Defense, National Security and Government Contracts REGULATORY AND GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Transactional, litigation and regulatory advice for companies with government business and strategic technologies.

Today’s complex, dynamic defense and homeland security environment requires businesses to redefine their relationships with governmental authorities. In this time of changing priorities, new regulations, emerging threats and untapped opportunities, companies need trusted advisors to guide them. WilmerHale’s Defense, National Security and Government Contracts practice brings together the experience, skill and judgment needed to navigate this challenging terrain.

Our team is devoted to representing clients in the defense, technology, life sciences and other industries on matters relating to national security and doing business with the US government. In its December 2009 issue, Washingtonian magazine named four of WilmerHale's lawyers to the "Top Lawyers" list in the category of national defense.

With extensive experience serving in senior national security posts in federal agencies, our lawyers provide regulatory, legislative and transactional advice to companies that supply products and services to governmental customers and to clients whose commercial operations or strategic development are affected by changing security requirements and policies. We also advise clients in government enforcement actions, federal court litigation, government contracts litigation, bid protests and other contested proceedings.

Transactional, litigation and regulatory advice for companies with government business and strategic technologies.

Today’s complex, dynamic defense and homeland security environment requires businesses to redefine their relationships with governmental authorities. In this time of changing priorities, new regulations, emerging threats and untapped opportunities, companies need trusted advisors to guide them. WilmerHale’s Defense, National Security and Government Contracts practice brings together the experience, skill and judgment needed to navigate this challenging terrain.

Read More
Gorelick, Jamie

Jamie Gorelick

Chair, Defense, National Security and Government Contracts Practice Group

Co-Chair, Strategic Response and Counseling Group

+1 202 663 6500 (t)

jamie.gorelick@wilmerhale.com

Experience

Our Defense, National Security and Government Contracts Department lawyers draw or wisdom and experience gained through senior positions in the Department of Justice, The White House and numerous departments and agencies.

Our team includes:

  • a former Deputy Attorney General and member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) and Central Intelligence Agency’s National Security Advisory Panel
  • former General Counsels to the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • a former Principal Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at the Air Force Materiel Command
  • two former Assistant Attorneys General
  • a former Solicitor General of the United States
  • a former Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury

Our department also draws on the wisdom, talent and energy of colleagues who have held a variety of other military and civilian federal agency positions.

Publications & News

View

May 3, 2013

Partners Waxman, Gorelick Among WilmerHale Attorneys to Receive Prestigious DC Rankings in Super Lawyers

The annual edition of the Washington DC Super Lawyers magazine, published by The Washington Post Magazine, listed 34 WilmerHale attorneys in this year’s rankings.

April 22, 2013

Bloomberg BNA's Privacy and Security Law Report Publishes Article by WilmerHale Attorneys

"Implementation of the Cybersecurity Executive Order and Presidential Policy Directive: Timetable and Processes," an article by Partner Jonathan Cedarbaum and Associate Leah Schloss, was published in the April 22, 2013 edition of Bloomberg BNA's Privacy and Security Law Report.

February 20, 2013

Jamie Gorelick Helps Lead ABA to Approve New Ethics Guidelines

February 1, 2013

Expanded European Union Sanctions Against Iran

January 3, 2013

President Signs New Cybersecurity Provisions in Defense Authorization Act

January 2, 2013

The False Claims Act: 2012 Year-In-Review

The upward trends in False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement that we described in our 2011 Year-In-Review continued in 2012. In the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) secured $4.9 billion in FCA settlements and civil judgments, beating the previous record by more than $1.7 billion. Federal FCA recoveries since January 2009 add up to $13.3 billion, which is the largest four-year total in DOJ history. Our full review is available in PDF format.

December 4, 2012

Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 Signed into Law

On November 27, 2012, President Obama signed S. 743, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012, into law. The Act strengthens existing protections for federal workers who disclose evidence of fraud, abuse, or waste they have encountered in the course of their employment. The new law clarifies the scope of protected disclosures, expands the class of persons protected, and corrects perceived unfairness in certain aspects of the process of seeking relief for violations.

November 7, 2012

Partner Ben Powell Joins Leading National Security Experts in The Washington Post’s Simulated Cyber Attack    

October 29, 2012

Partner David Ogden Participates in Annual Legal Reform Summit

October 1, 2012

President Obama Issues Order Prohibiting Foreign Acquisition of US Company

On September 28, 2012, President Obama issued an order prohibiting a Chinese-owned company from acquiring four U.S. wind farm project companies. Although the U.S. government has not disclosed the national security issues raised by the transaction, the Treasury Department stated that the “wind farm sites are all within or in the vicinity of restricted air space at Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility Boardman in Oregon.” Parties considering foreign investment should not become unnecessarily alarmed about the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS") review process in terms of bias against foreign investment or investments from particular countries based on this rare action. CFIUS reviews remain highly fact-dependent and parties to a transaction should broadly consider possible issues related to national security even if their business is not directly involved in defense or other national security work.