Government Contracts

  • October 31, 2024

    Madigan Ally Set Up Work For Speaker's Fired Aide, Jury Told

    An ex-lobbyist on trial alongside former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan made arrangements for a political operative that Madigan fired to receive monthly payments while he was unemployed, suggesting he enter into contracts with loyal lobbyists and write up reports on legislators "in case the IRS checks this out," a federal jury heard Thursday.

  • October 31, 2024

    DOL Blocked From Using In-House Court In Hiring Bias Spat

    A Texas federal judge temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Labor from using its internal judge system to pursue administrative proceedings against a government contractor for allegedly discriminatory hiring practices, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that placed limitations on these in-house procedures.

  • October 31, 2024

    Flint Water Case Paused For 'Advanced' Settlement Talks

    Days after a jury trial meant to decide whether a water firm failed to properly warn of the dangers of the city of Flint's water was delayed a second time, a Michigan federal judge paused two bellwether cases because of "advanced settlement negotiations" between individual plaintiffs and the firm.

  • October 31, 2024

    What DOJ's New National Security Obsession Means For Attys

    The Justice Department’s emerging criminal crackdown on corporate national security violations is putting increased pressure on white collar lawyers to be conversant, if not experts, on opaque, complex and swiftly evolving regulations.

  • October 31, 2024

    Defense Contractor, Ex-Exec Hit With Bribery Charges

    Defense contractor Cask Technologies LLC and its former executive vice president have been charged in California federal court with bribing a former civilian official of the U.S. Navy in exchange for government contracts.

  • October 31, 2024

    Mineral Co. Execs Allegedly Misled Investors On Gov't Contract

    Current and former directors and officers of minerals producer Compass Minerals International Inc. face a shareholder derivative action alleging they hid signs the company wouldn't be able to renew a lucrative supplier relationship with the U.S. Forest Service.

  • October 31, 2024

    GAO Upholds NASA's $98M Aircraft Engineering Support Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a challenge from a Virginia engineering firm to a $98 million contract awarded to a rival company by NASA, disagreeing that the space agency had assessed bids improperly.

  • October 31, 2024

    Suit Against Indicted NJ Power Broker Sent To Biz Court 

    A New Jersey state court on Wednesday granted indicted Garden State power broker George E. Norcross III's request to transfer the civil racketeering suit brought against him and his attorney brother by a Philadelphia developer to the state's complex business litigation program.

  • October 31, 2024

    Pro Services Contract Nixes NJ Public Defender's Pension

    A New Jersey appellate court backed the Public Employees' Retirement System board's finding that a former municipal public defender is ineligible to receive pension benefits from 2008 onward, ruling that there was enough evidence to show the attorney's services were procured through a professional services contract.

  • October 31, 2024

    SBA Cries Foul On Globetrotters' $10M COVID Grant Suit

    The U.S. Small Business Administration has defended its denial of a $10 million COVID-19 relief grant to the Harlem Globetrotters, telling a D.C. federal judge that it had no legal obligation to hand over the money to the basketball entertainment organization.

  • October 31, 2024

    The 2024 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard

    Check out the Law360 Pulse Leaderboard to see which firms made the list of leaders in all-around excellence this year.

  • October 31, 2024

    Firms' Hiring Strategies Are Evolving In Fight For Top Spot

    Competition for top talent among elite law firms shows no signs of slowing down, even amid economic uncertainty, with financially strong firms deploying aggressive strategies to attract and retain skilled professionals to solidify their market position.

  • October 30, 2024

    Retrial Begins In Abu Ghraib Torture Case Against Contractor

    A Virginia-based defense contractor returned to a federal court in Alexandria on Wednesday to face claims that it aided and abetted torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib military prison after a trial on the same allegations ended in a hung jury earlier this year.

  • October 30, 2024

    Alleged Kickback Plotters Can Waive Conflict Over Attorney

    A Colorado federal judge on Wednesday concluded that a lab testing company owner charged with participating in a kickback scheme to defraud Medicare and a man who pled guilty to participating in a connected conspiracy could waive any conflicts that might arise from both using the same attorney.

  • October 30, 2024

    Army Corps Says Biz Inflated Costs Of Nixed Clean-Up Deal

    The Army Corps of Engineers pressed the federal claims court to ditch most of a disaster recovery contractor's $4.9 million contract termination claim, saying the contractor inflated the termination's costs by seeking payment for services that were already paid for.

  • October 30, 2024

    4th Circ. Affirms Soldier's Loss Against Fluor Over Bombing

    A split Fourth Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a soldier's lawsuit against Fluor Corp. over injuries he sustained in a 2016 suicide bombing in Afghanistan, holding the suit's state tort claims are preempted by a "combatant activities" exception in federal law.

  • October 30, 2024

    Prison Phone Co. GTL Gets OK On $17M Price-Fix Deal

    Prison phone company Global*Tel Link Corp will pay $17 million to escape claims that it colluded with two other companies to inflate the cost of calls made from inside U.S. prisons after a Maryland federal judge gave the deal her preliminary seal of approval Wednesday afternoon.

  • October 30, 2024

    Ariz. Tribe Will Get Back 3,200 Acres In US Land Exchange

    The Yavapai-Apache Nation will receive 3,200 acres of its ancestral homelands in exchange for six parcels of land located within four national forests in Arizona as part of an agreement with the U.S. National Forest Service and Department of Agriculture that has been decades in the making.

  • October 30, 2024

    AIG Tells Del. Justices Texas Medicaid Case 'Steeped In Fraud'

    An attorney for insurers who brought a mid-case appeal in a tangled suit focused on a Texas Medicaid claims processor's battles over its alleged errors and omissions in orthodontia billings told Delaware's Supreme Court Wednesday that the original case was "steeped in fraud" and propped up by negligence claims.

  • October 30, 2024

    Holtec Wins $6.9M Over Gov't's Failure To Store Nuclear Fuel

    Nuclear plant operator Holtec Palisades LLC has been granted $6.9 million in damages after a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge found the federal government had breached an agreement to store spent nuclear fuel at the company's Michigan facility.

  • October 30, 2024

    Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Uranium And Missile Detection

    Over the past month, the Biden administration advanced plans to secure the nuclear energy supply chain with $3.5 billion worth of uranium enrichment contracts and added $1.8 billion to its next-generation missile detection program. Here are Law360's most note-worthy government contracts for October 2024.

  • October 30, 2024

    3rd Circ. Vacates, Remands Philly Union Rule Suit

    The Third Circuit revived a suit by a group of contractors against Philadelphia and its mayor's office over the city's former policy requiring that companies working on public projects be members of certain designated unions, ruling that those contractors still have standing for injuries that arose while the rule was enforced.

  • October 29, 2024

    'Breathtaking' Pentagon Leak Merits 16 Years, Feds Say

    Prosecutors urged a federal judge on Tuesday to sentence a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman to more than 16 years in prison for posting top secret military documents to the social media platform Discord, calling the crimes a historic and "breathtaking" betrayal of national security.

  • October 29, 2024

    NYC Mayoral Straw Donor Scheme Sees Another Guilty Plea

    A bookkeeper enmeshed in a straw donor scheme to benefit New York City Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 campaign copped to a violation on Tuesday as part of a deal with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, effectively closing out the case.

  • October 29, 2024

    6th Circ. Judge Doubts Airport Funding Made It Federal Agent

    A Sixth Circuit judge on Tuesday said he saw "problems" with a Michigan airport's argument that federal grants had enough requirements to make the airport effectively a federal officer, suggesting it cannot litigate a suit over its PFAS-containing firefighting foam in federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Suspension And Debarment: FY 2024 By The Numbers

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    The multiyear, downward trend in suspensions and debarments of government contractors continued in fiscal year 2024, largely fueled by a sharp decrease in exclusions of individuals — a welcome development that may indicate recognition that these actions can be more punitive than prophylactic, says David Robbins at Jenner & Block.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Why Diversity Jurisdiction Poses Investment Fund Hurdles

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    Federal courts' continued application of the exacting rules of diversity jurisdiction presents particular challenges for investment funds, and in the absence of any near-term reform, those who manage such funds should take action to avoid diversity jurisdiction pitfalls, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • Comments Show Need For Clarity On SBA Proposed Rule

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    The recent public comments period for the Small Business Administration's proposed rule on recertification and other regulations underscores the need for more precision, particularly on agreements in principle, which the SBA should address as it moves forward with this rulemaking, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • GAO Decision Offers Insights On Verifying TAA Compliance

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    The U.S. Government Accountability Office's August decision in Matter of: HPI Federal LLC serves as a reminder of the importance of verifying Trade Agreements Act compliance — and of understanding the parameters of an agency's acceptance of an offeror's TAA representation, say Amy Hoang and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth.

  • 3 Takeaways From Navy Shipbuilder's Fraud Guilty Plea

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    Austal USA’s recent plea agreement over accounting fraud charges highlights for other companies the benefits of cooperating with government investigations, the challenges posed by senior executives’ involvement in misconduct, and the high stakes for defense contractors, say Michael DeBernardis and Shayda Vance at Hughes Hubbard.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

  • How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

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    During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.

  • Next Steps For FCA Defendants After Fla. Qui Tam Ruling

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    Because a Florida federal court's recent decision in Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates could eventually prove to be a watershed event for False Claims Act suits, defendants should consider potential next steps to ensure that their litigation benefits from the court's reasoning and further developments, says Scott Gallisdorfer at Bass Berry.

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