WorldCom Lawyers write the rules

Regulators aren’t the only ones who get to make the rules on Wall Street. Class-action lawyers are also rewriting the playbook for the securities industry thanks to the $6bn settlement reached with investment banks over the underwriting of WorldCom bonds before the telecoms group imploded. Like the tainted-research scandal, the WorldCom settlement is forcing the industry to consider major changes to the way it does business. This time around, however, the path to reform is less clear-cut. That’s...