Aerospace & Defense

  • July 13, 2026

    SpaceX Looks To Trim Damages From Suit Over Rocket Noise

    SpaceX asked a Texas federal judge to trim a group of homeowners' claims alleging the company's rocket activity at its Starbase facility repeatedly damaged their homes with noise, vibrations and sonic booms, saying Texas law doesn't allow for noneconomic damages in this case.

  • July 13, 2026

    Jury Finds Mass. Engineer Guilty Of Sharing Tech With Iran

    A semiconductor company employee was convicted on Monday of sharing navigation technology with potential military applications with an Iranian business associate in violation of U.S. sanctions.

  • July 13, 2026

    Bombardier Sued Over Flight That Killed Ex-White House Atty

    Bombardier Inc. and a private chartered flight company were sued in Massachusetts state court Monday by the widower of a prominent Washington, D.C., lawyer who was fatally injured aboard a business jet when it shook violently midair.

  • July 13, 2026

    CBP Sends Another $15B In Tariff Refunds To Treasury

    Customs and Border Protection finalized over $15 billion more worth of tariff refunds in just under two weeks, according to a Monday declaration filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

  • July 13, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court last week handled disputes involving corporate control, post-closing competition, executive departures, arbitration awards and shareholder litigation.

  • July 13, 2026

    NY Times Says Gov't Can't Justify Concealing Boat Strike Videos

    The New York Times told a New York federal judge that the U.S. Department of Defense's "vague and implausible" justification for withholding footage from several military strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean is countered by its decision to release clips from the footage on social media.

  • July 13, 2026

    Mass. Judge Hints At Fee Award In DOD Grant Cap Case

    The U.S. Department of Defense was "not substantially justified" in moving forward with a unilaterally imposed reimbursement limit for grant-funded research support costs, a Massachusetts federal judge said Monday while weighing whether to award legal fees to a group that successfully challenged the cap.

  • July 13, 2026

    Strategics Dominated N. America Dealmaking In 1st Half Of '26

    Corporate buyers seized a record share of North American dealmaking in the first half of 2026, powering a surge in M&A volumes while private equity activity pulled back amid higher financing costs and valuation gaps, according to a Mergermarket report. 

  • July 13, 2026

    UK, EU Impose Joint Sanctions On Russian Cybernetworks

    Britain and the European Union imposed a new round of sanctions Monday on top Russian military intelligence officials and proxies that the authorities said are behind attempts to sow chaos and division in Europe through cyberattacks and anti-Ukraine propaganda.

  • July 10, 2026

    Defense Contractor Accuses Rival Of Trade Secret Theft

    A defense technology contractor has accused a former employee of stealing its trade secrets to help a competing business build a similar product that allows the retrieval of data when a reliable internet connection is not available.

  • July 10, 2026

    GAO Faults VA's 3-Year Cutoff In $2.4M Contract Review

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs improperly evaluated the proposals of vendors competing for a support services contract by ignoring past experience that was older than three years.

  • July 10, 2026

    Del. Justices Nix $16M Fee Award In SpaceX Investment Fight

    The Delaware Supreme Court on Friday erased a $16 million fee award stemming from a dispute over a fund manager's handling of a failed $50 million SpaceX investment, concluding that although the fund manager committed a limited breach of a "duty of candor," shifting all litigation expenses to him was unwarranted.

  • July 10, 2026

    FCC Floats $200K In Fines Over 'Covered List' Probes

    The Federal Communications Commission proposed fines Friday against eight companies for allegedly failing to answer letters inquiring about whether they sought to market devices in the U.S. that are restricted for national security reasons.

  • July 10, 2026

    Iran War Has 'Severely Disrupted' Fertilizer Trade, WTO Says

    The war in Iran has "severely disrupted" trade in fertilizers like urea and phosphate, raising concerns that agricultural yields could fall and food prices could rise, the World Trade Organization said Friday.

  • July 10, 2026

    US-Canada Stalemate Expected To Hold Amid USMCA Review

    The trade stalemate between the U.S. and Canada is likely to continue through a drawn-out review process for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, though companies will benefit from an underlying level of stability as the deal remains in effect, trade lawyers said.

  • July 10, 2026

    9/11 Families Cleared To Pursue Iran-Linked Crypto Assets

    Families of 9/11 victims seeking to satisfy default judgments against Iran can move forward with efforts to seize $344 million in frozen Tether cryptocurrency assets that U.S. sanctions authorities linked to the country, a New York federal court ruled.

  • July 09, 2026

    Feds Seek Stay In Soldier's Maduro Raid Betting Civil Suit

    Federal prosecutors urged a New York federal judge to halt a civil lawsuit accusing a U.S. Army sergeant of profiting from Polymarket bets he made about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's capture after helping plan the raid, while parallel criminal proceedings play out.

  • July 09, 2026

    Judge Urged To Deny Transfer Of SpaceX Land-Swap Suit

    Environmental groups urged a D.C. federal judge to reject an attempt by SpaceX and the federal government to transfer the groups' lawsuit challenging a land-exchange deal to Texas, saying the deal was reviewed and approved by officials and lawmakers in D.C.

  • July 09, 2026

    6 Questions For NGSO Satellite Advocate David Redl

    Non-geostationary orbit satellites are at the forefront of the new space race, and David Redl, the executive director of the new SpaceConnect Association, wants to make sure decision-makers on the national and global scenes craft policies that match the industry's frenetic pace.

  • July 09, 2026

    Orbital Data Centers Pose Environmental Risks, FCC Warned

    Groups aimed at combatting pollution have urged the Federal Communications Commission to assess the environmental effects of low-orbit, satellite-based data centers before issuing any licenses for such projects, saying existing proposals "describe their plans in grandiose, civilization-changing terms."

  • July 09, 2026

    Safran On The Hook For $1.7M Pension Exit Bill, For Now

    A New York federal judge ruled Thursday that aerospace giant Safran must immediately pay off its $1.7 million withdrawal liability bill to the National Retirement Fund, even though the parties are currently in arbitration battling out whether the company can be held responsible for the payment.

  • July 09, 2026

    Blue Origin's Valuation Soars To $130B, Plus More Rumors

    Blue Origin's valuation hit $130 billion after a $10 billion funding round; state lawyers are finalizing an antitrust lawsuit related to Paramount's planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery; and Fiserv is considering selling its payments infrastructure business to U.S. banking giants.

  • July 09, 2026

    GAO Backs Navy Bid Rejection Over Small-Biz Share

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office said the Navy reasonably rejected an incumbent contractor's $113 million proposal to support the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division after finding it wouldn't steer enough of the deal to small businesses.

  • July 09, 2026

    WTO, IMF, World Bank, IEA Cite Uneven Iran War Toll

    The ongoing war in Iran sharply raised energy and fertilizer prices when it began, and although those prices have dropped, the conflict continues to fuel significant trade volatility, according to a joint statement issued by the leaders of four global economic rule-setting bodies.

  • July 08, 2026

    DOD Urged To Clarify Foreign Owner Rule For Contract Bidders

    Government contract attorneys and procurement advocacy groups have expressed concern over the Pentagon's move to expand foreign ownership disclosure requirements to 38,000 contractors, saying that the proposal could delay acquisitions and that its carveout for commercial contractors lacks clarity.

Expert Analysis

  • CFIUS' Mandate Misses Foreign Risk In Project Subcontracts

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    Recent calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review equity transactions like the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal miss a consequential oversight gap — CFIUS' inability to review the subcontracting layer of U.S. infrastructure projects, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

  • Lessons From The DOJ's 1st Enforcement Policy Declination

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    The first U.S. Department of Justice declination to prosecute alleged export control violations and national security offenses offers a window into the operation of the administration’s recently implemented corporate enforcement and voluntary self‑disclosure policy, and how companies' compliance and cooperation efforts should be targeted, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • What Consent Decree Trends Mean For Deal Clearances

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    With merger remedies back on the table under the current administration, an analysis of recent Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice consent decrees reveals that prior approval and prior notice provisions are no longer a foregone conclusion, and companies may be able to negotiate narrowly tailored obligations, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

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    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

  • Structuring Space Nuclear Deals For Regulatory Risk

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    With the White House's recent focus on space nuclear power, a highly important question for companies that want to build orbital reactors, lunar surface systems or critical components is whether the transaction documents can handle foreign investment constraints, export controls and treaty-linked liability, says Kristie Blase at Frazer + Blase.

  • Quantum Readiness May Paradoxically Raise Contractor Risk

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    The organizations best positioned for the cryptographic system migration deadlines and other requirements under President Donald Trump’s recent quantum executive orders will be those able to inventory their cryptographic dependencies while protecting their vulnerability road map from adversaries, says Jesse Lemon at The Beckage Firm.

  • Justices Stand On Statutory Specifics In Cisco And Landor

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    With its June 23 decisions in Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe and Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the U.S. Supreme Court doubled down on the critical point that the statute invoked in a federal claim must authorize a private lawsuit and the remedy sought, says Patrick Judd at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Trump EOs Pair Quantum Push With Cyber Defense Overhaul

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    Two recent executive orders that mark a significant federal commitment to both advancing and defending against quantum technology create potential opportunities for companies in the quantum, AI and technology sectors and pose future compliance obligations contractors should begin considering now, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • More Cos. Will Copy SpaceX's Shareholder Proposal Opt-Out

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    For more than 80 years, the shareholder proposal looked like a federal right guaranteed to all public company investors, but after SpaceX opted out before its recent initial public offering, other companies are likely to follow, says Mohsen Manesh at the University of Oregon School of Law.

  • Perfectus Deal Raises Trade Missteps To Enterprise Risk Level

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    Former inspector general Parisa Salehi at Parker Poe discusses what the U.S. Department of Justice's recently settled False Claims Act case against Perfectus Aluminum can teach companies about satisfying trade reporting obligations as agencies increasingly coordinate enforcement.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • 2 Prediction Market Cases Will Test Insider Trading Theory

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    Prosecutors in two recent Southern District of New York cases have filed separate charges against two defendants who used confidential information gathered from each employer to place prediction market bets, but each prosecution must overcome different legal hurdles established by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Second Circuit, says John Siffert at Lankler Siffert.

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