Aerospace & Defense

  • July 29, 2025

    Sens. Introduce Aviation Safety Bill 6 Months After DCA Crash

    Republican senators introduced legislation Tuesday that would mandate aircraft-tracking technology in civilian and military aircraft, alongside fresh audits of Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Army practices, six months after January's deadly midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet near Washington, D.C.

  • July 29, 2025

    Judge May Review Classified DOD Evidence In DJI Drone Case

    A D.C. federal judge said he might need to see the U.S. Department of Defense's classified reasoning for listing drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology as a Chinese military company, suggesting the unredacted evidence might not include enough information to assess whether the listing is justified.

  • July 29, 2025

    Top Gov't Contract Policies Of 2025: Midyear Report

    The Trump administration made several prominent policy moves affecting contractors this year, including rescinding Biden-era policies related to pay equity and DEI, and pushing to overhaul the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Here, Law360 examines significant policy changes from the first half of 2025 that will affect government contractors.

  • July 28, 2025

    Cadence To Pay $140M For Illegal Chip Design Exports To China

    Semiconductor technology company Cadence Design Systems agreed to pay over $140 million and plead guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit export control violations to resolve charges that it exported semiconductor design tools to a restricted Chinese military university, U.S. Department of Justice officials announced Monday.

  • July 28, 2025

    Amazon Says Geostationary Satellites Causing Interference

    Amazon is asking the Federal Communications Commission to stop authorizing new geostationary satellite operators in the non-geostationary satellite primary bands, complaining that geostationary operators are haphazardly using the spectrum designated for operators like Amazon's planned Kuiper constellation and causing interference.

  • July 28, 2025

    Judge Won't Toss Siemens' $3M Suit Over Contract Bid Costs

    A Court of Federal Claims judge won't dismiss a Siemens unit's lawsuit seeking nearly $3 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for costs it incurred preparing a bid for an energy savings project at an American Air Force base in Germany that was later canceled.

  • July 28, 2025

    Midband Spectrum Set-Aside Needed For Telemetry, FCC Told

    As the Federal Communications Commission considers shutting down more than 2,000 regulatory dockets that have become dormant, it shouldn't have its eye on a rulemaking aimed at setting aside midband airways for the aeronautical mobile telemetry, a defense contractor says.

  • July 28, 2025

    Ex-Nurse's VA Negligence Case Doubted By Seattle Judge

    A Seattle federal judge appeared unconvinced on Monday that a U.S. Navy veteran had proven substandard psychiatric care caused a psychotic episode that led to her stabbing her mother, suggesting key allegations aren't backed by testimony as a bench trial wrapped in her case targeting a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doctor. 

  • July 28, 2025

    DOJ Sued For Memo On Trump's Qatar Jet Gift

    The U.S. Department of Justice was hit with a lawsuit Monday by a press freedom organization seeking to obtain the legal memo U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi signed in May allowing President Donald Trump to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar.

  • July 28, 2025

    PREP Act Won't Save COVID Test Manufacturer From IP Suit

    The maker of swabs used in COVID-19 tests can't invoke a public health law's immunity protections to avoid patent infringement litigation, a Maine federal judge has ruled.

  • July 28, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Panel Calls For Extending Newman's Suspension

    A three-judge Federal Circuit panel recommended Monday that U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman remain suspended, saying her refusal to undergo medical tests by doctors chosen by the court is a "serious form of continuing misconduct" that is hindering an investigation into her health.

  • July 28, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    A Delaware vice chancellor last week sent several coordinated derivative suits seeking millions of dollars in damages from AT&T to trial and also chose a boutique firm to lead a potential "blockbuster" suit challenging a take-private deal of a sports and entertainment group after "heated" attacks between competing counsel.

  • July 28, 2025

    Space Tech Startup Firefly Launches Plans For $599M IPO

    Private equity-backed space and defense technology company Firefly Aerospace on Monday announced terms for its initial public offering, with plans to raise approximately $599 million.

  • July 28, 2025

    Top Gov't Contracts Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2025

    Federal courts in the latter half of 2025 are expected to decide if government contractors can immediately appeal denials of immunity and scrutinize whether the False Claims Act's whistleblower provision is constitutional, potentially affecting the government's ability to tackle fraud. Here, Law360 previews key disputes that government contractors should have on their radar in the second half of the year.

  • July 25, 2025

    Feds Redirect First Phase Of Atomic Bomb Waste To Texas

    Radioactive waste from the development of the first atomic bomb will no longer be sent to a landfill in Wayne County, Michigan, after a group of nearby communities sued to block the landfill from accepting 6,000 cubic yards of the material. 

  • July 25, 2025

    Reviewing Stewart's Latest Discretionary Denial Decisions

    Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart issued just eight discretionary denial decisions over the last week, including one that addressed arguments tying in the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act for the first time.

  • July 25, 2025

    Protest Of $32M VA Phone Deal Gets Disconnected At GAO

    A Massachusetts telecommunications company that protested a $32.7 million task order that the Department of Veterans Affairs awarded for phone replacement services failed to show any basis to revisit the award, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has decided.

  • July 25, 2025

    Ex-Credit Suisse Client Gets 2½ Years For Hiding Assets

    A Florida federal judge on Friday sentenced a Colombian-American businesswoman and former Credit Suisse client to two and a half years in prison for conspiring with family members to hide more than $90 million in assets from the IRS through a series of foreign bank accounts.

  • July 25, 2025

    FCC Won't Waive Surety Bond For NGSO Satellites

    The Federal Communications Commission said it won't waive surety bond requirements for the satellite license of an aerospace startup at the center of an alleged $250 million fraud scandal, rendering the license void since last year.

  • July 25, 2025

    Los Angeles Seeks Early Win In Military Leave Bias Suit

    The city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department urged a California federal court Friday to grant them an early win in a proposed class action alleging the city didn't grant equal sick and vacation time to service members and wouldn't promote them because of their service obligations.

  • July 25, 2025

    US Says Insurer Must Pay $5M Following Project Delays

    The U.S. government told a Virginia federal court that a Liberty Mutual unit owes an electrical subcontractor more than $5 million following delays for a school construction project at a Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.

  • July 25, 2025

    Top Gov't Contracts Decisions Of 2025: A Midyear Report

    Federal courts and the U.S. Government Accountability Office decided several consequential cases impacting government contractors this year, including weighing the legality of project labor agreement requirements and their jurisdiction over Other Transaction Authority deals. Here, Law360 reviews the top government contracts-related rulings so far in 2025.

  • July 24, 2025

    Feds Rest Crypto Laundering Case Against Tornado Founder

    Manhattan federal prosecutors on Thursday rested their case against Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm, who's accused of scheming to launder more than $1 billion in proceeds from criminal activity through the cryptocurrency tumbler and conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on North Korea.

  • July 24, 2025

    Fluor Investor Attys Awarded $2.4M For Derivative Suit Deal

    A Texas federal judge on Thursday awarded $2.4 million in attorney fees and expenses in a settlement that resolved a derivative suit against the top brass of Fluor Corp. over claims that executives covered up the engineering and construction giant's improper bidding practices for years and caused billions of dollars in losses to the company.

  • July 24, 2025

    9th Circ. Urged Not To Let $1.3B India Award Suit Drag On

    Weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an outlier Ninth Circuit decision refusing to enforce a $1.3 billion arbitral award against India, an Indian satellite communications company's shareholders are now urging the circuit court to minimize or nix briefing on issues left open by the justices.

Expert Analysis

  • Aviation Watch: Litigation Liabilities After DC Air Tragedy

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    While it will likely take at least a year before the National Transportation Safety Board determines a probable cause for the Jan. 29 collision between a helicopter and a jet over Washington, D.C., the facts so far suggest the government could face litigation claims, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • Lights, Camera, Ethics? TV Lawyers Tend To Set Bad Example

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    Though fictional movies and television shows portraying lawyers are fun to watch, Hollywood’s inaccurate depictions of legal ethics can desensitize attorneys to ethics violations and lead real-life clients to believe that good lawyers take a scorched-earth approach, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

  • Steel Cases Test Executive Authority, Judicial Scope

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    Lawsuits challenging former President Joe Biden’s order blocking the merger of Japan's Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel may shape how future administrations wield presidential authority over foreign investment in the name of national security, says Hdeel Abdelhady at MassPoint Legal.

  • Ga. Tech Case Shows DOJ Focus On Higher Ed Cybersecurity

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    The Justice Department’s ongoing case against the Georgia Institute of Technology demonstrates how many colleges and universities may be unwittingly exposed to myriad cybersecurity requirements that, if not followed, could lead to False Claims Act liability, say attorneys at Woods Rogers.

  • Perspectives

    Accountant-Owned Law Firms Could Blur Ethical Lines

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    KPMG’s recent application to open a legal practice in Arizona represents the first overture by an accounting firm to take advantage of the state’s relaxed law firm ownership rules, but enforcing and supervising the practice of law by nonattorneys could prove particularly challenging, says Seth Laver at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Critical Steps For Navigating Intensified OFAC Enforcement

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    The largely overlooked SkyGeek settlement from the end of 2024 heralds the arrival of the Office of Foreign Assets Control's long anticipated enhanced enforcement posture and clearly demonstrates the sanctions-compliance benefits of immediately responding to blocked payments, says Jeremy Paner at Hughes Hubbard.

  • AI Will Soon Transform The E-Discovery Industrial Complex

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    Todd Itami at Covington discusses how generative artificial intelligence will reshape the current e-discovery paradigm, replacing the blunt instrument of data handling with a laser scalpel of fully integrated enterprise solutions — after first making e-discovery processes technically and legally harder.

  • When Innovation Overwhelms The Rule Of Law

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    In an era where technology is rapidly evolving and artificial intelligence is seemingly everywhere, it’s worth asking if the law — both substantive precedent and procedural rules — can keep up with the light speed of innovation, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Drug Cartels' Terrorist Label Raises Litigation Risk For Cos.

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    President Donald Trump's planned designation of some Latin American drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations creates an additional and little-noticed source of legal exposure: U.S. civil litigation risk involving terrorism claims by victims of those groups, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Imagine The Possibilities Of Openly Autistic Lawyering

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    Andi Mazingo at Lumen Law, who was diagnosed with autism about midway through her career, discusses how the legal profession can create inclusive workplaces that empower openly autistic lawyers and enhance innovation, and how neurodivergent attorneys can navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with disclosing one’s diagnosis.

  • A Halftime Analysis Of DOJ's Compensation Pilot Program

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    The U.S. Department of Justice appears to consider the first half of its three-year pilot program on compensation incentives and clawbacks to be proceeding successfully, so companies should expect prosecutors to emphasize the program and other compliance-related considerations early in investigations, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Documentary Filmmaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a documentary filmmaker has allowed me to merge my legal expertise with my passion for storytelling, and has helped me to hone negotiation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important to both endeavors, says Robert Darwell at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Litigation Funding Disclosure Debate: Strategy Considerations

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    In the ongoing debate over whether courts should require disclosure of litigation funding, funders and plaintiffs tend to argue against such mandates, but voluntarily disclosing limited details about a funding arrangement can actually confer certain benefits to plaintiffs in some scenarios, say Andrew Stulce and Marc Cavan at Longford Capital.

  • Scope And Nature Of Judicial Relief Will Affect Loper's Impact

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    The practical result of post-Loper Bright rulings against regulatory actions will depend on the relief courts grant — and there has been controversy in these types of cases over whether the ruling is applied just to the parties or nationwide, and whether the action can be left in place while it's corrected, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • Trump's Day 1 Orders Augur Disruptions In Travel To US

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    While the orders President Donald Trump issued his first day in office didn't impose immediate entry bans as some speculated, they authorized greatly increased scrutiny of foreign nationals at U.S. consulates and ports of entry, and laid the groundwork for future actions that could significantly disrupt international travel, says Jennifer Kim at Moore & Van Allen.

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