Government Contracts

  • October 09, 2025

    Feds' E-Verify System Resumes Operation During Shutdown

    The federal E-Verify system for employers to check people's eligibility to work in the U.S. has resumed operation, a little over a week after it went offline with the start of the ongoing government shutdown.

  • October 09, 2025

    Whistleblower Asks High Court To Revive NASA Fraud Case

    A whistleblower is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a False Claims Act suit accusing a NASA contractor of overbilling, arguing that the Sixth Circuit wrongly let the government dismiss the case without considering the whistleblower's time and money commitment.

  • October 09, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Gets Shutdown Extension For Newman Response

    The D.C. Circuit on Thursday gave the judges on the Federal Circuit an extension until after the government shutdown ends to respond to Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's request for the rehearing of a decision upholding the dismissal of her suit against the colleagues who suspended her.

  • October 09, 2025

    Air Force Accused Of Mishandling Drone Deal

    A Virginia company asked the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on Wednesday to block an Air Force deal to boost drone-fighting capability, saying that the military branch claimed to have never received its timely and lower-cost proposal despite email records to the contrary.

  • October 08, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Hesitant To Review DOD Contract Cost Appeal

    A Federal Circuit judge appeared reluctant Wednesday to review an Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals' decision over the proper way to calculate the cost Pratt & Whitney paid for commercial engine parts, pointing to precedent that goes against the government's position.

  • October 08, 2025

    SoCal City Can't End Contract Dispute With Cannabis Co.

    A Southern California municipality cannot escape a multi-year legal battle over a controversial exclusive cannabis transport deal it made with Rukli Inc., a Los Angeles County judge has ruled, saying if the current contract is "void," as the city argues, then the original is revived.

  • October 08, 2025

    Maryland Co. Challenges DHS Snub For Cybersecurity Award

    A Maryland company told a Court of Federal Claims judge this week that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency improperly rated and passed over its quotation for a solicitation seeking digital transformation support services.

  • October 08, 2025

    High Court Open To Allowing USPS 'Campaign Of Terror' Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court appeared likely Wednesday to let a Texas woman pursue claims that U.S. Postal Service workers engaged in an alleged "racially motivated harassment campaign," with several justices doubting that a federal tort law immunized the service from being held liable for intentional delivery failures.

  • October 08, 2025

    Army Finds Support At Fed. Circ. In Fight Over COVID Delays

    A Federal Circuit judge appeared skeptical that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should compensate a contractor for fees incurred during the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, saying it likely falls under protected government activity.

  • October 08, 2025

    Trump Admin Challenges Denial Of Trans Care Subpoena

    The Trump administration told a Massachusetts federal judge that he got it wrong in quashing a subpoena for records of gender-affirming care at Boston Children's Hospital last month, urging the court to reconsider.

  • October 08, 2025

    Advocacy Group Sues Trump To Restore Digital Equity Funds

    A group advocating for wider broadband adoption has sued the Trump administration for canceling the disbursement of grants under the Digital Equity Act.

  • October 08, 2025

    Fla. Reactor Owner Sues Feds For Spent Fuel Storage Costs

    The owner of a shuttered nuclear reactor north of Tampa, Florida, hit the federal government with a suit seeking damages for the cost of storing radioactive waste the U.S. Department of Energy allegedly promised to take years ago.

  • October 07, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Talks Judge Denzel Washington, AI Susan Sarandon

    More than half of the Federal Circuit's judges were in Boston on Tuesday conducting out-of-town oral arguments, and afterward they discussed the most concerning and most promising elements of artificial intelligence, how to write a good brief, why en banc hearings are rare and which celebrities they'd love to see on a panel.

  • October 07, 2025

    Ex-Housing Chief's Lawyers Want Out Of Conn. Fraud Suit

    Connecticut-based Spears Manning & Martini LLC has asked a state court to allow the firm to stop representing a former municipal housing authority chief in litigation accusing him of fraud and financial misconduct, pointing to a "breakdown in the attorney-client relationship."

  • October 07, 2025

    Ex-Prisoners Push Back On Bid To Decertify Debit Card Class

    Former prisoners accusing Central Bank of Kansas City of charging excessive fees on prepaid debit cards have pushed back on the bank's effort to undo their certified class, arguing they were subject to a "uniform pattern of conduct" that forced them to accept the cards.

  • October 07, 2025

    Construction Co. Sues Air Force Over Contract Exclusion

    A construction company has said the Air Force engaged in unequal discussions before ranking its proposal outside the top 12 offerors for a multiple award construction and engineering contract, in a complaint filed at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. 

  • October 07, 2025

    Northwestern Wants ERISA Health Offering Suit Tossed

    Northwestern University asked an Illinois federal judge on Monday to throw out a proposed class action alleging it breached fiduciary duties in offering a higher-cost health plan alongside a cheaper option, arguing the plaintiffs have failed to allege injury because they admit that they received all the benefits to which they were entitled under the more-expensive plan's terms.

  • October 07, 2025

    AGs Rip DOJ Bid To Pause Planned Parenthood Funding Suit

    The U.S. Department of Justice wants to use the ongoing government shutdown as a "shield" to stop a group of states from seeking an injunction against a halt to Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, the states told a Massachusetts federal judge in opposing a possible pause on their lawsuit.

  • October 07, 2025

    Camp Lejeune Litigation Goes On Despite Gov't Shutdown

    The consolidated litigation over water contamination at the Camp Lejeune military base will not pause during the federal government shutdown, a North Carolina federal judge ruled, saying that such a halt, for an unknown length, would cause "severe disruptions" in the case and for the "ailing and older" plaintiffs.

  • October 07, 2025

    Approach The Bench: Judge Kaplan On Suit Against The Gov't

    U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Elaine Kaplan's docket doesn't always garner attention in the same way trial court cases do, but that may change as the executive branch makes sweeping budget and policy changes that could lend more political significance to monetary claims against the government.

  • October 07, 2025

    FAR Rewrite Could Cut Small Biz From Task Orders

    The Trump administration's newly updated Federal Acquisition Regulation aims to support small businesses by retaining a rule that prioritizes them and slashing administrative barriers, but it could also reduce their chances of landing task orders and sole-source awards.

  • October 07, 2025

    Baker Donelson Forms Gov't Solutions, Public Funding Group

    Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC announced Tuesday that it has launched a government solutions and public funding group to help clients prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters — while identifying and securing public funding opportunities at the federal, state and local levels.

  • October 07, 2025

    11th Circ. Won't Halt Labor Mandate Case For Gov't Shutdown

    The federal government can't stay a builders association's case challenging an executive order that requires union-favoring labor agreements for expensive government contracts, the Eleventh Circuit ruled, declining a request made in light of the government shutdown.

  • October 06, 2025

    Ex-USAID Contractors Call Trump Cuts Political Retaliation

    Former contractors employed by the U.S. Agency for International Development claim their contracts were unlawfully terminated en masse because the Trump administration believed their work functioned as "indirect financial support for the Democratic Party," according to a lawsuit filed in the Court of Federal Claims.

  • October 06, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Weighs NASA Contractor's IP Infringement Immunity

    The Federal Circuit questioned whether litigation brought by two California men alleging a NASA contractor infringed their patent should play out in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, during oral arguments held in Boston on Monday. 

Expert Analysis

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • New FCPA Guidance May Flip The Whistleblowing Script

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s updated Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines lay out a new incentive structure that may put multinational U.S.-based companies in an unusual offensive whistleblowing position, potentially spurring them to conduct external investigations of their foreign rivals, says Markus Funk at Perkins Coie.

  • Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

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    Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

  • New FCPA Guidance Creates 5 Compliance Imperatives

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    In light of new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines that mark a fundamental shift in enforcement priorities, companies should consider several specific steps to ensure compliance, from enhanced due diligence to robust whistleblower protections, says Andrew Wirmani at Reese Marketos.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • DOJ Enforcement Trends To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

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    Recent investigations, settlements and a declination to prosecute suggest that controlling the flow of goods into and out of the country, and redressing what the administration sees as reverse discrimination, are likely to be at the forefront of the U.S. Department of Justice's enforcement agenda the rest of this year, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • DOJ's 1st M&A Declination Shows Value Of Self-Disclosures

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent decision not to charge private equity firm White Deer Management — the first such declination under an M&A safe harbor policy announced last year — signals that even in high-priority national security matters, the DOJ looks highly upon voluntary self-disclosures, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Federal Construction Considerations Amid Policy Overhaul

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    The rapid overhaul of federal procurement, heightened domestic sourcing rules and aggressive immigration enforcement are reshaping U.S. construction, but several pragmatic considerations can help federal contractors engaged in infrastructure and public construction avoid the legal, financial and operational fallout, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • How High Court Ruling Can Aid Judgment Enforcement In US

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    In CC/Devas (Mauritius) v. Antrix, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that only two steps are required to keep a foreign sovereign in federal court, making it a little easier for investors to successfully bring foreign states and sovereign-owned and -controlled entities into U.S. courts, says Kristie Blase at Felicello Law.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Justices' Review Of Fluor May Alter Gov't Contractor Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review Hencely v. Fluor, a case involving a soldier’s personal injury claims against a government contractor, suggests the justices could reconsider a long-standing test for determining whether contractors are shielded from state-tort liability, says Lisa Himes at Rogers Joseph.

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