The Uptick in Subprime and Credit Crisis-Related Litigations is … Where?

As the media has reported, Clifford Chance has laid off 20 litigators in the mortgage-back securities practice (here) due to “sluggishness” and the fact that the expected uptick in litigation “has not arisen”.   This expected surge in litigation was recently discussed by Law.com in an article entitled “New Wave of Class Actions Filed in Wake of Subprime Collapse” (here).

The first class action settlement in the current wave of subprime-related securities lawsuits (the WSB Financial case) was announced yesterday (link to Kevin LaCroix site here).   

But as LaCroix posits on his site, it was a relatively small settlement of one of the smaller, lower profile cases in the current litigation wave.  The settlement is likely to have relatively little direct influence on other pending cases.  Even still, we suspect the WSB Financial settlement suggests that at least some cases will move more quickly toward resolution.

As we have reported over the months, so many of these subprime and credit crisis-related cases are in their earliest stages.  It may yet be a considerable time before the higher profile cases move toward the document review and/or settlement stage, although Posse List members outside of the DC metro and NYC metro area have latched onto a few reviews.

We’ll keep you posted.

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