Aerospace & Defense

  • March 21, 2025

    Paul Weiss Stuns Legal Industry With Trump DEI Deal

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP's decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration to defuse an executive order targeting the firm has drawn criticism across the legal industry and highlights the challenges preventing BigLaw firms from taking collective action against the White House.

  • March 21, 2025

    Aircraft Parts Co. Moves Facility Fire Case To Federal Court

    Aircraft parts manufacturer SPS Technologies LLC has moved litigation over the effects of its Abington Township, Pennsylvania, parts warehouse explosion and fire to federal court from the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, arguing that federal jurisdiction is proper because its parent company is in Oregon.

  • March 21, 2025

    Judge Vows To Find Out If Deportation Order Was Violated

    A D.C. federal judge demanded to know how the Trump administration understood his verbal order that deportation flights headed to El Salvador be turned back last week, vowing to "get to the bottom of" whether his order was violated and what the consequences will be, in a hearing Friday.

  • March 21, 2025

    DOD Wants Transgender Ban Injunction Dissolved

    The U.S. Department of Defense asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge Friday to lift an injunction blocking it from implementing a policy that the judge ruled wrongly banned transgender people from serving in the military, saying she had misinterpreted the policy.

  • March 21, 2025

    Iraq Urges Supreme Court To Uphold $120M Immunity Ruling

    Iraq has urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to take up a petition asking it to clarify parts of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's commercial activity exception, as it looks to avoid a $120 million judgment issued to a Pennsylvania defense contractor following a dispute over a two-decade-old contract.

  • March 21, 2025

    Boeing's Ex-CEOs, Suppliers Escape 737 Max Family's Claims

    An Illinois federal judge on Friday dismissed a suit from an Ethiopian Airlines crash victim's family alleging former Boeing CEOs were personally liable for the company's negligence, holding the complaint lacks facts regarding what the CEOs knew about the jet's overall safety after another crash five months earlier.

  • March 21, 2025

    FCC Probes Chinese Cos. For Alleged Illicit US Operations

    The Federal Communications Commission on Friday launched a new inquiry into Huawei, ZTE and other companies linked to the Chinese government examining whether they are still operating in the U.S. in violation of restrictions meant to curtail their operations here.

  • March 21, 2025

    How King & Spalding Helped LGBTQ+ Vets Win Back Benefits

    More than a decade after the U.S. Department of Defense repealed its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which kept LGBTQ+ troops in the closet, veterans who were kicked out for their sexual orientation have continued to suffer the effects of a scarlet letter placed on their discharge papers.

  • March 21, 2025

    Lockheed, Navy Push To Nix $8.25M Dock Damage Suit

    Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy are urging a Michigan federal judge to dismiss a marine transportation company's lawsuit accusing them of negligently causing $8.25 million worth of damages to its dock while testing a naval combat vessel.

  • March 21, 2025

    Aerospace Co. Workers' 401(k) Suit Lacks Details, Judge Says

    An aerospace technology company dodged a proposed class action Friday alleging its employee retirement plan was loaded with costly and underperforming investment options, with a California federal judge finding the workers leading the suit needed to provide more information about supposedly comparable plans.

  • March 20, 2025

    Trump Rescinds Paul Weiss Order After Firm Strikes Deal

    President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will rescind an executive order suspending security clearances held by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP employees after the law firm agreed to not adopt DEI hiring practices and to provide $40 million worth of pro bono services to support administration initiatives.

  • March 20, 2025

    Judge Orders Feds To Explain If Removals Defied Injunction

    U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Thursday called the Trump administration's Thursday response to his inquiry into whether the deportation of Venezuelans violated his injunction "woefully insufficient," and gave the administration until Friday morning to fulfill its obligations and provide the court with an adequate response.

  • March 20, 2025

    Nippon Calls Consumer Suit Over US Steel Merger 'Baseless'

    Nippon Steel Corp. has urged a California federal court to throw out a consumer suit over its blocked $14.9 billion merger with U.S. Steel Corp., calling it yet another "in a long line of baseless lawsuits" over a merger of public companies that they have "no standing to challenge in the first place."

  • March 20, 2025

    NJ Military Co. Says Ex-Director Took Trade Secrets To Rival

    A New Jersey company that produces lubricants for military artillery sued a former employee Wednesday, claiming he took the company's proprietary information and set up a rival company making a nearly identical product.

  • March 20, 2025

    3 Firms Win Lead Plaintiff Spot In Boeing Chancery Case

    Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, Grant & Eisenhofer PA and Scott + Scott Attorneys at Law LLP got the nod Thursday to pursue potentially massive damages in a Delaware Court of Chancery derivative suit on behalf of The Boeing Co. arising from a string of plane crashes and oversight failures.

  • March 20, 2025

    Hesai Says DOD's View On 'Chinese Military Co.' Too Broad

    The legal team representing a Shanghai-based manufacturer of lidar products urged a D.C. federal judge to remove the company from the U.S. Department of Defense's list of "Chinese military companies," saying the department's definition of the term is so expansive it could apply to almost any company in China.

  • March 20, 2025

    Boeing Seeks Pause In Birth Defect Suits Until Appeals Ruling

    The Boeing Co. has urged a Washington state judge to pause nine cases involving factory workers who blame on-the-job chemical exposure for birth defects in their children, citing an appellate court's recent decision to review whether the company can be sued for alleged harm to employees' offspring before their conception.

  • March 20, 2025

    Senate Panel To Weigh NTIA Nom Next Week

    A U.S. Senate panel next week will consider President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce branch that oversees federal spectrum policy.

  • March 20, 2025

    4th Circ. Leery Of Reviving Class Claims In Lending Bias Suit

    A group of borrowers faced an uphill battle Thursday trying to convince the Fourth Circuit to revive their class claims accusing Navy Federal Credit Union of discriminatory lending practices, with one judge chastising what he said were attempts to rewrite the complaint.

  • March 20, 2025

    Lockheed Workers Claim Self-Dealing In 'DIY' 401(k) Plans

    Lockheed Martin engaged in self-dealing through "DIY" management of its $50 billion retirement plans by tapping in-house investment funds that significantly underperformed independent offerings on the market, a group of workers claimed in Maryland federal court.

  • March 19, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Says Lacking License Dooms DOD Fuel Deal Protest

    The Federal Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a case challenging a $134 million sole-source fuel supply contract for the U.S. military in Djibouti, saying the challenger wasn't eligible for the deal even if the Defense Logistics Agency had opened it up to competition.

  • March 19, 2025

    Plane Parts Maker Beats NC Appeal In Fatal Crash Suit

    Continental Aerospace Technologies Inc. defeated an appeal of its win in a products liability lawsuit stemming from the deaths of two pilots who crashed in one of the manufacturer's planes, with the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruling the plaintiffs failed to differentiate their claims of a defective engine manual with those about the allegedly faulty aircraft.

  • March 19, 2025

    Satellite Startup Execs Accused Of Fraud And Tax Evasion

    An aerospace company's founder, an attorney and other executives lied about a venture to launch billions of dollars in satellites so they could rake in millions from investors, according to an indictment in D.C. federal court that also charges the founder with tax crimes.

  • March 19, 2025

    Broadcasters Say Next-Gen TV Could Back Up GPS

    Broadcasters told federal regulators the impending transition to next-generation TV could come with an added benefit — the creation of a broadcast spectrum-based backup to the Global Positioning System.

  • March 19, 2025

    Google-Wiz Deal Brings Big Test For Trump Enforcers

    Google's planned $32 billion acquisition of cloud cybersecurity company Wiz will be a major test for Trump antitrust enforcers, who will need to straddle the line between growing the country's artificial intelligence capabilities and keeping Big Tech's monopoly power in check.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Noteworthy Effects Of The 2025 NDAA

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    The 2025 defense budget includes further restrictions on semiconductor sales to Huawei, requiring companies to rethink customer-base oversight, but other provisions are likely to broaden procurement contract opportunities, say attorneys at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • FTC Privacy Enforcement Takeaways From 2024

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    In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission distinguished three prominent trends in its privacy-related enforcement actions: geolocation data protections, data minimization practices, and artificial intelligence use and marketing, say Cobun Zweifel-Keegan at IAPP and James Smith at Dechert.

  • Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

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    Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.

  • Public Corruption Enforcement In 2024 Has Clues For 2025

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    If 2024 activity is any indication, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely continue to rein in expansive prosecutorial theories of fraud in the year to come, but it’s harder to predict what the new administration will mean for public corruption prosecutions in 2025, says Cathy Fleming at Offit Kurman.

  • Anticipating How GAO Pleading Standards May Shift

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    The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act's mandate to create an enhanced pleading standard at the U.S. Government Accountability Office may change the calculus for where to file when challenging a U.S. Department of Defense procurement, say attorneys at Rogers Joseph.

  • How DOGE's Bite Can Live Up To Its Bark

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    All signs suggest that the Department of Government Efficiency will be an important part of the new Trump administration, with ample tools at its disposal to effectuate change, particularly with an attentive Republican-controlled Congress, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • 5 Notable Information Security Events In 2024

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    B. Stephanie Siegmann at Hinckley Allen discusses 2024's largest and most destructive data breaches seen yet, ranging from ransomware disrupting U.S. healthcare systems on a massive scale, to tensions increasing between the U.S. and China over cyberespionage and the control of U.S. data.

  • Series

    Playing Rugby Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experience playing rugby, including a near-fatal accident, has influenced my legal practice on a professional, organizational and personal level by showing me the importance of maintaining empathy, fostering team empowerment and embracing the art of preparation, says James Gillenwater at Greenberg Traurig.

  • How 2025 NDAA May Affect DOD Procurement Protests

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    A bid protest pilot program included in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act shifts litigation costs onto unsuccessful bid protesters and raises claim-filing thresholds, which could increase risks to U.S. Department of Defense contractors who file protests, and reduce oversight of DOD procurement awards, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Nippon, US Steel Face Long Odds On Merger Challenge

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    Following the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' review of Japan's Nippon Steel's proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel, the companies face a formidable uphill battle in challenging the president's exercise of authority to block the deal on national security grounds, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Opinion

    No, Litigation Funders Are Not 'Fleeing' The District Of Del.

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    A recent study claimed that litigation funders have “fled” Delaware federal court due to a standing order requiring disclosure of third-party financing, but responsible funders have no problem litigating in this jurisdiction, and many other factors could explain the decline in filings, say Will Freeman and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2025 And Beyond

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    In the year to come, e-discovery will be shaped by new and emerging trends, from the adoption of artificial intelligence provisions in protective orders, to the proliferation of emojis as a source of evidence in contemporary litigation, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Preparing For Mexican Drug Cartels' Terrorist Designation

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    In the event President-elect Donald Trump designates Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, businesses will need to consider how their particular industry is affected and evaluate previously legitimate practices given the cartels' involvement so many sectors of the economy, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • What To Expect From Federal Cybersecurity Policy In 2025

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    There are 12 cyber policy questions to keep an eye on as the new administration and Republican control of Congress present an opportunity to advance less regulatory approaches and revisit some choices from the prior administration, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Republican Trifecta Amplifies Risks For Cos. In 3 Key Areas

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    Expected coordination between a Republican Congress and presidential administration may expose companies to simultaneous criminal, civil and congressional investigations, particularly with regard to supply chain risks in certain industries, government contracting and cross-border investment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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