Today we released our seventh annual "SCAS 50" report.

Based on data from the SCAS database, the SCAS 50 lists the top 50 plaintiffs' law firms ranked by the total dollar amount of final securities class action settlements occurring in 2009 in which the law firm served as lead or co-lead counsel.

As always, we look at the data in three main ways for each firm - total settlement dollars, total number of settlements, and average value per settlement. I have listed the top five firms in each category below.

The full report is available here.

2009's Top 5 - Total settlement value:

1. Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins (n/k/a Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP)
2. Milberg
3. Bernstein Liebhard
4. Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check
5. Barrack, Rodos & Bacine

2009's Top 5 - Average settlement value:

1. Bernstein Liebhard
2. Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz
3. Berman DeValerio
4. Berger & Montague
5. Stull Stull & Brody

2009's Top 5 - Number of settlements:

1. Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins
2. Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check
3. Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann
4. Milberg
5. Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer

A few observations.

1. In contrast to last year, we have three different firms that garnered more than $1 billion in total settlements.

2. The settlements are a little more spread out this year than last year, with 4 firms missing the cut for Top 5 in total settlements by just one settlement.

3. We continue to see more and more "non-traditional" securities litigation firms making the list, with four firms that bring some serious mass-tort or personal injury street cred in that group, including both Motley Rice and the other half of the former Ness Motley firm, Richardson Patrick Westbrook & Brickman making the list.

4. Each year we seem to have at least one firm that has changed names from the prior year, just in the Top 5 tables. This year we again have two, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and Berman DeValerio.