Aerospace & Defense

  • August 23, 2024

    VA Says It Properly Assessed Bids For $22B IT Deal

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has told the Court of Federal Claims that it had no obligation to consider potential future conflicts of interest involving contractors added to a $22.3 billion information technology contract, pushing back against allegations that it should have disqualified awardees.

  • August 23, 2024

    737 Max Families Spurn DOJ, Boeing's 'Cozy' Plea Deal

    Families of victims of the 737 Max 8 crashes told a Texas federal judge on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice's "cozy" plea agreement with Boeing must be rejected because it's based on misleading facts and shoddy math that overlook the tragic deaths of 346 people.

  • August 23, 2024

    Biden White House Unleashes More Sanctions On Russia

    The Biden administration issued a wave of sanctions against Russia on Friday — the eve of Ukrainian Independence Day — targeting 400 entities and individuals who are allegedly helping Russia avoid the sanctions imposed in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

  • August 23, 2024

    Federal Gov't Hits Georgia Tech With Cybersecurity FCA Suit

    The federal government has hit the Georgia Institute of Technology with a False Claims Act suit accusing the university of knowingly failing to comply with required cybersecurity standards while working on federal defense contracts.

  • August 23, 2024

    Judge Won't Restrict Access To RTX Trade Secrets Trial

    Defense contractor RTX Corp. won't be able to bar non-U.S. citizens from a trade secrets trial slated to get underway Tuesday, but exhibits, such as diagrams, will not be made visible to observers in the courtroom, a Massachusetts federal judge ordered.

  • August 23, 2024

    Canada Mining Biz Seeks US Listing Via $589M SPAC Merger

    Canadian rare-earth miner Tactical Resources Corp. plans to go public in the U.S. by merging with special purpose acquisition company Plum Acquisition III Corp. at an estimated value of $589 million, both parties announced on Friday, through a deal guided by four law firms.

  • August 23, 2024

    Patent Case Against USPTO Mimics Failed Suit, Feds Say

    The federal government has moved to toss a suit alleging that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website infringes patents covering the idea of two-factor authorization, arguing that a patent in the same "family" was thrown out in 2016 by a different court that said it contained "nothing inventive."

  • August 23, 2024

    The Biggest Enviro Policy Moves Of 2024: Midyear Report

    As the Biden administration hurtles toward the end of its term, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been hustling important final rules out its doors, including regulations for power plant greenhouse gas emissions, chemicals and automobiles.

  • August 22, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Military Bias Claims Against Alaska Airlines

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a class action alleging Alaska Airlines illegally denied accrued vacation and sick time to pilots on military assignments, saying the case now has the benefit of a decision from the court in a similar case involving the airline.

  • August 22, 2024

    GAO Backs Protest Over Navy Sonar Equipment Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has backed a protest over corrective action on a U.S. Navy solicitation for sonar equipment, saying the Navy failed to consider whether a restrictive term added to the deal made it inappropriate as a small business contract.

  • August 22, 2024

    Tech Firm Says DOD Was Ad-Hoc With Chinese Military Label

    Lidar technology firm Hesai argued Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Defense has not proved Hesai has connections to the Chinese military as the firm strives to get taken off a list denoting them as such.

  • August 22, 2024

    Air Force Cancels $12B Nuclear Missile Program Support Deal

    The U.S. Air Force has canceled a long-pending $12 billion solicitation for nuclear missile program support services in the wake of a protest decision finding that the Air Force didn't properly assess awardee Guidehouse LLP's contract proposal.

  • August 22, 2024

    Nadine Menendez's Bribery Trial Delayed Until 2025

    The bribery trial of former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's wife is delayed until at least January because she is being treated for cancer, a New York federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • August 22, 2024

    Feds Accuse NYC Man Of Acting As Chinese Agent

    Manhattan federal prosecutors have accused a naturalized U.S. citizen of acting as an agent of the People's Republic of China and relaying intelligence to the Chinese government.

  • August 22, 2024

    Latvian Faces Charges For Alleged Role In Smuggling Scheme

    A Latvian national accused of helping Russians evade U.S. export controls issued after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war and obtain U.S. avionics equipment has been extradited to the U.S., the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

  • August 22, 2024

    Army Adviser Gets 12 Years For Scamming Gold Star Families

    A former New Jersey financial counselor with the U.S. Army and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve was sentenced to 151 months in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding Gold Star families and other related crimes, the U.S. attorney's office announced.

  • August 21, 2024

    IBM Incentivizes Biased Hiring, Ousted White Male Worker Says

    IBM financially incentivizes and pressures corporate leadership to hire people based on their race and gender, according to a new suit filed in Michigan federal court by a former IBM employee who claims he was unlawfully fired for being a "double whammy" white male.

  • August 21, 2024

    RTX Wants Trade Secrets Trial Closed To 'Non-US Persons'

    Defense contractor RTX is fighting with a manufacturer over whether a trade secrets trial next week over the design of a mechanical bearing used in the U.S. military's "StormBreaker" bomb should be closed off to all "non-U.S. persons."

  • August 21, 2024

    Alaska Air Seeks Clarification In Rogue Pilot Case

    Alaska Airlines has urged a Washington state judge to clear up his decision to partially dismiss a lawsuit alleging an off-duty crew member tried to crash a flight in October, saying the ruling doesn't clearly state the passengers suing the company can no longer pursue claims rooted in federal aviation safety regulations.

  • August 21, 2024

    VA Tells High Court Veterans' PTSD Claims Correctly Rejected

    The federal government urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to overturn decisions denying two veterans' claims for post-traumatic stress disorder benefits, saying lower courts properly refused to reconsider evidence whether the vets deserved the benefit of the doubt.

  • August 21, 2024

    500,000 Camp Lejeune Cases Filed With The Navy

    The federal government and Camp Lejeune litigants have told the North Carolina federal court overseeing claims over contaminated drinking water at the Marine base that there have been nearly 550,000 administrative claims filed with the U.S. Navy.

  • August 21, 2024

    Judge Bars DOD Policy Blocking HIV-Positive Enlistees

    A Virginia federal judge has struck down a U.S. Department of Defense policy barring HIV-positive people from joining the military, saying the DOD had failed to take current scientific evidence on HIV treatment and transmission into account.

  • August 21, 2024

    US Army Escapes Nebraska Tribe's Repatriation Suit

    A federal district court judge won't order the U.S. Army to repatriate the remains of two Native American children from a boarding school cemetery in Pennsylvania, saying provisions of a law designed to protect Indigenous burial sites don't apply to the 180 children entombed there for more than a century.

  • August 21, 2024

    Split 5th Circ. Revives Cameroonian Anglophone's Asylum Bid

    A split Fifth Circuit has revived a Cameroonian nurse's asylum bid, saying in a published opinion that the Board of Immigration Appeals disregarded evidence he offered to prove that the Cameroonian military wanted him dead for purportedly being an English-speaking separatist.

  • August 21, 2024

    Justices Urged To Take Up 9th Circ. $1.3B Award Suit

    The corporate arm of India's space agency is trying to downplay how big of a circuit split the Ninth Circuit created when it ruled it had no jurisdiction over a $1.3 billion arbitral award, but the company's attempts are "unconvincing," an Indian satellite telecom has told the U.S. Supreme Court.

Expert Analysis

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: February Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five notable circuit court decisions on topics from property taxes to veteran's rights — and provides key takeaways for counsel on issues including class representative intervention, wage-and-hour dispute evidence and ascertainability requirements.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • How DOD Can Improve Flexibility Under Proposed Cyber Rule

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    The U.S. Department of Defense should carefully address some of the more nuanced aspects of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program to avoid unintended consequences, specifically the proposal to severely limit contractor use of plans of actions and milestones, say Joshua Duvall at Maynard Nexsen and Sandeep Kathuria at L3Harris Technologies.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Helps Clarify When Gov't Clawback Is Timely

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    The Federal Circuit’s examination of claims accrual in a January decision that allows the Defense Contract Management Agency to pursue overpayment claims under a cost-reimbursement contract serves as a reminder that the government can lose such claims by waiting too long to file, say Evan Sherwood and Peter Hutt at Covington.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Breathes New Life Into Article III Traceability

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Hardwick v. 3M Co. to vacate a district court's certification of one of the largest class actions in American jurisprudence for lack of Article III standing has potentially broader implications for class action practice in the product liability sphere, particularly in medical monitoring cases involving far-fetched theories of causation, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Aviation Watch: 737 Max Blowout Raises Major Safety Issues

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    The sudden in-flight loss of a side panel on an Alaska Air 737-9 Max last month, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane's cabin, highlighted ongoing quality issues at Boeing, the jet's manufacturer — but the failure also arose from decisions made by the airline, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • Exporters Should Approach Self-Disclosure With Caution

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    A January Bureau of Industry and Security memorandum created an abbreviated process for disclosing export control violations that lack aggravating factors, but deciding which disclosure method to utilize remains a complex strategic undertaking to which companies must give careful consideration, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • How Recent Laws Affect Foreign Purchase Of US Real Estate

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    Early diligence is imperative for U.S. real estate transactions involving foreign actors, including analysis of federal and state foreign investment laws implicated by the transaction, depending on the property's nature and location, the parties' citizenship, and the transaction's structure, say Massimo D’Angelo and Anthony Rapa at Blank Rome.

  • Freight Forwarders And Common Carriers: Know Your Cargo

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    Freight forwarders and other nonprincipal parties involved in global cargo movement should follow the guidance in the multi-agency know-your-cargo compliance note to avoid enforcement actions should they fail to spot evasive tactics used in supply chains to circumvent U.S. sanctions and export controls, say attorneys at Venable.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    The PLUS Act Is The Best Choice For Veterans

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    Of two currently pending federal legislative proposals, the Preserving Lawful Utilization of Services Act's plan to diversify and expedite the processing of veterans' claims through an expanded network of accredited providers offers the better solution, say Michael Andrews at McGuireWoods and Matthew Feehan at Nearside Solutions.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Standing And A Golden Rule

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    In this month's bid protest roundup, Victoria Angle at MoFo examines one recent decision that clarifies the elements necessary to establish prejudice and federal claims court standing in multiphase protests, and two that exemplify a government procurements golden rule.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

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