Lexis Nexis has put out a very comprehensive survey that details the state of the legal industry. The survey polled both corporate counsel and private practice attorneys. The top issue among those cited in the survey was legal pricing/fee structures. For 2010 private practice attorneys note that 60% of their legal fees will be billed in hourly rates. Another interesting finding though suggests that private practice attorneys collectively feel that clients are too focused on reducing cost at the expense of quality legal work. Check out the full survey here.

A Manhattan judge has allowed a lawyer who worked for Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. for 29 years to testify as a securities expert witness in an arbitration against his former employer. Bear Stearns is being sued by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., for allegedly overpricing bonds sold by Bear Stearns' hedge funds three years ago. The judge noted that there was no indication that the issues involved in the arbitration were issues about which the expert acquired confidential information. Check out the scoop here.

D. Michael Grodhaus, an attorney at Waite Bailey Bayless & Chelsey in Columbis, Ohio, has written an excellent article further elaborating on possible future changes to the law firm billable hour. He notes that while there is outside pressure on firms by corporate clients, a real shift away from widespread use of the billable hour may have to come from within law firms themselves. Check it out here.

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Bank of America, defending a suit by the SEC alleging that it misled investors prior to its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co., could not introduce expert witness testimony at trial detailing media reports predicting it would pay bonuses. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff found that Bank of America's argument that shareholders already knew that Merrill would likely pay billions of dollars in bonuses based on widespread media reports was not credible because the bank's own proxy statement told shareholders to ignore such reports.