[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Top securities class-action law firms in the United States saw a boom in business in 2011, according to a report released last month by Institutional Shareholders Services Inc (ISS).  Amid an overall downturn in settlements, the New York-based firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman secured investors $1.37 billion in class-action settlements in lawsuits against Wells Fargo, WellCare Health Plans and Washington Mutual. Not a Minority Report. Bernstein's success is an increase by 37% from 2010, a trend that rival plaintiffs shops, like Labaton Sucharow and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, have also experienced.   "Settlements are starting to rebound in magnitude," said Darren Robbins, a founding partner of Robbins Geller. An annual report by ISS's Securities Class Action Services looks at the top 50 plaintiffs firms in terms of total recoveries for investors.  The report measures settlement tallies for individual firms, instead of class actions as a whole. Out of the Ashes. Earlier this year, Cornerstone Research released its own study, which found that class-action settlements industry-wide were at a 10-year low of $1.4 billion.  Cornerstone's report described the settlement rise among the top firms during a down year as the "increased concentration" of plaintiffs firms as lead counsel: Three firms – Robbins Geller, Labaton Sucharow, and Bernstein Litowitz – accounted for more than half of all settlements in 2011.  ISS's reports have reflected a similar trend, Mr. Robbins said.  "If you look at it generally, there's two or three firms that are always at the top." David Kessler, a partner at Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, attributed the concentration to the growing role of institutional investors such as municipal and union pension funds, following enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Those institutional investors are "going to people they are comfortable with," he said. Who's Making What. Bernstein's total included a $627 million settlement in litigation against Wachovia, now owned by Wells Fargo, and a $209 million settlement with WaMu, which JPMorgan Chase acquired in 2008.  Kessler Topaz and Robbins Geller were co-lead counsel on the Wachovia case. Second place in 2011 went to Robbins Geller, which secured $1.14 billion in settlements.  They're followed by Labaton Sucharow with $1 billion, Kessler Topaz with $852 million and, at No. 5, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, with $435 million. For further details, go to [Reuters, 5/29/12].