Government Contracts

  • August 25, 2026

    Ed Dept. Must Turn Over Records In Mental Health Grants Row

    A Washington federal judge Monday partly granted a group of states' bid for expedited discovery in their suit over the Trump administration's attempt to cut nearly $1 billion in funding for K-12 mental health grants, finding the information could assist the court before a hearing for a preliminary injunction.

  • August 25, 2026

    Missouri Drops Bid To Block Minority Contracting Program

    Missouri Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway has withdrawn her attempt to block Kansas City's contracting program for minority- and women-owned businesses after the city passed an ordinance repealing the program.

  • August 25, 2026

    Drugstores Beat Sun Pharma's $10M Racketeering Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge threw out Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.'s suit against a group of pharmacies alleging they engaged in a criminal, years-long racketeering scheme that resulted in it paying more than $10 million in refunds for short-dated pharmaceutical products, ruling that the pharmacies were improperly joined together.

  • August 25, 2026

    Rising Star: Arnold & Porter's Thomas A. Pettit

    Thomas A. Pettit of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP successfully defended his clients' $20 billion moving-services contract with the U.S. Transportation Command and $316 million IT services contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, earning him a spot among the government contracts law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 25, 2026

    Ex-DOJ Fraud Attys Switch To Civil Focus At Boutique Firm

    Criminal fraud prosecutors commonly pursue careers as white collar defense lawyers after exiting the U.S. Department of Justice, but a group of ex-DOJ lawyers who have recently joined national litigation boutique AXS Law Group are embarking on a path less traveled.

  • August 25, 2026

    Winston Taylor Hires Ex-Willkie Securities Expert In Chicago

    Winston Taylor LLP has brought on board a former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP counsel who, before his most recent role, spent more than eight years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois working on securities and commodities fraud issues, the firm announced on Tuesday.

  • August 25, 2026

    Judge Allows Hospital Groups To Fight AbbVie 340B Suit

    A D.C. federal judge will allow hospitals and health center groups to intervene on the side of the government as it fights AbbVie's challenge to the definition of "patient" in the 340B drug discount program, ruling that the providers would suffer concrete financial harm if the pharmaceutical company's interpretation prevails.

  • August 25, 2026

    State Department Approves $2.8B In Military Sales To 3 Allies

    The U.S. Department of State has approved the sale of $2.3 billion worth of Black Hawk helicopters and other military equipment to Norway, which it called an ally that will support political stability and economic progress in Europe.

  • August 24, 2026

    DOJ Seeks To Beat UC Researchers' Challenge Of Grant Axings

    The U.S. Department of Justice argued on Friday that the Trump administration should prevail over University of California researchers' challenges of the termination of their grants, telling a California federal judge that the First Amendment doesn't apply to competitively awarded grants.

  • August 24, 2026

    Ukraine Says Tatneft Appeal Over $173M Stay Should Be Axed

    Ukraine has pressed the D.C. Circuit to nix an appeal by a large Russian oil company that seeks to overturn a lower court's stay order in the business's suit to enforce a $173 million arbitral award against the country, saying its domestic law prohibits it from paying the award.

  • August 24, 2026

    CMS Must Revisit $57M Contract Over Conflicting Labor Hours

    The Court of Federal Claims has ordered the reevaluation of a $57 million contract to process Medicare claims for equipment, finding the winning proposal had conflicting estimated labor hours that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services did not clarify.

  • August 24, 2026

    DOD Invests $750M To Buy Rare-Earth Elements From Brazil

    The U.S. Department of Defense said on Monday that it's investing $750 million in a special purpose vehicle meant to facilitate the U.S. government's purchase of mixed rare-earth carbonates processed by a company in Brazil.

  • August 24, 2026

    Drone Co. Investor Says Early Lock-Up Waiver Tanked Stock

    Drone-maker Aevex Corp. has been accused in a shareholder's proposed class action of abruptly ending share restrictions after its April initial public offering, allowing a major stakeholder to profit while the company lost $900 million in market share due to a resulting decline in share price.

  • August 24, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Agrees To Speed Up Args In COVID Vax Patent Case

    The Federal Circuit on Monday agreed to accelerate the schedule in a COVID-19 vaccine patent dispute between Moderna and Arbutus Biopharma Corp. by holding arguments in November.

  • August 24, 2026

    Transit Stabbing Victim's Estate Sues North Carolina City

    The estate of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was fatally stabbed last year on a light rail train car in Charlotte, North Carolina, has filed a wrongful death suit in state court, alleging the city and its private security contractor failed to put reasonable safety measures in place.

  • August 24, 2026

    Rising Star: PilieroMazza's Emily A. Spence

    Emily Spence of PilieroMazza PLLC helped a shipbuilder secure a $3.5 billion contract with the U.S. Coast Guard and successfully argued that the U.S. Navy failed to follow competition requirements for small business procurements, earning her a spot among the government contracts attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 24, 2026

    DOD's $285B Maintenance Backlog Creates Risks, GAO Says

    A Government Accountability Office report found that a $285 billion maintenance backlog by the U.S. Department of Defense has led to widespread deterioration of its facilities, including buildings plagued by mold and algae and cramped workspaces.

  • August 24, 2026

    AIG Owes Primary Coverage For $4.7M Ambulance Crash Deal

    An AIG unit owes primary coverage for a $4.75 million settlement of an underlying suit over an ambulance crash, a New Jersey federal court ruled, finding that a borough's coverage through a county joint insurance fund does not trigger an "other insurance" provision.

  • August 24, 2026

    Fla. College Protest Rule Blocked In 'ICEBreakers' Suit

    A Florida federal judge blocked a Miami college's rule restricting protest activities after it was used to discipline several students who staged a brief public demonstration against immigration tactics, finding that the regulation likely violates the First Amendment.

  • August 24, 2026

    Software Co. Can't Arbitrate Conn. Judicial Branch Dispute

    A Massachusetts software company on Friday lost its bid to force the Connecticut Judicial Branch into private arbitration over claims it was not fully paid for working on a court case management system decades ago, with a panel concluding the state's waiver of sovereign immunity allowed only a Superior Court lawsuit.

  • August 21, 2026

    New SBA Rule May Send Applicants Back To Square One

    The U.S. Small Business Administration's new rule redefining eligibility for the agency's contracting program for disadvantaged small businesses is prompting those with pending applications to consider scrapping them and starting over, and future applicants now face a new and largely untested evidentiary standard.

  • August 21, 2026

    Verdict Bars Ex-Fla. Rep's 'Sham' Contract Claim, Oil Co. Says

    The U.S. affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company urged a New York federal court Friday to toss a former Florida congressman's counterclaim alleging he's still owed $30 million under a consulting contract, saying his conviction on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent shows the agreement was a "sham."

  • August 21, 2026

    Trump Seeks Justices' Review Of DEI Grant Termination Case

    The Trump administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision requiring the federal government to reinstate research grants that were terminated due to presidential orders against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

  • August 21, 2026

    DC Circ. Voids Block On OMB Funding Freeze

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday vacated a district judge's block on the Trump administration's pause on a wide array of federal grants, loans and financial assistance, ruling that the Office of Management and Budget's rescission of the memorandum rendered the lawsuit moot.

  • August 21, 2026

    Illinois-Led States Win TRO To Block DOT Bid For CDL Data

    A Virginia federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from obtaining a database containing information on 17 million commercial driver's license holders, ruling in favor of 21 states that allege it unlawfully demanded the records for immigration enforcement.

Expert Analysis

  • Weighing The Implications Of The Anthropic Export Directive

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    The Trump administration recently issued an export control directive against Anthropic to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, representing one of the first uses of the regime against a frontier large language model in widespread commercial distribution, says attorney Sohan Dasgupta.

  • Series

    Moshing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Entering a mosh pit is much like entering the practice of law — it is difficult, you have to know both the written and unwritten rules, and conduct yourself according to the expectations of each community, says Christopher Deubert at Constangy Brooks.

  • Data Reveals Pivot In Feds' Financial Fraud Priorities

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    Recent Justice Department data shows fraud prosecutions fell to their lowest rate in a decade in 2025, illustrating a move away from traditional financial cases and toward a targeted mix of healthcare, government program, consumer and sanctions matters, say Paul Hinton and Adrienna Huffman at The Brattle Group.

  • New Timeline For Benefits Cases May Increase FCA Litigation

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    Recent reforms designed to speed enforcers’ intervention decisions in False Claims Act suits involving state-administered benefits will likely encourage more qui tam relators to litigate cases without the government’s imprimatur, and increase defendants’ discovery burdens, defense costs and business disruptions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Why Highly Specialized Experts May Risk Exclusion At Trial

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    Expert witnesses with highly specific areas of focus may be vulnerable to exclusion in court, making it important for attorneys to check how potential witnesses' qualifications can be bolstered by their publications and other professional activities, say Evan Weisberg and Christopher Cunio at Hunton, and Kevin Cahill at FTI Consulting.

  • Trump AI Order: Voluntary Framework, Mandatory Implications

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    President Donald Trump's recent executive order promoting the advancement of artificial intelligence innovation and security establishes a new framework for government collaboration with the AI industry, but its classified benchmarking criteria, prerelease framework terms and operational rules will determine whether it establishes de facto compliance expectations, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • A Midyear Look At Antiterrorism Act Jurisprudence And Policy

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    Plaintiffs have filed comparably fewer new actions under the Antiterrorism Act this year, though a handful of key decisions further defined the statute’s aiding-and-abetting standard and highlighted continuing risks for financial services companies, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Drawing A Line Between Settlement Pressure And Extortion

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    U.S. v. Luo, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, may force courts to address anew when settlement negotiations become criminal extortion, particularly in the age of easily fabricated digital evidence, says attorney Denis Kiely.

  • Responding To US Labeling Brazilian Gangs As Terrorist Orgs

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    The Trump administration's recent designation of two Brazilian criminal organizations as foreign terrorists affects companies in multiple sectors that must now assess their exposure and enhance their sanctions, know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering screening programs, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • Series

    Founding An Autism Academy Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    Starting a nonprofit autism school with no building, no funding model and no guarantee that families would trust us taught me the importance of mission, patience and purpose — lessons that sharpened my practice and showed how meaningful work outside the office can make lawyers better, says Phillip Russell at Ogletree Deakins.

  • Trump's AI Order Is Strategic, Not Merely Deregulatory

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    Although the framework presented in President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on artificial intelligence is styled as voluntary and innovation-friendly, it creates a new soft-power mechanism for bringing the most capable AI systems into closer alignment with federal security priorities, says Jesse Lemon at The Beckage Firm.

  • Opinion

    Rule Of Law Requires Gov't Engagement With Bar, Not Retreat

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    A federal agency's absence from national and local bar conferences, most recently illustrated by the U.S. Department of Justice's withdrawal from a New York City Bar Association white collar conference, disserves the bar, the government lawyers themselves and, ultimately, the administration of justice, says Muhammad Faridi at Linklaters.

  • Fed. Circ. Clarifies Standard For Contesting CICA Overrides

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    The Federal Circuit's recent holding in Life Science Logistics strengthens the hand of protesters facing an override of the Competition in Contracting Act stay, and a Court of Federal Claims decision the same day demonstrates that how a protester frames its requested relief remains critically important, says Richard Arnholt at Bass Berry.

  • The Paradoxical Duty To Adopt AI When You Can't Bill For It

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    Both billing for hours saved using artificial intelligence and preserving billable time by not adopting AI may violate rules of professional conduct, but until bar associations' ethics rules catch up to this emerging economic dilemma, firms must decide how to adjust fee structures themselves, says Ines Lassalle at Peyrot & Associates.

  • A Decade Later, Escobar Is Still Shaping FCA Cases

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision 10 years ago in Universal Health Services v. U.S. ex rel. Escobar changed the way in which lower courts evaluate False Claims Act cases — and the ruling remains vital in nearly every FCA case filed today, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

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