Aerospace & Defense

  • June 28, 2024

    Navy Accused Of Favoring Mentor-Protege Cos. On $50B Deal

    A Navy contractor has urged a Court of Federal Claims judge to overturn the U.S. Navy's modification to a $50 billion professional services contract, saying the change had given an unfair advantage to mentor-protégé joint ventures and their member companies.

  • June 28, 2024

    NJ Contractor Admits To Defrauding Defense Dept.

    A New Jersey businessman has admitted in federal court to engaging in two multiyear schemes to defraud the U.S. Defense Department on contracts for military equipment parts and agreeing to rig bids for government contracts.

  • June 28, 2024

    House Passes Contentious $833B Defense Spending Bill

    The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed an $833 billion bill funding the Pentagon for 2025, amid a veto threat over contentious issues such as cutting funding for Ukraine and a bar on gender-affirming care.

  • June 28, 2024

    Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Space Launches And Satellites

    June saw NASA and the U.S. Space Force doling out billions of dollars for weather satellites, information technology services and national security space launches. Here, Law360 looks at some of the most noteworthy government contracts over the last month.

  • June 28, 2024

    Satellite Cos. Call For More Detail On FCC's Space Debris Plan

    Satellite companies are telling the Federal Communications Commission that more work needs to be done before it moves forward on an accidental explosion probability threshold for satellites, with several arguing in recent weeks that the agency needs more comment to establish a clear metric.

  • June 28, 2024

    Afghans Who Aided U.S. Gov't Sue Over Kids' Visa Denials

    A group of Afghan nationals who supported the U.S. government in its decades-long war against the Taliban sued the federal government in Virginia federal court Thursday, claiming their children's visa applications were arbitrarily denied after years of processing delays, forcing them to remain in Afghanistan and putting them in grave danger.

  • June 28, 2024

    Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Vinson, Skadden

    In this week's Taxation with Representation, Aareal Bank AG and Advent International sell a property management and maintenance software company, Webtoon Entertainment Inc. and Tamboran Resources Corp. price initial public offerings, SM Energy Company acquires oil and gas assets, and Nokia sells Alcatel Submarine Networks to the French state.

  • June 28, 2024

    Skadden Guides Nokia On $2.3B Infinera Buy, Stock Pops

    Skadden is representing Nokia on a deal to buy Silicon Valley optical-transmission equipment maker Infinera at a $2.3 billion enterprise value, as the Finnish telecommunications giant looks to upsize its North American optical markets business. 

  • June 28, 2024

    Supreme Court Strikes Down Chevron Deference

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned a decades-old precedent that instructed judges about when they could defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking, depriving courts of a commonly used analytic tool and leaving lots of questions about what comes next.

  • June 27, 2024

    Menendez Met Alleged Briber Pre-Gold Price Search, Jury Told

    An FBI cell tower expert told Sen. Robert Menendez's bribery jury Thursday that the phones of the senator, his wife and co-defendant developer Fred Daibes all pinged in the same location minutes before the senator did a web search for "how much is one kilo of gold worth."

  • June 27, 2024

    Sen. Brown Asks White House To Enforce Mexican Steel Curbs

    Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has argued an alleged surge of Mexican steel into the U.S. threatens to undermine the domestic economy in a letter urging the Biden administration to enforce a trade deal restricting Mexican steel.

  • June 27, 2024

    Navy Wrongly Ended Deal Over Staffing Req, Fed. Circ. Told

    A U.S. Navy contractor has urged the Federal Circuit to overturn the branch's decision to cancel a support services task order for default, saying the Navy had imposed unjustified staffing requirements on the deal and wrongly sought to debar the company from contracting.

  • June 27, 2024

    SpaceX Says Local Regs Best Suited For Fixing 'Dead Zones'

    SpaceX is steadily deploying a fleet of satellites to cover mobile carrier "dead zones" across the globe, but cautions the Federal Communications Commission that it must allow each country's regulators to govern issues like signal interference on the ground.

  • June 27, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: Boeing, Blackstone, Bosch

    Boeing offers $4 billion for parts maker Spirit AeroSystems, Blackstone could sell Legence at up to $5 billion value, and Bosch mulls a bid for Whirlpool. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • June 27, 2024

    US Service Members Want Timeshare Class Action Certified

    A putative class of U.S. service members who borrowed timeshare loans pushed for class certification for their suit in Florida federal court against two timeshare companies, which were accused of violating the Military Lending Act by not making legally required disclosures about the loans and arbitration requirements.

  • June 27, 2024

    Boeing Settles Suit Claiming NC Fund Ransomed Plane Parts

    The Boeing Co. and the private investment firm it accused of forcing a new supply contract under false pretenses before raising prices for aircraft parts by more than 300% have agreed to settle their dispute, according to a new notice filed in North Carolina federal court.

  • June 27, 2024

    NTSB Rips Boeing For Blabbing About Blowout Probe

    The National Transportation Safety Board sanctioned Boeing on Thursday for sharing nonpublic details of an ongoing investigation into January's 737 Max 9 midair door plug blowout, deepening the American aerospace giant's regulatory troubles amid multiple probes into its safety culture and quality control.

  • June 27, 2024

    Fla. Judge Denies Trump's Bid To Toss Mar-A-Lago Warrant

    The Florida judge overseeing Donald Trump's federal criminal case involving allegations of illegally keeping classified documents after leaving the White House denied the former president's bid Thursday for a hearing on the validity of the Mar-a-Lago search, but said she'd consider an evidence suppression hearing.

  • June 27, 2024

    4th Circ. Won't Revive Navy Hospital Gangrene Suit

    The Fourth Circuit declined to revive a North Carolina woman's lawsuit over a U.S. Navy hospital allegedly misdiagnosing her kidney failure and causing her to contract gangrene and require multiple amputations, standing by a lower court's ruling that her suit was filed too late under a state-level statute.

  • June 27, 2024

    Nokia To Sell Submarine Network To France In $375M Deal

    Skadden-led Nokia said Thursday it has agreed to sell submarine network business Alcatel Submarine Networks, or ASN, to the French state at an enterprise value of €350 million ($375 million).

  • June 26, 2024

    Menendez Pals 'Generous,' Jeweler Says In Joke-Filled Testimony

    A jeweler who helped Sen. Robert Menendez's wife sell gold bars that were supposedly bribes testified Wednesday the codefendants who gave Menendez the bars have always been generous, salting his testimony with so many droll comments that the New York federal judge — who initially bantered back — eventually gave a special instruction reinforcing that the trial is "very serious."

  • June 26, 2024

    VA Can't 'Short-Circuit' Racial Bias Suit With Appeal, Vet Says

    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs should not be allowed to challenge a Connecticut federal judge's decision to let a Black Marine Corps veteran proceed with his systemic-discrimination suit against the department because it has not met the standards for lodging an interlocutory appeal, the plaintiffs have argued.

  • June 26, 2024

    Julian Assange Freed After Judge Accepts US Plea Deal

    Julian Assange returned to his native Australia on Wednesday hours after a federal judge in the Northern Mariana Islands accepted his plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice and sentenced him to time served for conspiring to disclose national security information.

  • June 26, 2024

    Italian Co. To Pay Feds $538K Over N. Korean Animation Job

    Mondo TV has agreed to pay $538,000 to resolve allegations by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control that the Italy-based animation studio violated American sanctions regulations by paying an animation studio tied to the North Korean government through U.S. financial institutions, OFAC announced Wednesday.

  • June 26, 2024

    'Tragic History' Can't Rewrite Law In Burial Row, Army Says

    The U.S. Army says the nation's "tragic history" of injustices done to children through the Indian Boarding School system does not give a federal district court license to rewrite a law aimed at protecting Indigenous burial sites, arguing that a Nebraska tribe's challenge over the repatriation of two children should be dismissed.

Expert Analysis

  • Biden Admin Proposals May Facilitate US, UK, Australia Trade

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    Recent proposals that create exceptions to U.S. export licensing requirements for defense trade with Australia and the U.K. would remove hurdles that have hindered trade among the three countries, and could enable smaller companies in the sector to greatly expand their trade horizons, say Keil Ritterpusch and Grace Welborn at Buchanan Ingersoll.

  • Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent

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    As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.

  • Boeing Saga Underscores Need For Ethical Corporate Culture

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    In the wake of recent allegations about Boeing’s safety culture, and amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower incentives, business leaders should reinvigorate their emphasis on compliance by making clear that long-term profitability requires ethical business practices, says Maxwell Carr-Howard at Dentons.

  • Series

    Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • 5th Circ. Venue-Transfer Cases Highlight Mandamus Limits

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    Three ongoing cases filed within the Fifth Circuit highlight an odd procedural wrinkle that may let district courts defy an appellate writ: orders granting transfer to out-of-circuit districts, but parties opposing intercircuit transfer can work around this hurdle to effective appellate review, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

  • A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

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    The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

  • To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef

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    To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

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    Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 2

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    Strategy documents recently published by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Space Force confirm the importance of the commercial space sector to the DOD, but say little about achieving the institutional changes needed to integrate commercial capabilities in support of national security in space, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.

  • National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 1

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    The recently published U.S. Department of Defense space strategy represents a recalibration in agency thinking, signaling that the integration of commercial space capabilities has become a necessity and offering guidance for removing structural, procedural and cultural barriers to commercial-sector collaboration, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • Contractors Must Prep For FAR Council GHG Emissions Rule

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    With the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council expected to finalize its proposed rule on the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk this year, government contractors should take key steps now to get ready, say Thomas Daley at DLA Piper, Steven Rothstein at the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, and John Kostyack at Kostyack Strategies.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • The Effects Of New 10-Year Limitation On Key Sanctions Laws

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    Recently enacted emergency appropriations legislation, doubling the statute of limitations for civil and criminal economic sanctions violations, has significant implications for internal records retention, corporate transaction due diligence and government investigations, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

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