In an age of global law and finance, the Supreme Court's obsession with circuit splits is both quaint and dangerous.

Nearly 50 amicus briefs have piled up arguing for and against corporate liability for overseas human rights violations, as Quinn Emanuel's Kathleen Sullivan prepares to argue for Royal Dutch Shell in the first case of the new U.S. Supreme Court term.

Class action litigation is beginning to take shape over allegations that major banks manipulated Libor, the benchmark rate used to calculate interest on trillions of dollars in securities globally. On Monday the federal district court judge hearing the litigation consolidated 20 class complaints, and appointed interim class counsel.

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.

With two cert grants Tuesday in patent cases, the court may be poised to ease the rules for district judges to award sanctions.