The manufacturer of the Bratz doll, facing the “horns of a difficult dilemma,” has petitioned a federal appeals court to reinstate its lead counsel, whose firm was disqualified about three weeks before going to trial against Mattel Inc.

A law firm that claimed it was “solely responsible” for a $245 million class action settlement has lost its bid to receive an additional $17 million in attorney fees. While the 2nd Circuit agreed that non-lead counsel Chimicles & Tikellis had conferred a substantial benefit on the class, it held that the district court had not erred when it approved the lead counsel’s allocation of only $155,610 in attorney fees to the firm. The fee dispute arose from a wave of suits brought against Adelphia Communications.

A disgruntled former client is suing Boies Schiller & Flexner, claiming the firm “shirked” its professional duties by breaching an agreement that David Boies would serve as lead counsel in a commercial dispute, which was instead given to less experienced counsel and more junior associates. The former client, G.K. Las Vegas Limited Partnership, is seeking to force Boies Schiller & Flexner to arbitrate a fee dispute before the American Arbitration Association and to place more than $5.04 million in disputed fees in escrow.

As part of its continued push into insurance coverage litigation, Kasowitz Benson will add Howrey partner Robert H. Shulman, who was lead counsel to International Paper Co. in litigation against its insurance carriers that resulted in a $93.2 million jury verdict in his client’s favor in 2001 and another for $383.3 million in 2003

Opening statements began on Wednesday in a trial pitting California upstart Pom Wonderful against juice-making giant Welch Foods Inc.