Subprime's big winners

Last year, 278 subprime-related lawsuits were filed in federal court, according to a report by Navigant. Many of them came in the second half of 2007. And guess which law firms were at the top of the list of filers? The Law Offices of Jeffrey K. Berns in Tarzana (22 suits) and Beverly Hills-based Kiesel, Boucher & Larson (17). Jeff Nielsen, Navigant’s managing director, says government probes could spur even more litigation. “This is just the beginning,” he said. Here's an executive summary of the Navigant report.

Berns' inclusion is no accident. He's been on the subprime warpath for quite a while, noting that while many of his clients are financially unsophisticated, some are not, including a judge. He's been preparing to file suits on behalf of hundreds of borrowers who took out option ARMs (those are adjustable-rate mortgages that allows the borrower shell out practically nothing at the start of the loan. From the SF Chronicle:

Berns, who is working on a contingency basis, says many lawyers are not willing to take on these cases. They can be difficult to win because "the disclosures are there, they're just buried in more than 100 pages of documents."