A trade secrets case that Portola Packaging brought against a rival backfired dramatically on Friday, when a Chicago state court judge awarded Schiff Hardin's client, Logoplaste, its full attorneys' fees in the three-year-old case.

In a rare win for plaintiffs involving the Class Action Fairness Act, the Ninth Circuit ruled that a mass pharmaceutical action involving hundreds of individual plaintiffs can stay in a California state court over the objections of defendant Teva, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and a dissenting judge.

California courts have had a lot to say in recent years about class certification and mandatory arbitration—but they've skirted questions that would put state policy in direct conflict with evolving federal law.

The fight over the validity of so-called unfinished business claims in law firm bankruptcies is heating up in courts on both coasts this week.