Throughout the week over at Securities Docket I highlight the most interesting columns and blog posts from around the web on the subjects of SEC enforcement and securities litigation. Here is a digest of my picks for the week ending March 22.

Dechert Survey of Securities Fraud Class Actions Brought Against U.S. Life Sciences Companies

David A. Kotler, Dechert LLP

The past year was another noteworthy one with respect to securities fraud class action lawsuits against life sciences companies. There was a meaningful increase in the number of securities fraud lawsuits and a continued emphasis on industry-specific allegations of material misstatements and omissions. Although life sciences companies continue to enjoy relative success in obtaining early dismissals of these cases, the large-scale risks that follow from a securities fraud class action will only be magnified by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding class certification.

Will we see coordinated enforcement of the FCPA and PATRIOT Act?

Andrew Reichardt, The FCPA Blog

Despite the change in perception about graft since 9/11, the relationship between the FCPA and the PATRIOT Act remains relatively unexplored. But 18 USC § 2339B (“Providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations”) could become increasingly relevant and useful in the pursuit of companies and people that pay bribes to state-sponsored terrorist organizations.

The Benefits of the Falling Number of SEC Cases

J. Robert Brown Jr., theRacetotheBottom

The WSJ published a piece on the decline in the number of cases filed by the SEC.  The article suggests that this is a disaster for the Commission, one that will bring criticism from Congress and a headache for Mary Jo White.  There is, however, an entirely different way of looking at the issue.

The SEC Embraces Irony — its Enforcement “Inflection Point”William K. Black, Huffington Post

Many readers doubtless shared my doubt that the SEC was capable of exercising the critical self-examination and sense of humor about itself as a flawed institution that would make it capable of deliberate irony. When I accessed the Wall Street Journal's home page I found the most delicious example of SEC (and WSJ) irony. The WSJ synopsis of its article on the SEC reads: “The SEC is filing significantly fewer civil fraud cases this year, as its efforts to punish misconduct related to the financial crisis start to ebb.”

“Start to ebb?” Is it only me, or have other readers missed the tidal bore of SEC enforcement cases “punishing” the “misconduct” of the most culpable, elite perpetrators of what even conservative finance scholars describe as “pervasive” accounting control fraud by our “most reputable banks”?

The end of the FSA. But what can we expect from the new regime?

Adrian Brown and Bradley Rice, Nabarro LLP

On 1 April 2013, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will be abolished and replaced by a new regulatory regime. The Government said when it came to power that the existing regime needed reform because it “palpably failed when tested by crisis”. As we approach the finish line, we must all be hoping that this one works. After all, we cannot simply change the regime each time we face a crisis.

This article sets out some of the changes which the Financial Services Act 2012 (the Act) will make to the status quo.