Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP
Gordon Coffee is a litigation partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Coffee’s success in litigating multimillion-dollar claims by and against energy companies has led to his being repeatedly recommended for energy litigation by Legal 500. Among the energy companies for whom he has served as lead trial counsel are Midland Cogeneration Venture, Allegheny Energy Supply, and USGen New England. Coffee also has effectively represented several other businesses in complex commercial litigation at the trial and appellate levels.
Besides commercial litigation, Coffee has defended energy and health-care companies in battles with federal agencies in federal court and administrative proceedings. He recently won summary judgment for a company seeking a multimillion-dollar refund from a federal agency and assisted hydroelectric generators in challenging onerous license conditions imposed by another federal agency. In the health-care arena, he convinced the D.C. Circuit to overturn regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that prohibited physicians from charging technical fees for surgical procedures on a per-use basis, and he secured an injunction barring the Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing Stark Act regulations against lithotripsy providers.
Moreover, Coffee has successfully represented several energy companies in federal agency investigations. Notably, he has secured nearly a dozen favorable resolutions of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) investigations and audits. In several cases, he persuaded FERC or NERC to take no adverse action against the company or to dismiss proposed notices of violations. In other instances, his efforts resulted in substantial reductions in penalties proposed by the agency and helped his clients avoid expensive mitigation and compliance plans.
Director, Electricity Law Initiative, Harvard Law School
Ari Peskoe is the Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program. He has written extensively about electricity regulation, on issues ranging from Constitutional challenges to states’ energy laws to federal regulation of distributed energy resources. Prior to the Environmental and Energy Law Program, Ari was an associate at a law firm in Washington, D.C. where he litigated before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about the Western Energy Crisis. Before that, Ari was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana and spent two years trying to bring the 2012 Olympics to New York. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in electrical engineering and business.
Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Franklin Turner is a Partner and Co-Leader of the Government Contracts & Export Controls Practice Group. He is an innovative business lawyer with significant experience resolving complex government contracts issues for a broad array of companies – ranging from multinational Fortune 100 corporations to mid‑market and small businesses. Mr. Turner routinely represents clients in the aerospace, defense, information technology, health care and industrial supply sectors.
Mr. Turner’s multifaceted practice includes assisting companies with comprehensive claims for payment, prosecuting and defending bid protests, counseling companies regarding small business regulations and related issues, conducting internal investigations to ensure his clients’ compliance with federal procurement regulations and related statutes, preparing and submitting mandatory and voluntary disclosures, counseling prime contractors and subcontractors regarding disputes, defending companies against False Claims Act allegations, counseling companies regarding issues of cost allowability, allocability and reasonableness, designing and implementing comprehensive regulatory compliance programs, and assisting government contractors in connection with mergers and acquisitions due diligence.
Mr. Turner is a prolific author and lecturer and is routinely called upon by national and international news organizations to offer his insight regarding developments in the federal procurement industry.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Turner has represented clients in connection with disputes involving a multitude of federal government entities, including the: General Services Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, Department of State, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, Department of the Coast Guard, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Defense Information Systems Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, United States Postal Service, Defense Contract Audit Agency and Defense Contract Management Agency.
Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Alexander Major is a partner and co-leader of the firm’s Government Contracts & Export Controls Practice Group. Mr. Major focuses his practice on federal procurement, cybersecurity liability and risk management, and litigation. A prolific author and thought leader in the area of cybersecurity, his professional experience involves a wide variety of litigation and counseling matters dealing with procurement laws and federal regulations and standards. His diverse experience includes complex litigation in federal court under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act and bid protest actions. He counsels all sizes of companies on issues relating to compliance with government regulations including, among other things, cybersecurity (NIST, FIPS, FedRAMP, and DFARS) requirements, multiple award schedule compliance, Section 508 issues, country of origin requirements under the Buy American and Trade Agreements Acts, cost accounting, and small business requirements. He also regularly conducts internal investigations to assist companies ensure that they are in full compliance with the law.
Mr. Major is a contributing author to Computer Software Protection-Liability-Law-Forms, “Chapter 21 - Cloud Computing” (Thomson Reuters), 2018-present. He was also a founding editor and contributing author to the Cloud Computing Legal Deskbook (Thomson Reuters), an annual publication addressing cloud computing issues and solutions for commercial and government end users and suppliers.
Mr. Major is a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer who most recently served as a U.S. Air Force Academy Admissions Liaison Officer for the state of Maryland in the Air Force Reserves.
Mr. Major has experience handling commercial and government contract compliance and litigation matters, including cases involving False Claims Act, fraud, embezzlement, and RICO. Mr. Major has also managed complex electronic discovery and pre-trial civil matters on behalf of Fortune 500 companies and individuals in diverse state and federal civil and criminal proceedings.
Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Daniel Kelly brings over thirty years of experience to the firm’s government contracts group. His practice combines both counseling and acting as an advocate on behalf of clients doing business in the government marketplace. Dan has knowledge of the government contracting process both on a federal and state level, and the specific laws, regulations, contract clauses and dispute resolution mechanisms in this specialized area. He provides advice and guidance to clients who are in the government supply chain, either as prime contractors, subcontractors or vendors. He reviews government solicitations with clients, prepares proposals, and negotiates teaming arrangements and subcontracts with other suppliers. He helps clients build and enhance their compliance programs. He assists clients in protecting their intellectual property and proprietary information concerning their businesses when doing business with the government. He advocates for clients who wrongfully were passed over for a contract award. He prepares claims arising under government contracts as a result of change orders, delays, and terminations for default or convenience. Dan’s practice extends to a broad spectrum of industries and federal and state authorities for whom they supply research, products and services, including emerging and established biomedical, intelligence, pharma, security, and textile R&D, manufacturing and production houses working under prime and subcontracts, SBIRs, CRADAs, OTAs, and grants for DoD and civilian agencies; Medicare and Medicaid audit and investigation service providers; commercial software developers who modify their software for military applications; professional services providers; and raw materials and component suppliers to large military prime contractors.
Dan is the author of the August 2018 edition Thomson Reuters’ Briefing Papers, which provides a comprehensive review of patent rights under “Other Transaction Agreements” (OTAs) with DoD and NASA. Heavily promoted by Congress, and only partially understood by industry, OTAs are quickly becoming DoD’s and NASA’s contractual vehicle of choice to lure commercial companies to sell the Government their latest and greatest technologies. However, OTAs are not governed by standard government contracts laws and regulations, meaning there are significant changes to the common provisions of ownership and license rights incident to government contracts and grants. The Briefing Paper should be required reading before entities enter into an OTA as a vehicle for developing new technologies for NASA and DoD to ensure their company’s intellectual property efforts are properly protected
In the matters, AdvanceMed Corporation, B-415360,B-415360.2,B-415360.3 (Dec 19, 2017), and AdvanceMed Corporation, B-414373.3 (Jan 10, 2018) Dan and the Government Contracts team at McCarter successfully defended its client Health Integrity, LLC (now Qlarant) against protests launched at the Government Accountability Office challenging awards by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for Medicare and Medicaid audit and program integrity services.
Dan serves on the Board of Directors for NCMA Boston (National Contract Management Association) and NDIA New England (National Defense Industrial Association), and is a frequent speaker at NCMA and NDIA events.
Dan serves as an adjunct member of the faculty at Suffolk University Law School where he has taught Government Contracts.
Dan receives Mentor of the Year Award in recognition of his contributions and support to NCMA Boston Chapter’s 2017-2018 Program Year.
Shareholder, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Bruce J. Sarchet has focused his entire legal career on the representation of management in labor and employment law matters and has particular expertise in issues involving:
He regularly appears in state and federal courts and before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on matters involving:
With energy, enthusiasm, and intense focus, Bruce provides clients with superior quality work and exceptional client service and has earned a reputation as a hands-on problem solver. He provides consultation and representation to large, medium and small businesses across California in a variety of industries, including food and beverage, healthcare, transportation, technology, and construction. He also represents public sector employers. He crafts practical, real world solutions to workplace problems such as dealing with difficult employees and recognizing and balancing business realities and necessities with the need to minimize exposure to litigation.
For unionized employers, Bruce frequently serves as chief spokesperson in collective bargaining negotiations and provides representation in grievances and arbitration hearings. He also represents employers during union organizing drives and unfair labor practice charges under the National Labor Relations Act.
An animated, effective and entertaining public speaker, Bruce regularly makes presentations to local professional organizations on labor and employment law topics and has also presented numerous in-house training sessions and workshops to management teams at private and public employers. Bruce has published numerous articles for local business journals, providing practical, hands-on labor and employment law advice to small business owners.
From 2005 to 2013, Bruce served on the firm's five-attorney Management Committee, which handles the firm's operations. In this capacity, he oversaw thirteen Littler offices in seven states. Prior to his selection to the Management Committee, he served as the office-managing shareholder for the firm's Sacramento office and served several terms as a member of the firm's Board of Directors.
Managing Director, Econ One
Hal Singer is an expert in antitrust, consumer protection, and regulation. He has researched, published, and testified on competition-related issues in a wide variety of industries, including media, pharmaceuticals, sports, and finance. He has extensive experience providing expert economic and policy advice to regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada, as well as before congressional committees.
Dr. Singer is also a Senior Fellow at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business, where he teaches advanced pricing to MBA candidates. In 2018, the American Antitrust Institute honored Dr. Singer with an antitrust enforcement award for his work in the Lidoderm antitrust litigation.
President and Founder, International Center for Law & Economics
Geoffrey A. Manne is the president and founder of the International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center based in Portland, Oregon. He is also a distinguished fellow at Northwestern Law School’s Searle Center on Law, Regulation, & Economic Growth. In April 2017 he was appointed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, and he recently served for two years on the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee.
Mr. Manne earned his JD and AB degrees from the University of Chicago and is an expert in the economic analysis of law, specializing in competition, telecommunications, consumer protection, intellectual property, and technology policy.
Prior to founding ICLE, Manne was a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School. From 2006-2009, he took a leave from teaching to develop Microsoft’s law and economics academic outreach program. Manne has also served as a lecturer in law at the University of Chicago Law School and the University of Virginia School of Law. He practiced antitrust law and appellate litigation at Latham & Watkins, clerked for Hon. Morris S. Arnold on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, and worked as a research assistant for Judge Richard Posner. He was also once (very briefly) employed by the FTC.
Mr. Manne’s publications have appeared in numerous journals including the Journal of Competition Law and Economics, the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, the Supreme Court Economic Review, and the Arizona Law Review, among others. With former FTC Commissioner, Joshua Wright, Manne is the editor of a volume from Cambridge University Press entitled, Competition Policy and Intellectual Property Law Under Uncertainty: Regulating Innovation. Manne has also testified on several occasions before Congress and at the FCC and FTC, and he regularly files written comments and amicus briefs on key antitrust, IP, and telecommunications issues. His analysis is frequently published in popular print and broadcasting outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Foreign Affairs, NPR, and Bloomberg, among others.
Manne is a member of the American Law and Economics Association, the Canadian Law and Economics Association, and the Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics. He blogs at Truth on the Market (www.truthonthemarket.com) (of which he is also the co-founder), is a contributor at WIRED, and tweets at @geoffmanne. His scholarly publications are available at http://ssrn.com/author=175541.
Senior Fellow, R Street Institute
Prior to R Street, Adam spent 12 years as a senior fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Before the Mercatus Center, he served as the president of the Progress and Freedom Foundation. Adam has also worked for the Adam Smith Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute.
Adam has published 10 books on a wide range of topics, including online child safety, internet governance, intellectual property, telecommunications policy, media regulation and federalism.
In 2008, Adam received the Family Online Safety Institute’s “Award for Outstanding Achievement.”
Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Daniel Kelly brings over thirty years of experience to the firm’s government contracts group. His practice combines both counseling and acting as an advocate on behalf of clients doing business in the government marketplace. Dan has knowledge of the government contracting process both on a federal and state level, and the specific laws, regulations, contract clauses and dispute resolution mechanisms in this specialized area. He provides advice and guidance to clients who are in the government supply chain, either as prime contractors, subcontractors or vendors. He reviews government solicitations with clients, prepares proposals, and negotiates teaming arrangements and subcontracts with other suppliers. He helps clients build and enhance their compliance programs. He assists clients in protecting their intellectual property and proprietary information concerning their businesses when doing business with the government. He advocates for clients who wrongfully were passed over for a contract award. He prepares claims arising under government contracts as a result of change orders, delays, and terminations for default or convenience. Dan’s practice extends to a broad spectrum of industries and federal and state authorities for whom they supply research, products and services, including emerging and established biomedical, intelligence, pharma, security, and textile R&D, manufacturing and production houses working under prime and subcontracts, SBIRs, CRADAs, OTAs, and grants for DoD and civilian agencies; Medicare and Medicaid audit and investigation service providers; commercial software developers who modify their software for military applications; professional services providers; and raw materials and component suppliers to large military prime contractors.
Dan is the author of the August 2018 edition Thomson Reuters’ Briefing Papers, which provides a comprehensive review of patent rights under “Other Transaction Agreements” (OTAs) with DoD and NASA. Heavily promoted by Congress, and only partially understood by industry, OTAs are quickly becoming DoD’s and NASA’s contractual vehicle of choice to lure commercial companies to sell the Government their latest and greatest technologies. However, OTAs are not governed by standard government contracts laws and regulations, meaning there are significant changes to the common provisions of ownership and license rights incident to government contracts and grants. The Briefing Paper should be required reading before entities enter into an OTA as a vehicle for developing new technologies for NASA and DoD to ensure their company’s intellectual property efforts are properly protected
In the matters, AdvanceMed Corporation, B-415360,B-415360.2,B-415360.3 (Dec 19, 2017), and AdvanceMed Corporation, B-414373.3 (Jan 10, 2018) Dan and the Government Contracts team at McCarter successfully defended its client Health Integrity, LLC (now Qlarant) against protests launched at the Government Accountability Office challenging awards by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for Medicare and Medicaid audit and program integrity services.
Dan serves on the Board of Directors for NCMA Boston (National Contract Management Association) and NDIA New England (National Defense Industrial Association), and is a frequent speaker at NCMA and NDIA events.
Dan serves as an adjunct member of the faculty at Suffolk University Law School where he has taught Government Contracts.
Dan receives Mentor of the Year Award in recognition of his contributions and support to NCMA Boston Chapter’s 2017-2018 Program Year.
Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Alexander Major is a partner and co-leader of the firm’s Government Contracts & Export Controls Practice Group. Mr. Major focuses his practice on federal procurement, cybersecurity liability and risk management, and litigation. A prolific author and thought leader in the area of cybersecurity, his professional experience involves a wide variety of litigation and counseling matters dealing with procurement laws and federal regulations and standards. His diverse experience includes complex litigation in federal court under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act and bid protest actions. He counsels all sizes of companies on issues relating to compliance with government regulations including, among other things, cybersecurity (NIST, FIPS, FedRAMP, and DFARS) requirements, multiple award schedule compliance, Section 508 issues, country of origin requirements under the Buy American and Trade Agreements Acts, cost accounting, and small business requirements. He also regularly conducts internal investigations to assist companies ensure that they are in full compliance with the law.
Mr. Major is a contributing author to Computer Software Protection-Liability-Law-Forms, “Chapter 21 - Cloud Computing” (Thomson Reuters), 2018-present. He was also a founding editor and contributing author to the Cloud Computing Legal Deskbook (Thomson Reuters), an annual publication addressing cloud computing issues and solutions for commercial and government end users and suppliers.
Mr. Major is a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer who most recently served as a U.S. Air Force Academy Admissions Liaison Officer for the state of Maryland in the Air Force Reserves.
Mr. Major has experience handling commercial and government contract compliance and litigation matters, including cases involving False Claims Act, fraud, embezzlement, and RICO. Mr. Major has also managed complex electronic discovery and pre-trial civil matters on behalf of Fortune 500 companies and individuals in diverse state and federal civil and criminal proceedings.
Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Franklin Turner is a Partner and Co-Leader of the Government Contracts & Export Controls Practice Group. He is an innovative business lawyer with significant experience resolving complex government contracts issues for a broad array of companies – ranging from multinational Fortune 100 corporations to mid‑market and small businesses. Mr. Turner routinely represents clients in the aerospace, defense, information technology, health care and industrial supply sectors.
Mr. Turner’s multifaceted practice includes assisting companies with comprehensive claims for payment, prosecuting and defending bid protests, counseling companies regarding small business regulations and related issues, conducting internal investigations to ensure his clients’ compliance with federal procurement regulations and related statutes, preparing and submitting mandatory and voluntary disclosures, counseling prime contractors and subcontractors regarding disputes, defending companies against False Claims Act allegations, counseling companies regarding issues of cost allowability, allocability and reasonableness, designing and implementing comprehensive regulatory compliance programs, and assisting government contractors in connection with mergers and acquisitions due diligence.
Mr. Turner is a prolific author and lecturer and is routinely called upon by national and international news organizations to offer his insight regarding developments in the federal procurement industry.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Turner has represented clients in connection with disputes involving a multitude of federal government entities, including the: General Services Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, Department of State, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, Department of the Coast Guard, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Defense Information Systems Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, United States Postal Service, Defense Contract Audit Agency and Defense Contract Management Agency.
Recent Strains on Cooperative Federalism in the Energy Sector
Gordon Alan Coffee, Ari Peskoe
In statutes such as the Federal Power Act and Clean Water Act, Congress divided responsibility...
Deep Dive Episode 68 – Challenges in Regulating Cybersecurity at the Department of Defense
Franklin Turner, Alexander Major, Daniel J. Kelly
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
In this episode, Alexander Major and Franklin Turner, nationally recognized commentators in this area, will...
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Speech Police at the DMV: Regulation and Arbitrary Rule
Vague laws invite arbitrary power. Laws that require regulators to censor speech they find offensive,...
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The FDIC Refinery
It was a busy day at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The agency took...
Independent Contractor Or Employee: Sometimes, Things Are Not As Easy As A-B-C
Bruce J. Sarchet
The status of independent contractors in California has been hotly debated over the past year,...
Tech Roundup Episode 2 – The Techlash: Big Tech and Antitrust
Hal Singer, Geoffrey A. Manne, Adam Thierer
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
"Techlash" refers to a growing public concern over the behavior of big technology companies and...
Explainer Episode 4 – Civil Rights and Vanity Plates
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
Jon Kotler, a California fan of the London soccer club Fulham FC, wanted to put...
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California Assembly Bill 5 Legislation – An Expansive and Potentially Onerous Definition of Employee Status Under California State Law
The California General Assembly has been debating for the past few months whether to incorporate,...
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Key Points in the Treasury's Fannie/Freddie Paper
The important parts of the Treasury's new paper on Fannie and Freddie reform are not...
DoD’s Supply Chain in the Crosshairs: Is the Regulatory Process Being Evaded to Satisfy DoD Concerns About Cybersecurity Breaches by its Contractors?
Daniel J. Kelly, Alexander Major, Franklin Turner
Adopting safeguards to protect contractor information systems and reporting breach incidents have been part of...