Yesterday, Securities Docket hosted a webcast entitled, “2009 Mid-Year Review: Securities Litigation and Enforcement” (click here to watch it). Four of the leading bloggers in the field (Kevin LaCroix (The D&O Diary); Tom Gorman (SEC Actions) Francine McKenna (re: the Auditors); and Lyle Roberts (The 10b-5 Daily)) joined me for a look at the events and developments of the first six months of 2009, and provided some very interesting insights.  Here are some of the highlights:

Lyle kicked things off, saying that he found the comeback of the PSLRA’s Safe Harbor and the ongoing examination of “Pay-to-Play” practices involving pension funds among the most interesting developments of the first half of 2009.  Asked to make a “bold prediction” for the second half of 2009, Lyle said that he foresees the Supreme Court granting cert. in the National Australia Bank case, which will then lead to a record number of amicus briefs in a securities law case.

Tom focused on SEC matters, and stated that in his view, the three most significant developments of the first half of 2009 were the appointment of Mary Schapiro as new SEC Chairman; the SEC’s high-profile Enforcement failures (i.e, Madoff); and the significant reorganization of Enforcement, which includes changes to most of the top officials as well as its organizational structure.

Francine addressed accounting issues, primarily related to the Big 4 auditing firms.  She observed that there have been a flood of suits “nipping at the heels of the auditing firms’ ‘global network’ construct.”  These include BES v. BDO International, as well as cases against Deloitte International and Grant Thornton.  She predicted that the Satyam-related case expected against PwC International will be the biggest of all of these “manage and control”cases.

Kevin examined securities class action trends as they relate to the D&O insurance market.  He stated that in his view, the most significant developments in January-June 2009 included the decline in the number of securities class actions in 2Q09 relative to 1Q09, and the continued concentration of these securities suits in the financial sector.  He also noted that the surge of Madoff-related litigation has not abated.

I then chimed in with my opinion on the first half of the year.  I offered that the three most significant developments were Bernard Madoff receiving the “Full Bernie” (150 Years); the marked surge in international securities enforcement in places such as the UK and Asia; and the major changing of the guard at the SEC.  I also said that I found the fact that Bernard Madoff bought no securities at all for over a decade, and the news that the SEC is actively “lawyering down” to be among the most stunning/interesting developments.  Finally, for my “bold predictions,” I offered one 1000-to-one long-shot (that the SEC’s OCIE Division will move to New York) and one no-brainer (that following Ebbers and Madoff, there will be no more babies named Bernard for many years)!