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 May 25.

SEC Trials Increase 50 Percent as Execs Fight Lawsuits

Joshua Gallu, Businessweek

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, long known for settling enforcement actions without having to prove its case in court, is struggling to cope with a surge in the number of executives and companies willing to go to trial to defend themselves.

Class Certification Denied in Securities Suit Against U.S.-Listed Chinese Company

Kevin LaCroix, The D & O Diary

During 2010 and 2011, a number of securities class action lawsuits were filed against U.S.-listed Chinese companies. Plaintiffs' lawyers seemed eager to pursue these cases despite likely procedural and practical challenges such as likely difficulties in obtaining discovery, as well as language and cultural barriers. And if a recent decision in one of these cases is any indication, you can add to the list of potential difficulties the risk that it may not be possible to obtain class certification, at least where the plaintiffs are unable to establish that the defendant company's shares trade on an efficient market.

The Facebook I.P.O.'s Potential Legal Exposure

Peter J. Henning and Steven M. Davidoff, DealBook

At least three shareholder lawsuits have so far been brought against Facebook and the three leading underwriters of the I.P.O., Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, alleging that Facebook failed to disclose material information about its growth prospects.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, are also looking at the company and its lead underwriter, Morgan Stanley, along with the Nasdaq market over how it handled the initial flow of orders on the first day of trading. The question now is how all of these suits and investigations are likely to play out.

With New Firepower, S.E.C. Tracks Bigger Game

Ben Protess and Azam Ahmed, DealBook

Embarrassed after missing the warning signs of the financial crisis and the Ponzi scheme of Bernard L. Madoff, the agency's enforcement division has adopted several new — if somewhat unconventional — strategies to restore its credibility. The S.E.C. is taking its cue from criminal authorities, studying statistical formulas to trace connections, creating a powerful unit to cull tips and assign cases and even striking a deal with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to have agents embedded with the regulator.

“We were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rethink what we do and how we do it,” said Robert Khuzami, the agency's enforcement chief since 2009….

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