Let’s call it the trial of a decade-and-a-half ago.

Last week our Litigators of the Week—Michael Carlinsky and Manisha Sheth at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Peter Tomlinson at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler—were five weeks into a trial before Justice Robert Reed in Manhattan Supreme Court that was expected to run into December. Their client, monoline insurer Ambac, had insured securities issued by Countrywide Financial between 2004 and 2006 backed by mortgage loans. Ambac alleged that more than 80% of those loans didn’t meet the standards required under the applicable insurance contracts. It was seeking to have Bank of America Corp., which acquired Countrywide, to repurchase them. On Friday, Ambac netted a $1.84 billion settlement from BofA, sending its stock-price soaring 24% before the market opened.