Aerospace & Defense

  • August 19, 2025

    2nd Circ.: Judge Erred In Remanding Vermont-3M PFAS Row

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday agreed with 3M Co. that a federal judge wrongly sent Vermont's lawsuit against the company over "forever chemicals" contamination back to state court, finding 3M moved the case to federal court in time.

  • August 19, 2025

    SpaceX Rebuffs Effort To Revisit Space Launch Rules

    SpaceX has accused a flight test coordinator, whose members include the nation's biggest aerospace companies and defense contractors, of "gamesmanship" in a new Federal Communications Commission filing, alleging the group has closed off frequencies for launch operators in retaliation for pushback to their proposal for stricter space launch coordination requirements.

  • August 19, 2025

    NASA Gets Sensor Co.'s Patent Deal Breach Claims Tossed

    A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge axed an Ohio company's claims that NASA breached contracts to license and commercialize the agency's patented sensor technology, ruling that NASA fulfilled its side of the bargain before ending the agreements.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump Signs Bill To Boost Export Control Transparency

    President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill on Tuesday that aims to provide more transparency in the U.S. Department of Commerce's export control system, which restricts foreign adversaries from obtaining critical U.S. technologies and software.

  • August 19, 2025

    5th Circ. Says NLRB Structure Likely Unconstitutional

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday upheld injunctions barring the National Labor Relations Board from prosecuting unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX and two other companies, saying the removal protections that federal labor law gives board members and agency judges likely violate the U.S. Constitution.

  • August 18, 2025

    GAO Says $868M Navy Contract Evaluation Was Not Unfair

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied a Virginia company's protest of a $868 million U.S. Navy contract for information technology support services, saying there's no proof that an unlevel playing field influenced the agency's assessment of the protester's proposal.

  • August 18, 2025

    Insurers Avoid Defending Ericsson In Terrorist Payment Suits

    Units of Travelers and Chubb have no duty to defend Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson Inc. over claims it paid protection money to foreign terrorist organizations so its projects and other business interests wouldn't be attacked, a Texas federal court ruled Monday.

  • August 18, 2025

    Honeywell Defeats Ex-Worker's 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed a proposed class action Monday alleging Honeywell violated federal benefits law by putting 401(k) forfeitures toward employer-side contribution obligations instead of defraying administrative expenses, finding an ex-worker hadn't backed up claims the spending breached fiduciary duties or caused prohibited transactions.

  • August 18, 2025

    AmeriCorps Restores $400M In Slashed Grants, Judge Told

    AmeriCorps told a Maryland federal judge Monday that the agency restored around $400 million in funding to nonprofits canceled under the Trump administration in April, saying the government doesn't plan to ax grants before they end.

  • August 18, 2025

    AI Security Co. Reports $15M Settlement With Investors

    A Massachusetts-based company whose AI-powered weapons detection product has come under scrutiny by federal regulators over allegedly exaggerated performance claims has reached a $15 million settlement in principle with investors in consolidated proposed class actions, according to a pair of filings.

  • August 15, 2025

    Nat'l Guard Deployment In States Won't Be As Easy As In DC

    President Donald Trump's power to deploy the D.C. National Guard and federalize local police lays bare the unique vulnerability of the district, but that power may be more limited in states where Trump has threatened to take similar action.

  • August 15, 2025

    Trump's Divisive 'China Initiative' May Get A Vigorous Reboot

    The Trump administration's ongoing battles with major universities may soon include the revival of an initiative that, with mixed success, targeted professors with ties to China during the president's first term, and experts told Law360 the second incarnation may be even more aggressive.

  • August 15, 2025

    4th Circ. Revives Ex-Airman's No-Fly List Claims

    The Fourth Circuit walked back its dismissal of a U.S. citizen's claim challenging his former status on the no-fly list, citing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that an individual's removal from the list does not moot their constitutional challenge.

  • August 15, 2025

    'Creative' $2.5B DuPont Deal In NJ Is PFAS Road Map For AGs

    After six years of litigation between New Jersey and E.I. du Pont de Nemours, including a series of bench trials, the chemical manufacturer agreed to a deal that committed more than $2 billion to cleaning up the Garden State from "forever chemical" contamination at four of its facilities, in the largest environmental settlement ever achieved by a single state.

  • August 15, 2025

    DC Sues Trump Over Police Takeover, Sanctuary Policies

    The District of Columbia sued President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday to halt the federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, saying the executive branch lacks authority to exert operational control over the city's law enforcement.

  • August 14, 2025

    9th Circ. Restores Boeing's $72M Loss In Electric Jet IP Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel reinstated a $72 million jury verdict against Boeing in an electric jet startup's trade secret case on Thursday and said a new judge should handle future proceedings, flagging the trial judge's late disclosure that his spouse acquired Boeing stock through an IRA during the litigation.

  • August 14, 2025

    DC Police Chief Allows Limited ICE Coordination

    The chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia issued a new executive order on Thursday allowing officers to assist federal immigration enforcement efforts by sharing immigration information of individuals not in police custody, including during traffic stops.

  • August 14, 2025

    SpaceX Calls Va. Broadband Funding Plan 'Wasteful'

    SpaceX criticized Virginia over its spending plan for the $1.48 billion in broadband funding it's set to receive from the BEAD program, saying the state "has put its heavy thumb on the scale in favor of expensive, slow-to-build fiber bias" over satellite.

  • August 14, 2025

    FCC Member Sees Special Authority As Key To Defense Tech

    The Federal Communications Commission could increasingly use its legal authority to temporarily authorize radio licenses as a way to test new wireless networks that bolster national security, an agency member said.

  • August 14, 2025

    DHS Can't Ax Suit Challenging Dissolution Of TSA Union Deal

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security can't defeat unions' suit alleging the agency's move to end a collective bargaining agreement covering Transportation Security Administration workers is retaliatory, a Washington federal judge ruled, finding the district court has jurisdiction to weigh in on the case.

  • August 14, 2025

    GAO Rejects Small Biz Protest Over Helicopter Harness Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office said an Arizona small business could not protest a fast-tracked Defense Logistics Agency procurement for helicopter engine wiring harnesses when it was unable to meet the rapid delivery schedule and did not submit a price quote.

  • August 14, 2025

    Aerospace Tech Biz Valued At $800M Following SPAC Merger

    Merlin, an autonomous flight technology company for the defense industry, on Thursday announced plans to go public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. I in a deal that was built by three law firms and would value the aerospace company at $800 million.

  • August 14, 2025

    What To Watch As FAA Preps Beyond-Line-Of-Sight Drone Ops

    With drones poised to fly as yet forbidden skies — beyond the sight line of their operators — under long-awaited potential new rules from the Federal Aviation Administration, the anticipated boon for commercial ventures will hinge on how to safeguard the wider airspace.

  • August 13, 2025

    Trump Axes Biden Competition Order And Eases Rocket Regs

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening revoked an expansive Biden-era executive order that aimed to boost competition across the U.S. economy, lower prices for consumers and increase pay for workers, while issuing his own order to ease regulations on the commercial space industry to boost American rocket launches.

  • August 13, 2025

    Shah of Iran Intel Chief Must Face Torture Claims By 3 Men

    A former top security official in the regime of Iran's former ruler, Shah Reza Pahlavi, must face a human rights abuse lawsuit by three men alleging he aided and abetted the torture of perceived political dissidents during the 1970s, a Florida federal judge said Tuesday.

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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