National and Global Experience
Representative Engagements
Our strength is the depth of our experience and hard-fought wins.
We successfully challenged the Agency award of a contract to assist the Government of Mexico in reforming its justice system, obtaining corrective action that involved new final proposal revisions. And when our client won the second round award, we successfully defended a challenge by the prior awardee and preserved the award to our client.
When one Agency sought to use the “low-price, technically-acceptable” method for procuring $2 billion in complex consulting services, we protested the lack of specificity concerning technical acceptability and price commitments as fundamentally unreasonable, convincing the Agency to abandon the solicitation as written.
Defending our client’s award from challenges by three competitors, we persuaded the Agency to override the automatic stay of contract performance, and then successfully defended the override before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims before prevailing on the merits.
Lead counsel on behalf of a small business that supplied telephones in its lodging rooms on several overseas bases and recovered, after a decade-long litigation, over $200 million for the government’s repeated breaches of contract. In one of the 20 published decisions in the matter, the court’s decision awarding attorney fees found the team to have achieved exceptional results and to be uniquely qualified to have achieved them.
As Deputy General Counsel for Contractor Responsibility for the Air Force, Nichols Liu Partner Steve Shaw, during his 16 year term as the Air Force Debarring Official, developed what Senator McCaskill and the White House have called the “gold standard” of suspension and debarment programs. Steve has often testified before Congress and is quoted in the media as a leading authority in the area.
When a top defense contractor improperly transferred sensitive technologies to China, our team successfully obtained an affirmative determination by its military customers (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defense Logistics Agency) that it is “presently responsible” for continuing to receive Federal contract awards. The matter took on an added dimension when leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee expressed special interest in the matter, an unusual occurrence for such administrative reviews.
When a voluntary disclosure led to a suspension and pushed the entity to the brink of shuttering its doors, we successfully negotiated a grand bargain with the suspending Agency to transfer nearly all of the programs, assets, and employees to another not-for-profit and settle the False Claims Act investigation.
Represented Fortune 100 defense contractor in connection with OIG investigation into issues relating to defective pricing and false claims; successfully avoided civil, criminal or administrative actions.
Represented an overseas U.S. Department of State prime contractor in connection with parallel criminal, civil and congressional investigations relating to alleged kickbacks, fraudulent services and human trafficking in connection with over one billion dollars in government contracts; successfully avoided criminal charges and secured dismissals of civil FCA case and human trafficking case.
Represented an NGO in internal investigation relating to alleged accounting fraud, and made successful disclosure to and resolution with Agency.
Lead counsel for a Fortune 50 contractor in $90 million claim against the government, settling the case at full value after extensive negotiations with USAID and the National Security Council.
Lead counsel for a Middle East contractor negotiating multiple outstanding claims against the Army Corps of Engineers for construction projects in Afghanistan. Negotiated a grand bargain to resolve all claims, and received compensation based on a percentage of the recovery.
Represented major defense contractor in False Claims Act litigation concerning alleged conspiracy in connection with alleged misuse of U.S. aid by a former Israeli Air Force officer.
Represented a foreign construction company, the prime contractor for the building of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, in a qui tam suit alleging fraud in connection with the performance of the contract; successfully argued dismissal of the suit at the summary judgment stage and affirmance of the dismissal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Represented a munitions manufacturer in a qui tam suit alleging defective products due to product substitution and conformance with contractual specifications; secured dismissal of the suit with prejudice before trial.
Successfully handled seven simultaneous investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, two inspectors general, two congressional committees, and one foreign government for a contractor building a U.S. embassy in a politically-charged environment. We debunked nearly all of the allegations, settled outstanding areas of contention, and helped repair the public reputation by developing a series of positive articles in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
Successfully persuaded the agency and OIG to abandon bringing the case under the False Claims Act in favor of resolving matter on a contract-basis acceptable to all parties.
After three-week jury trial, successfully reduced government’s damages award to $0. Obtained reversal of liability on appeal, vacating judgment.
Secured dismissal of complaint at the trial court before any costs of discovery were incurred.
Represented a Medicare Carrier in a six-year Federal investigation prompted by a qui tam suit alleging fraud in connection with the processing of claims; successfully obtained dismissal of suit without unsealing.
Developed a statistical analysis used to secure non-intervention by U.S. Department of Justice and dismissal of suit.
Persuaded U.S. Department of Justice that civil and criminal liability was not warranted, and a remediation plan was agreed to with the EPA.
Developed factual basis for negotiating settlement of claims and counterclaims.
Joined matter after suspension, negotiated an Administrative Agreement and succeeded in terminating suspension.
After a three-year investigation into alleged falsification of safety and testing records in connection with the manufacture of aircraft parts, persuaded U.S. Department of Justice not to pursue criminal charges and settled matter civilly.
Made tactical legal arguments in the trial court to secure dismissal of the complaint.
When a subcontractor was arrested in Cuba for carrying out a U.S. Government program there, the family filed a lawsuit against our client, the prime contractor, and the Agency in tort. We developed a creative solution for the prime contractor to discretely settle the lawsuit and pass through costs to the Agency, minimizing the publicity and politically-charged atmosphere surrounding the case.
When a foreign government sought to treat a USG contractor as persona non grata and arrested two of its personnel, we resolved the issues by presenting hard facts and evidence to the highest-level ministry officials – without any word of the incident reaching the media.