certainly not going to be the one envisioned by Bank of America, Kathy Patrick of Gibbs & Bruns, and others who crafted the controversial deal.

Before copyright holders could appeal the grant of summary judgment to YouTube in their infringement class action, class counsel from Proskauer and Bernstein Litowitz wanted to clear up the little matter of sanctions against an L.A. helicopter pilot and journalist who's been a thorn in YouTube's side since 2006.

A political scandal revolving around the modernization of New York City's payroll systems culminated Wednesday with government contractor Science Applications International Corporation admitting to fraud and agreeing to a $500 million settlement with federal prosecutors. The deal represents the largest single recovery ever in a state or municipal contract fraud case, according to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office.

U.S. District Judge James Gwin in Cleveland finally issued a decision over the weekend in an Ohio county prosecutor's case against MERS and a gaggle of big banks. But it wasn't the ruling the defendants had been waiting for.

Manhattan federal district court judge William Pauley III ruled that the proposed settlement is a "mass action" under the Class Action Fairness Act, which needs to be heard in federal court. This ruling upends the carefully laid plans of Bank of America's lawyers at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.