Months after the Federal Housing Finance Agency filed a batch of suits against the banks that sold allegedly flawed mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both sides are still arguing over how to coordinate the litigation. Several defendants want the FHFA's suit against Ally Financial to be a test case, but on Monday the agency recommended that its claim against JPMorgan be put on the fast track instead.

A judge is due to hear arguments Wednesday on MBIA's bid to lift broad confidentiality restrictions in its megabucks breach-of-contract case against Bank of America and Countrywide Financial. On Friday the Fourth Estate weighed in, with a motion by Bloomberg LP seeking to support MBIA's transparency efforts.

It certainly wasn't good news for Mayer Brown when partner Joseph Collins was convicted in July of conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud arising from his work as an outside lawyer for the fraudulent brokerage firm Refco Inc. But, as far as the firm is concerned, things could be worse. So far, Mayer Brown has succeeded in beating back nearly every attempt to hold it liable in civil suits for the damage caused by Refco's collapse in 2005. In the latest victory, a federal judge this week dismissed a suit brought on behalf of some of Refco's former brokerage customers who claimed to have lost more than a half billion dollars.