Texas billionaire brothers Sam and Charles Wyly, in denying Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that they hid $550 million in trading profits via a maze of offshore trusts and other entities, are pointing at the advice they received from lawyers and financial advisers, according to reports. So, who were the go-to lawyers for the Wylys? Chief among them was Michael French, whom the SEC has also charged with helping the brothers set up the offshore trusts through which they made the trades in question.

Lehman Brothers and its counsel at Jones Day have filed suit against Barclays, claiming the bank got an undeserved windfall of at least $5 billion when it purchased much of Lehman’s North American operations after Lehman went bankrupt last September. The dispute has triggered subpoenas by Boies Schiller. One source says Weil Gotshal — Lehman’s restructuring and bankruptcy team — has turned over documents previously covered by attorney-client privilege.

Lehman Brothers’ lawyers at Jones Day have filed a motion asking a judge to modify the order approving last September’s sale of Lehman’s crown-jewel investment arm to Barclays. Jones Day argues the judge OK’d the deal based on “an inaccurate record due to mistake, inadvertence, or misrepresentations to the court.” At the time he approved the asset sale, Jones Day’s team asserts, the judge was not told that certain Lehman executives brokered a behind-the-scenes discount of several billion dollars for Barclays.