SCAS 50 for 2008

Securities Class Action Services (SCAS) is pleased to present the "SCAS 50" for the year 2008. The SCAS 50 lists the top 50 plaintiffs' law firms ranked by the total dollar amount of final securities class action settlements occurring in 2008 in which the law firm served as lead or co-lead counsel.

Methodology
We created the SCAS 50 using data from the SCAS database, which tracks, among many other things, federal and state shareholder class actions. We also contacted each law firm to seek confirmation of the settlement data pertaining to that firm. The SCAS 50 does not include data on ERISA or derivative lawsuits.

The SCAS 50 reflects only those final settlements that resulted in the creation of a settlement fund on behalf of shareholders. Cases which resulted in no settlement fund being created, but instead had only non-monetary settlement terms (such as corporate governance changes, changes in the terms of a merger, etc.) are not included. Further information on such settlements can be found in the SCAS database.

The SCAS 50 credits law firms that served as lead or co-lead counsel in a case with the entire settlement fund, regardless of how many other firms served as lead or co-lead counsel in the case. Thus, for a settlement of $1,000,000 dollars where there were two lead counsel, the SCAS 50 credits both law firms with a $1,000,000 settlement rather than dividing the settlement fund in half. For purposes of this report, law firms are considered to be lead or co-lead counsel if they are identified as such in the notice of settlement distributed to shareholders.

Terminology
SETTLEMENT TOTAL is the total dollar value of all final settlements occurring in 2008 in which the law firm served as lead or co-lead counsel, and where a settlement fund resulted.

# of SETTLEMENTS is the total number of final settlements occurring in 2008 in which the law firm served as lead or co-lead counsel, and where a settlement fund resulted.

AVERAGE is the SETTLEMENT TOTAL divided by the # of SETTLEMENTS.