Aerospace & Defense

Expert Analysis

• How Canceling The Border Wall Affects Gov't Contractors

  

  President Joe Biden's cancellation of the border wall project has left some federal contractors in the lurch, but including protective flow-down termination clauses in their contracts can guard against subcontractor liability and ensure recovery, says Adrien Pickard at Shapiro Lifschitz.

• New Contractor Insights On 'Other Transaction' Bid Protests

  

  Based on recent case law, including the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ recent ruling in Kinemetrics v. U.S., contractors interested in protesting so-called other transaction agreements should focus not on whether to file but on which federal court is appropriate for doing so, say Locke Bell and Krista Nunez at MoFo.

• Girardi Scandal Provides Important Ethics Lessons

  

  The litigation and media maelstrom following allegations that famed plaintiffs attorney Thomas Girardi and his law firm misappropriated clients' funds provides myriad ethics and professional responsibility lessons for practitioners, especially with regard to misconduct reporting and liability insurance, says Elizabeth Tuttle Newman at Frankfurt Kurnit.

• Series

  Embracing ESG: Jabil GC Talks Compliance Preparation

  

  Tried-and-true compliance lessons from recent decades can be applied to companies’ environmental, social and governance efforts, especially with regard to employee training and consistent application of policies — two factors that can create a foundation for ESG criteria to flourish, says Robert Katz at Jabil.

• 3 Ways CLOs Can Drive ESG Efforts

  

  Chief legal officers are specially trained to see the legal industry's flaws, and they can leverage that perspective to push their companies toward effective environmental, social and governance engagement, says Mark Chandler at Stanford Law School.

• How Law Firms Can Rethink Offices In A Post-Pandemic World

  

  Based on their own firm's experiences, Kami Quinn and Adam Farra at Gilbert discuss strategies and unique legal industry considerations for law firms planning hybrid models of remote and in-office work in a post-COVID marketplace.

• Behind The Curtain At Commerce's Operating Committee

  

  Mi-Yong Kim at Bass Berry, former chair of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Export Administration Operating Committee, demystifies the obscure administrative body's decisions, which can make or break international transactions, and explains how the committee is poised to play a greater role as export controls become more complex.

• Bid Protest Spotlight: Standing, Line Items, Source Selection

  

  In this month's bid protest roundup, Alissandra Young and Michaela Thornton at MoFo look at three decisions from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Government Accountability Office, each involving a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs solicitation and each with its own important reminder for disappointed bidders.

• Series

  Embracing ESG: Baker Hughes CLO Talks Sustainability Team

  

  For businesses focused on addressing environmental, social and governance considerations, a legal team that can coordinate sustainability efforts across the company can help to manage risk and compliance issues, anticipate and prepare for change, and identify new opportunities, says Regina Jones at Baker Hughes.

• What Mainstreaming Of Litigation Finance Means For Industry

  

  The rush of new capital and investors into the litigation funding space is expected to bring heightened competition on price and other key deal terms, but litigants will need to be more in tune with individual financiers' proclivities, says William Weisman at Therium Capital Management.

• Boeing Case Highlights Risk For Health, Life Sciences Boards

  

  The Delaware Chancery Court's recent decision to allow a derivative action against Boeing's board of directors is especially relevant to health and life sciences company directors, who should ensure that they have the right structure, processes and people to oversee mission-critical risks, say Paul Kalb and Holly Gregory at Sidley.

• What 9th Circ. Privilege Test Means For Dual-Purpose Advice

  

  While the Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in In re: Grand Jury confirms that courts should use the primary-purpose test to determine whether communications with both legal and business purposes are shielded by the attorney-client privilege, questions on the application of the test remain, says Scott Tenley at Michelman & Robinson.

• Opinion

  The DOJ Should Ramp Up FCA Focus In PPP Enforcement

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice should utilize qui tam actions more in its Paycheck Projection Program enforcement efforts, both to maintain credibility with whistleblowers and to leverage the False Claims Act's lower burden of proof, which makes settlements easier to reach than criminal convictions, say R. Scott Oswald and Lydia Pappas at the Employment Law Group.

• Lifting The Veil On The Supreme Court's Shadow Docket

  

  Following headline-making U.S. Supreme Court emergency orders on Texas’ new abortion law, COVID-19 restrictions and more, Vetan Kapoor, counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, examines the court's so-called shadow docket and its decision-making procedures, including questions around transparency, timing and precedential effect.

• How Federal Contractors Can Prepare For An Oct. 1 Shutdown

  

  With government funding for a wide range of agencies scheduled to run out by the end of the week, federal contractors should be planning for the financial impacts of a potential government shutdown by understanding the legal landscape, and the rights and remedies that may be available to them, say attorneys at Covington.