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The Docket: 09/22

By Mark Obbie

As week two of the Wall Street crisis dawns, all the talk is still of bailouts, acquisitions, and questionable assets. That's as it should be, but the legal background of this story cannot be ignored for long either. This week's Docket gives the meltdown's lawyers the spotlight: Law.com has done a fantastic job compiling press reports of last week's legal implications and from all sorts of angles. Go here to find out what's in store for corporate law firms and all those Wall Street lawyers out of work, or -- my favorite -- how a group of lawyers in Washington, D.C. helped detail the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as Tropical Storm Hanna drenched the capital. Dean Starkman has a scathing critique of the press's coverage of the crisis in the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review. He argues that not enough attention has been paid to the deceptive marketing ploys that financial firms used to sell sub-prime mortgages, and he cites lawsuits filed against Countrywide Financial -- joined by several states -- to great effect. And finally, Jeff McCracken of the Wall Street Journal provides a gripping description of the Lehman Brothers's bankruptcy hearing, the country's largest ever. Read as the courtroom nearly descends into a maelstrom of anger and confusion, while the presiding judge struggles to keep up.-- Rohan Mascarenhas

Full post as published by Lawbeat on September 22, 2008 (boomark / email).