Aerospace & Defense

  • September 27, 2024

    Life Sciences Firms Energize IPO Market As Recovery Builds

    Initial public offerings are closing the year's third quarter on an upswing, led mostly by pre-revenue drug developers and select large companies that are seizing opportunities in friendlier capital markets buoyed by interest-rate cuts, generating momentum that experts say could carry over into next year.

  • September 27, 2024

    LA Plane Parts Maker Hits Ch. 11 With At Least $10M In Debt

    A California-based aircraft parts maker, Skylock Industries, filed for bankruptcy reporting between $10 million to $50 million in both assets and liability as it faces litigation alleging that it owes half a million dollars in past-due rent, as well as a lawsuit seeking to collect a finder's fee on a $9 million loan.

  • September 27, 2024

    GAO Backs DOD Rebuke To Bidder's Spreadsheet Mistake

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office backed the Pentagon's decision to deny a spot on a $4 billion deal for combating weapons of mass destruction to a contractor that submitted an incorrect spreadsheet, saying the Pentagon wasn't required to fix the mistake.

  • September 27, 2024

    Lawyer Wields Blank Rome Atty Voicemail To Bolster DQ Bid

    An attorney who is suing three lawyers from Blank Rome LLP and has asked a federal court to disqualify the firm's other attorneys from representing their colleagues — alleging they contacted one of her witnesses — told the court Friday she accessed a phone message that strengthens her arguments.

  • September 27, 2024

    Ault Disruptive To Dissolve After Failing To Ink SPAC Deal

    Blank check company Ault Disruptive Technologies Corp. said on Friday that it plans to dissolve and liquidate because it will not be able to complete an initial business combination before Dec. 20.

  • September 27, 2024

    Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Warships And Lunar Relays

    In September, the U.S. Navy shored up its fleet, issuing a combined $16.35 billion order for amphibious warships and oilers, while NASA struck a new $4.8 billion lunar communications deal. Here are Law360's most noteworthy government contracts for September.

  • September 26, 2024

    GAO Faults Amentum For Not Being Forthright In Contract Bid

    Amentum Services Inc. got no support from the U.S. Government Accountability Office for its protest over getting rebuffed on an $840 federal contract in Iraq, with the watchdog finding that two of the company's subcontractors weren't licensed to work in Iraq.

  • September 26, 2024

    Helicopter-Maker Claims Supplier Had 'Reliability Issues'

    A former Fort Worth, Texas-based Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. engineer claimed a supplier at the center of a $100 million trade secrets lawsuit delivered parts that had "reliability issues," saying Thursday during a trial in Texas state court that the supplier had long-standing problems.

  • September 26, 2024

    FCC Opens Airwaves For NGSO Fixed Satellite Services

    The Federal Communications Commission agreed Thursday to set aside a swath of spectrum in the 17 gigahertz band for non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite services, a move the agency says will advance competition and high-speed connectivity.

  • September 26, 2024

    4th Circ. Judge Thrashes Vets' Argument In Citibank Fee Suit

    A Fourth Circuit judge on Thursday ripped military members' argument that they must be allowed under a military-members-lending law to proceed in federal court with a proposed class action alleging Citibank charged illegal fees, with the judge stressing that the statute is silent on forbidding arbitration.

  • September 26, 2024

    Air Force Urged To Cut Back On Using Chinese Suppliers

    Republican lawmakers have asked the U.S. Air Force to cut back on using suppliers from China for "critical weapons platforms," arguing that using Chinese suppliers poses a serious national security risk and empowers China to defeat the U.S. without the need for armed conflict.

  • September 26, 2024

    Dallas VA Center Overpaid $3.7M For Wheelchair Services

    A Texas veterans medical center will have to recover $3.7 million it overpaid a contractor for wheelchair transportation services between 2022 and 2023, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General said Wednesday.

  • September 26, 2024

    Amazon Worker Gets Trial In Military Leave Suit

    A Washington federal judge ejected one worker from a suit accusing Amazon of demoting or firing workers who took time off for military service, but teed up for trial another worker's claim alleging he was removed from consideration for a promotion after he said he was going to be deployed.

  • September 25, 2024

    In-House Counsel To Play Central Role At AI Cos., VCs Say

    Venture capital firms expect in-house counsel at artificial intelligence companies to play a bigger role in their businesses due to regulatory uncertainties around AI, while a professor who helped pioneer the technology warned that transparency of commercial AI businesses should be "top of mind," attorneys heard at the seventh annual Berkeley Law AI Institute Wednesday.

  • September 25, 2024

    Defense Contractor Hit With $2.25M Fine For Bribery Scheme

    A California federal judge issued a $2.25 million fine to a defense company for its role in a bribery scheme through which a former executive bribed an ex-Navy contracting official in exchange for lucrative contracts.

  • September 25, 2024

    Navajo Nation Inks $31M Deal With Bitco For Veteran Housing

    The Navajo Nation said it has signed a $31 million contract with tribally owned Bitco Corp. to build 95 homes for Navajo veterans, using funds provided by President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan Act.

  • September 25, 2024

    Terrorism Victims Sue For Share Of $4.3B Binance Plea

    The U.S. government must put the $4.3 billion it obtained in its money laundering and sanctions violations case against Binance toward a federal fund for victims of state-sponsored terrorism, a new lawsuit in D.C. federal court alleges.

  • September 25, 2024

    Blank Rome Faces DQ Bid Over Alleged Tampering

    An attorney suing three lawyers from Blank Rome LLP wants the firm's other attorneys disqualified from representing their colleagues, accusing them of improperly contacting a plaintiff's expert witness to intimidate him into no longer participating in the case.

  • September 25, 2024

    FCC Closer To Opening Airwaves, But Auctions Still In Limbo

    President Joe Biden's communications regulators are still pushing to get prized spectrum into the hands of private companies, but the window for regaining legal authority to auction the airwaves this year will soon close, and the next White House administration will face challenges too.

  • September 25, 2024

    Veteran Federal Prosecutor Joins King & Spalding In Texas

    King & Spalding LLP has strengthened its government investigations, cybersecurity and special matters offerings with a counsel in Austin, Texas, who led efforts to combat cybercrime and pandemic-era fraud during his more than 15 years as a federal prosecutor.

  • September 24, 2024

    Helicopter Maker Skirted FAA Requirements, Jury Hears

    Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. used a former vendor's trade secrets to skirt the need for regulatory approval, a jury heard in Texas state court Tuesday, allegedly avoiding requirements set by the Federal Aviation Administration as the company pulled the rug out from under its old vendor.

  • September 24, 2024

    Ukraine Oil Co. Says Russia Can't Buy Time In $5B Award Suit

    Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company has asked a D.C. federal court not to pause its lawsuit to enforce a $5 billion arbitral award against Russia while set-aside proceedings in the Netherlands play out, arguing that the Kremlin is just stalling.

  • September 24, 2024

    Neurosurgeon Deems Judge Newman's Brain 'Entirely Normal'

    A third doctor has found that suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, 97, is not cognitively impaired and that there's no reason to keep her off the bench, according to a report released by her attorneys Tuesday.

  • September 24, 2024

    Amazon Shareholders Try To Save Suit Over Blue Origin Deal

    Stockholders who sued Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the company's board in Delaware's Court of Chancery for "blindly" approving a multibillion-dollar, Bezos-controlled launch contract for a new satellite-based internet service struggled for enough altitude Tuesday to clear defense dismissal challenges.

  • September 24, 2024

    RTX Denies Securities Fraud In Engine Crack Class Action

    RTX Corp. faced significant challenges and spent billions of dollars after a subsidiary's jet engines developed "microcracks," but it did not commit securities fraud by lying or withholding relevant information from investors, the aerospace giant said in seeking dismissal of a class action from Connecticut federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation

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    The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Opinion

    Trump Immunity Ruling Upends Our Constitutional Scheme

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Trump v. U.S. decision elevates the president to imperial status and paves the way for nearly absolute presidential immunity from potential criminal prosecutions — with no constitutional textual support, says Paul Berman at the George Washington University Law School.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Fed. Circ. Percipient Gov't Contract Ruling Is Groundbreaking

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    The effects of the Federal Circuit's decision last month in Percipient.ai v. U.S. may be limited to commercial product and service suppliers, but it is significant for government procurement in opening the door to protests by suppliers who previously would have lacked standing and Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 36 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Addressing Dispositive Motions

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    Stephanie Magnell and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions from the U.S. Court of Claims and the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals that provide interesting takeaways about the nuances of motion practice utilized by the government to dispose of cases brought under the Contract Disputes Act prior to substantive litigation

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

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    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

  • 4 Steps To Repair Defense Credibility In Opening Statements

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    Given the continued rise of record-breaking verdicts, defense counsel need to consider fresh approaches to counteract the factors coloring juror attitudes — starting with a formula for rebuilding credibility at the very beginning of opening statements, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

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