Aerospace & Defense

  • December 19, 2025

    GAO Denies Challenge To $17M Arlington Cemetery Deal

    One Virginia small business failed to persuade the U.S. Government Accountability Office that the Army erred when it awarded a nearly $17 million deal to another Virginia small business for customer care center support for Arlington National Cemetery.

  • December 19, 2025

    Court Nixes Labor Requirements From Army Corps Contract

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims granted a construction company's request to strike negotiated labor prices and work terms from a hurricane-mitigation contract with the Army Corps of Engineers, finding the requirements were unrelated to the project's needs.

  • December 19, 2025

    NLRB Prosecutors Drop Challenge To SpaceX Severance Pact

    National Labor Relations Board prosecutors have dropped a challenge to SpaceX's severance agreement that spurred a fight over the agency's constitutionality, telling a Texas federal judge that "further proceedings would not effectuate the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act."

  • December 19, 2025

    Medical, School Groups Seek Order Halting $100K Visa Fee

    A medical practice in rural North Carolina and other employers asked a federal judge Friday to block enforcement of the Trump administration's $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, arguing the "massive" fee hike will inflict irreparable harm on their communities.

  • December 19, 2025

    Fed Circ. Says Gov't Had No Duty To Return Afghan Properties

    A panel of the Federal Circuit has determined that the U.S. Department of State had no contractual obligation to physically return villas and parking areas it leased from two Afghans after the Taliban seized the properties and terminated the leases.

  • December 18, 2025

    NY Jury In FARA Trial Over China Ties Says It's Deadlocked

    The Brooklyn federal jury weighing the fate of a former top New York gubernatorial aide accused of secretly acting as a foreign agent for China said Thursday that it cannot reach a unanimous verdict, after five days of deliberations.

  • December 18, 2025

    Feds Admit Role In DC Air Crash; Judge Reiterates Gag Order

    The U.S. government admitted partial liability in court for the deadly midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines plane, and subsequent comments to the media from one of the victims' attorneys prompted a sanctions threat from the judge.

  • December 18, 2025

    DC Circ. Told Transferred Ethics Suit Bolsters Newman's Case

    Suspended Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman is contending that a decision in which an ethics complaint against a Fourth Circuit judge was transferred out of his home court bolsters her argument that her fellow circuit judges shouldn't have investigated her fitness to remain on the bench.

  • December 18, 2025

    Top Trade Secrets Decisions Of 2025

    The Ninth Circuit clarified the rules of engagement in trade secrets disputes with guidance on when confidential information must be precisely detailed during litigation, and jurors delivered a $200 million verdict against Walmart over product freshness technology. Here are Law360's picks for the biggest trade secrets decisions of 2025.

  • December 18, 2025

    UC Researchers Near Reinstating $7B In DOE Grants

    A California federal judge said Thursday she's inclined to grant a preliminary injunction ordering the Trump administration to reinstate $7 billion in Department of Energy grants awarded to researchers, saying they were canceled with form letters similar to those she's previously found to violate the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • December 18, 2025

    Apollo Could Fetch $12B For Atlas Air, And More Rumors

    The past week saw no lack of chatter about potential sales, backdoor discussions, fundraises, initial public offerings and activist investor power moves.

  • December 18, 2025

    Dems Urge Scrutiny Of AT&T, SpaceX Spectrum Deals

    Congressional Democrats are pushing Trump administration officials to further scrutinize AT&T and SpaceX's plans to obtain wireless spectrum licenses from the telecommunications company EchoStar.

  • December 18, 2025

    Bad River Band Sues Army Corps Over Pipeline Reroute

    A Wisconsin tribe is seeking to void a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for the construction of a new 41-mile section of Enbridge Inc.'s Line 5 oil pipeline that will encircle its reservation, alleging that the agency failed to conduct required environmental reviews.

  • December 18, 2025

    NC Construction Exec Admits To $6M Bid-Rigging Scheme

    A North Carolina construction company executive pled guilty to a conspiracy to rig bids for maintenance and repair on U.S. military installations, according to a Wednesday press release from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs.

  • December 18, 2025

    GAO Says Navy Understaffing, Lax Penalties Increase Fire Risks

    A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. Navy's staffing shortages and failure to hold ship maintenance contractors accountable for violating safety protocols have contributed to an increased risk of fires.

  • December 17, 2025

    GAO Partly Backs DOD Contract Protest Because Of Redactions

    Heavy redactions from the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency in natural gas contract proposals prevented the U.S. Government Accountability Office from assessing whether two bidders deserved their awards, the GAO said Wednesday as it partially sustained an Oklahoma natural gas supplier's protest.

  • December 17, 2025

    Senate Sends $900B Defense Bill To Trump's Desk

    The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed a $900.6 billion defense policy and budget bill for 2026, which includes a provision aimed at putting pressure on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to release unedited video of boat strikes carried out in international waters near Venezuela. 

  • December 17, 2025

    Shutdown Deal Bars Federal Firings Until Feb., Judge Says

    A California federal judge said Wednesday she'll grant a preliminary injunction barring layoffs of federal workers from several agencies before Jan. 30, saying legislation that ended the government shutdown prohibits the layoffs, but she added she might pause her order while the government appeals.

  • December 17, 2025

    Pentagon Must Justify JAG Firings Under New NDAA

    Under the annual defense policy bill that was sent to the president's desk on Wednesday, the Pentagon will have to explain its firings of military lawyers — a provision that comes after the Trump administration controversially dismissed its top military lawyers at the beginning of the year.

  • December 17, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Says Biz Can Recover Damages For Building Loss

    The Federal Circuit revived an Illinois business's claim on Wednesday for $460,000 in damages after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revoked the company's lease to operate a wedding and event venue at a Carlyle Lake recreation center and took its building. 

  • December 17, 2025

    Ex-Leader Of Veterans Group Charged With Wire, Tax Fraud

    A former leader at an Idaho nonprofit veterans organization was indicted on accusations of defrauding the organization and filing false tax returns, federal prosecutors announced.

  • December 17, 2025

    North Carolina's Lumbee Tribe Set To Be Federally Recognized

    The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is set to receive federal recognition after the U.S. Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, which included legislation that, if signed by President Donald Trump, will grant the tribe the long-awaited status.

  • December 17, 2025

    Philly Agency Sued Over Police Officers' Brain Cancer

    A public development corporation in Philadelphia has been sued by a city police officer and the estates of two deceased officers who developed brain cancer allegedly from toxic chemicals present in a converted Army building used as the police department's narcotics unit headquarters.

  • December 16, 2025

    Arms Broker Sues Explosives Co. Over Subpar Product

    An arms broker sending munitions to support Ukraine has sued a Pennsylvania-based explosives manufacturer for allegedly grossly overselling its ability to provide high-quality explosives and secure faster-than-average export licenses, claiming the company is now refusing to return a $2.1 million deposit. 

  • December 16, 2025

    DOD To Reevaluate Discharges Over COVID Vax Refusal

    The U.S. Department of Defense said on Tuesday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a reevaluation of the discharge status of service members who were involuntarily removed from the military after they refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Expert Analysis

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Patent Ambiguity Persists After Justices Nix Eligibility Appeal

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    The Supreme Court recently declined to revisit the contentious framework governing patent eligibility by denying certiorari in Audio Evolution Diagnostics v. U.S., suggesting a necessary recalibration of both patent application and litigation strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • How Trump Cybersecurity EO Narrows Biden-Era Standards

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    President Donald Trump recently signed Executive Order No. 14306, which significantly narrows the scope and ambition of a Biden executive order focused on raising federal cybersecurity standards among federal vendors, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

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    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • Deep-Sea Mining Outlook Murky, But May Be Getting Clearer

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    U.S. companies interested in accessing deep-sea mineral resources face uncertainty over new federal regulations and how U.S. policy may interact with pending international agreements — but a Trump administration executive order and provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act should help bring clarity, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • A Look At Key 5th Circ. White Collar Rulings So Far This Year

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    In the first half of 2025, the Fifth Circuit has decided numerous cases of particular import to white collar practitioners, which collectively underscore the critical importance of meticulous recordbuilding, procedural compliance and strategic litigation choices at every stage of a case, says Joe Magliolo at Jackson Walker.

  • High Court Cert Spotlights Varying Tests For Federal Removal

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    A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, a case involving the federal officer removal statute, highlights three other recent circuit court decisions raising federal removal questions, and serves as a reminder that defendants are the masters of removal actions, says Varun Aery at Hollingsworth.

  • How Cos. In China Can Tailor Compliance Amid FCPA Shifts

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently updated Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement guidelines create a fluid business environment for companies operating in China that will require a customized compliance approach to navigate both countries’ corporate and legal systems, say attorneys at Dickinson Wright.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Privity, Pressure, Procedural Traps

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    Three recent decisions from the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims offer fresh lessons for contractors navigating the procedural edge of Contract Disputes Act litigation, says Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

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