Government Contracts

  • January 21, 2025

    Water Main Co. Will Pay $1M After Connecticut Fish Kill

    A water main cleaning company has waived indictment and admitted to a federal charge that it discharged a pollutant into a Connecticut brook while refurbishing a culvert pipe in 2019, causing the deaths of more than 150 fish, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

  • January 21, 2025

    Victors In Landmark Graft Case Want 2nd Top Court Review

    The defendants who won a landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed certain types of corruption prosecutions have asked the justices to intervene in their case again, claiming the Second Circuit had wrongly allowed the government to pursue new trials based on a different theory of fraud.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump, Musk Sued By Nonprofits Over DOGE Transparency

    Public Citizen and other nonprofits hit the Trump administration with multiple lawsuits seeking to shut down the new Department of Government Efficiency in D.C. federal court Monday, alleging the Elon Musk-led advisory committee targeting government waste lacks requisite transparency guardrails to prevent DOGE from solely advancing private interests.

  • January 17, 2025

    Unified Care Services To Pay $18M To Settle PPP Case

    Skilled nursing chain Unified Care Services LLC and its owner have agreed to shell out $18 million to put to rest a whistleblower suit alleging the California-based company and its affiliates knowingly included false information on Paycheck Protection Program loan applications, according to an announcement made Friday.

  • January 17, 2025

    Bayer, J&J Minimized Drug Reaction Data, 3rd Circ. Told

    A doctor urged the Third Circuit on Friday to revive his whistleblower suit against Bayer Corp. and Johnson & Johnson, arguing that the drugmakers' regulatory approval applications played down the side effects of the antibiotics Cipro and Levaquin.

  • January 17, 2025

    Contractor Asks Justices To Ax Iraqi Immunity In $120M Suit

    A Pennsylvania defense contractor is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to unravel a D.C. Circuit decision to throw out a $120 million judgment against Iraq, arguing that review is needed to ensure a uniform interpretation of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

  • January 17, 2025

    Tennessee, BlackRock Settle Suit Over ESG Goals

    Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced Friday that his office has dismissed its lawsuit accusing BlackRock of misleading customers about its environmental, social and corporate governance investment strategies, with the asset manager committing to certain transparency and compliance measures.

  • January 17, 2025

    Ga. Judge Shoots Down Bias Deal Between Feds, Fire Dept.

    A Georgia federal judge has shot down a deal that would have resolved allegations of racial bias in hiring against a metro Atlanta county's fire department, ruling that the proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice lacked a basis to justify prioritizing future Black applicants.

  • January 17, 2025

    Ex-Conn. State Employee Accused In $1.9M Medicaid Scam

    A former employee of Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management is one of two people charged by federal authorities with defrauding the state Medicaid program out of nearly $1.9 million by submitting false claims for services for children with autism, the U.S. attorney's office said Friday.

  • January 17, 2025

    Ga. Law Firm Beats DQ Bid In FCA Suit Against Tool Co.

    A Georgia federal judge has rejected a former tool company employee's bid to have a Smith Gilliam Williams & Miles PA attorney disqualified from representing the business in a False Claims Act suit, saying he failed to show that the attorney violated ethical rules to warrant his removal.

  • January 17, 2025

    Recalled Ex-Oakland Mayor Indicted On Bribery Charges

    Federal prosecutors announced criminal bribery charges Friday against former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao along with her partner and two others following a yearslong FBI corruption investigation, alleging she and her partner accepted cash payments of $95,000 disguised as no-show jobs, among other allegations.

  • January 16, 2025

    No 'Half Measures' On Tort Reform In 2025, Ga. Gov Pledges

    Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp threw down the gauntlet in his annual State of the State address Thursday and promised to deliver on tort reform, for decades an intractable issue in Peach State politics.

  • January 16, 2025

    New Proposal For Controlled Information Not Entirely Realistic

    A proposed rule intended to clear up confusion and better protect controlled unclassified information via a governmentwide standard has created new uncertainties and could lead to unattainable demands such as unrealistic incident reporting deadlines.

  • January 16, 2025

    Teradyne Tells 9th Circ. Jury Should Weigh Copyright Row

    Teradyne urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to revive its allegations Astronics Test Systems lifted its copyrighted code to sell competing digital test instruments, arguing there are factual disputes a jury should have resolved, including whether Astronics' copying was fair use and the amount of code used.

  • January 16, 2025

    L3Harris CEO Urges Musk, Ramaswamy To Limit Bid Protests

    L3Harris Technologies' CEO published an open letter Wednesday to leaders of the new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency — billionaire Elon Musk and ex-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — calling on them to overhaul the defense contracting process and limit bid protests to three per year, per contractor, among other changes.

  • January 16, 2025

    Biden Makes Final Push To Fortify US Cybersecurity Posture

    President Joe Biden took the latest step toward boosting the nation's cybersecurity Thursday, issuing an executive order that requires software vendors that work with the government to prove they're meeting certain security standards and promote the use of artificial intelligence for cyberdefense.

  • January 16, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Calls Newman's Constitutional Challenge 'Meritless'

    The Federal Circuit Judicial Council urged the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to reject U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's argument that the suspension her colleagues have imposed on her for refusing to participate in an investigation into her fitness to serve on the bench is unconstitutional.

  • January 16, 2025

    Trump's HUD Pick Opposes Telework, Backs Opportunity Zones

    Eric Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said he would bring the agency's largely remote workforce back to the office and boost a popular incentive for development in testimony before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on Jan. 16.

  • January 16, 2025

    Trump's DOT Pick Says Air Safety, New Tech Big Priorities

    President-elect Donald Trump's would-be transportation secretary pledged to oversee a leaner and more efficient U.S. Department of Transportation focused on expediting project permitting, prioritizing mega infrastructure projects, and ensuring that Boeing and aviation safety gets "back on track."

  • January 16, 2025

    Trump EPA Pick Faces Climate Questions, Dodges Details

    President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday tried to steer clear of controversy at a Senate confirmation hearing, taking a conciliatory tone, deferring judgment on specific matters and promising to exercise independence.

  • January 16, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms $23.2M Judgment In ICE Detainee Wage Trial

    A split Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday upheld a $23.2 million district court judgment in favor of a class of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees and Washington state, ruling that the GEO Group isn't immune from paying the detainees the state minimum wage for their involvement in a work program.

  • January 16, 2025

    Interior Nom Stresses Need For More Fossil Fuels

    Interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum said on Thursday that he will promote U.S. energy dominance and add more fossil fuel-derived electricity to the grid, as Democrats and Republican senators sparred over how much emphasis should be given to renewables.

  • January 16, 2025

    Madigan Racketeering Case Will Go To Jury

    The Illinois federal judge overseeing a criminal racketeering trial against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and his longtime friend and political ally made certain Thursday that the jury will deliberate and decide the case, rejecting severance and acquittal requests on the last day of evidence.

Expert Analysis

  • Lessons From Recent SEC Cyber Enforcement Actions

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    The recent guidance by the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance is helpful to any company facing a cybersecurity threat, but just as instructive are the warnings raised by the SEC's recent enforcement actions against SolarWinds, R.R. Donnelley and Intercontinental Exchange, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Flags Work Harassment Risks Of Social Media

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    The recent Ninth Circuit ruling in Okonowsky v. Garland, holding an employer could be liable for a co-worker's harassing social media posts, highlights new challenges in technology-centered and remote workplaces, and underscores an employer's obligation to prevent hostile environments wherever their employees clock in, say Jennifer Lada and Phillip Schreiber at Holland & Knight.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Misplaced Info, Trade-Offs, Proteges

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    James Tucker at MoFo examines three recent decisions concerning the consequences of providing solicited information in the wrong section of a bid proposal, the limits of agency discretion in technical merit, best-value trade-off evaluations, and the weight of the experience and capabilities of small businesses in mentor-protégé joint venture qualification.

  • Del. Dispatch: Director Caremark Claims Need Extreme Facts

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery recently dismissed Caremark claims against the directors of Centene in Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania v. Brinkley, indicating a high bar for a finding of the required element of bad faith for Caremark liability, and stressing the need to resist hindsight bias, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Opinion

    Time To Reimagine The Novation Process For Gov't Contracts

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    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, which recently extended a long-standing request for public comments on its novation procedures, should heed commenters' suggestions by implementing specific changes in its documentation requirements, thereby creating a more streamlined and practical novation process, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • How Justices' E-Rate Decision May Affect Scope Of FCA

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s eventual decision in Wisconsin Bell v. U.S., determining whether reimbursements paid by the E-rate program are "claims" under the False Claims Act, may affect other federal programs that do not require payments to be made by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, says David Colapinto at Kohn Kohn.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • What Cos. Should Note In DOJ's New Whistleblower Pilot

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    After the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a new whistleblower pilot program last week — continuing its efforts to incentivize individual reporting of misconduct — companies should review the eligibility criteria, update their compliance programs and consider the risks and benefits of making their own self-disclosures, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Motion To Transfer Venue Considerations For FCA Cases

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    Several recent decisions highlight the importance for practitioners of analyzing as early as possible whether a False Claims Act case warrants a change of venue, and understanding how courts weigh certain factors for defendants versus whistleblowers, say Ellen London at London & Stout, and Li Yu and Corey Lipton at DiCello Levitt.

  • Series

    After Chevron: New Lines Of Attack For FCA Defense Bar

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    Loper Bright has given defense counsel new avenues to overcome the False Claims Act elements of falsity and scienter, as any FCA claim based upon ambiguous statutory terms can no longer stand solely on agency regulations to establish the statute's meaning, which is itself necessary to satisfy the FCA's basic requirements, says Elisha Kobre at Bradley Arant.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

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