Aerospace & Defense

  • May 17, 2024

    Manufacturer Slapped With Sanctions In Seaplane Crash Case

    A Washington state judge sanctioned an aircraft manufacturer for "willful" discovery violations on Friday in a lawsuit over a 2022 seaplane accident that killed 10 people, then ruled during a hearing that maritime law covers the accident in a second win for the victims' families that a plaintiffs attorney says will expand the relief they can seek.

  • May 17, 2024

    Boeing Jury Urged To Award Startup At Least $163M At IP Trial

    An electric-jet company told a Seattle jury Friday that Boeing misappropriated its trade secrets to build a copycat plane under the guise of investing in the startup, entitling it to an award of more than $163 million.

  • May 17, 2024

    VA Deal Winner Says Protest Not Based On Common Sense

    The winner of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mail-order pharmacy deal urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to toss a competitor's protest of the award, saying the protester's challenge was based on an incorrect reading of applicable regulations.

  • May 17, 2024

    How A $3K Pro Se Claim Led To A 9-0 High Court Decision

    A Pentagon worker’s principled commitment to his employer ironically led to a decadelong fight against his own bosses, and a milestone victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in the still-ongoing battle for $3,000 in wages. Stuart R. Harrow and his attorneys speak to Law360 about how a seemingly low-stakes conflict turned into a high-profile case with reverberations for hundreds of federal employees.

  • May 17, 2024

    Defense Cos. Delaying Delivery Of F-35 Parts, Watchdog Says

    A government watchdog has called out production and software delays within the U.S. Department of Defense's F-35 program, saying contractors Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney are delivering aircraft and engines late despite the fighter jet moving into full production status.

  • May 17, 2024

    Texas Student Groups Sue Abbott Over Antisemitism Rule

    Two chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine at Texas universities and the Democratic Socialists of America have slapped Texas Gov. Greg Abbott with a complaint arguing that a recent executive order instructing campus officials to rid public universities of a viewpoint critical of Israel violates the First Amendment.

  • May 17, 2024

    Sanctioned Man's Daughter Says Blacklist Inescapable

    A Myanmar woman the U.S. blacklisted based on conclusions her father provided fuel to Myanmar's military regime accused the U.S. government of trapping her on a sanctions list, leaving her unable to support herself or complete studies at Columbia University.

  • May 17, 2024

    Industry Emboldened After Justices Galvanize Agency Attacks

    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court said "extraordinary" and "far-reaching" attacks on administrative enforcers can skip agency tribunals and go straight to federal district court, ambitious challenges to regulatory powers are rapidly gaining traction, and the high court is poised to put them on an even firmer footing.

  • May 17, 2024

    Menendez Bribery Trial: 5 Things To Know About Week 1

    Explosive opening statements, closed-door jury questioning and an FBI agent's recount of the moment he found a treasure trove of gold bars and cash highlighted the first week of trial in the government's second corruption case against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.

  • May 17, 2024

    Texas Judge Denies SpaceX's Rethink Bid In Transfer Spat

    A Texas federal judge won't reconsider his decision to transfer SpaceX's constitutional challenge to the National Labor Relations Board's structure to a California court, saying on Friday that the rocket company didn't give a "compelling reason" to rethink the ruling.

  • May 16, 2024

    Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO

    An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.

  • May 16, 2024

    Claims Court Revives $71.1M Deal That GAO Misinterpreted

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordered the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to reinstate a $71.1 million support deal, finding that the agency terminated the deal based on a federal watchdog's incorrect interpretation of the contract.

  • May 16, 2024

    Prosecutors Say Fake Fortune 500 Workers Funded N. Korea

    The Biden administration alleged that North Korea may have raised $6.8 million to develop nuclear weapons by installing remote information technology workers at Fortune 500 businesses, announcing charges Thursday against two individuals accused of helping agents pose as U.S. employees.

  • May 16, 2024

    FCC To Pull Phone Co.'s Authorization To Operate In US

    The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it plans to revoke a telecom company's authorization to operate in the U.S. after the business failed to comply with an agreement with federal agencies stemming from a security review.

  • May 16, 2024

    C3.ai Shareholder Sues In Del., Citing Baker Hughes Pact

    A shareholder of artificial intelligence-driven software developer C3.ai Inc. filed a derivative suit in Delaware's Court of Chancery late Wednesday, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment related to the California company's strategic partnership with Baker Hughes Co.

  • May 16, 2024

    Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told

    Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.

  • May 16, 2024

    Justices Say Deadline To Appeal Furlough Denial Is Flexible

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday revived a Pentagon employee's dispute seeking an exemption from a furlough, saying that a missed 60-day deadline to appeal the denied exemption does not put the matter out of federal courts' jurisdiction.

  • May 15, 2024

    Newman Wasn't At Fed. Circ. Conference, But She Was Invited

    U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's absence from Tuesday's Federal Circuit Judicial Conference was not due to a lack of invitation, contrary to initial comments from her lawyer, but the law isn't explicit about whether a suspended judge legally could have been excluded.

  • May 15, 2024

    Iridium Partner Gets Novel FAA Waiver For Beyond-Sight Use

    In what satellite phone company Iridium Communications is calling a "watershed moment," the Federal Aviation Administration is allowing one of its partner companies to begin beyond visual line of sight operations, Iridium said Wednesday.

  • May 15, 2024

    Flexibility In Info Security Policy May Add Compliance Burden

    New federal guidance for contractors handling sensitive, but unclassified information could introduce confusion and compliance burdens if agencies implement security controls without consulting contractors. 

  • May 15, 2024

    Moving Coalition Urges GAO To Probe $20B DOD Moving Deal

    Over 250 moving industry members are urging the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate a multibillion-dollar contract having a single company manage moving services for the U.S. Department of Defense, saying the deal might not be as achievable as hoped.

  • May 15, 2024

    Feds Tell Justices $3.1B Satellite Deal Isn't Reviewable

    The Biden administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court against reviewing an order dismissing claims that a contractor was pushed out of a $3.1 billion military satellite deal, saying the transaction was a sovereign action shielded from court review.

  • May 15, 2024

    'Where's Bob?' Nowhere Near Wife's Gold Bars, Jury Hears

    Sen. Robert Menendez and his future wife weren't living together when an alleged bribery scheme took root six years ago and continued residing mostly apart after they married, he in Washington, D.C., and she in her New Jersey home that had a closet filled with gold bars and cash, jurors heard Wednesday.

  • May 15, 2024

    Senators Release 'Road Map' For Crafting Federal AI Policy

    A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday laid out a "road map" for artificial intelligence policy that calls for increased AI innovation funding, testing of potential harms posed by AI and consideration of the technology's workforce implications.

  • May 14, 2024

    Magnets Co. Can't Trim Suit Despite Feds' PACER Accident

    The federal government's accidental posting of an unredacted expert report containing sensitive technical data doesn't warrant trimming the government's lawsuit accusing a magnetics manufacturer of sharing that same data with China, a Kentucky federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • 4 Takeaways From Biden's Crypto Mining Divestment Order

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    A May 13 executive order prohibiting the acquisition of real estate by a foreign investor on national security grounds — an enforcement first — shows the importance of understanding how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States might profile cross-border transactions, even those that are non-notified, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • 3 Employer Lessons From NLRB's Complaint Against SpaceX

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    Severance agreements traditionally have included nondisparagement and nondisclosure provisions as a matter of course — but a recent National Labor Relations Board complaint against SpaceX underscores the ongoing efforts to narrow severance agreements at the state and federal levels, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

  • Insurer Quota-Sharing Lessons From $112M Bad Faith Verdict

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    In Indiana GRQ v. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance, an Indiana federal jury recently issued a landmark $112 million bad faith verdict, illustrating why insurers must understand the interplay between bad faith law and quota-sharing before entering into these relatively new arrangements, say Jason Reichlyn and Christopher Sakauye at Dykema. 

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Unwitting Disclosure, Agency Deference

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    Roke Iko at MoFo examines two U.S. Court of Federal Claims decisions highlighting factors to consider before filing a protest alleging Procurement Integrity Act violations, and a decision from the U.S. Government Accountability Office about the capacity of an agency to interpret its own solicitation terms.

  • Global Bribery Probes Are Complicating FCPA Compliance

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    The recent rise in collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign authorities in bribery enforcement can not only affect companies' legal exposure as resolution approaches vary by country, but also the decision of when and whether to disclose Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations to the DOJ, say Samantha Badlam and Catherine Conroy at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Action Steps To Address New Restrictions On Outbound Data

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    Companies should immediately assess all their data-based operations so they can consider strategies to effectively mitigate new compliance risks brought on by recently implemented transaction restrictions, including a Justice Department proposal and landmark data legislation, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • 'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea

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    Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World

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    NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.

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