We are pleased to announce that a record nine attorneys from Blank Rome’s nationally recognized Government Contracts group have been appointed to leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) Public Contract Law Section for the 2025–2026 term.
Visit our website to learn more about their roles and ABA’s Section of Public Contract Law.
February 26, 2025
2:00–4:00 p.m.
McLean, Virginia
Blank Rome partner Jennifer Short will serve as a panelist at the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Section of Public Contract Law’s “Roundtable on Impact of New Administration on Government Contracting,” taking place in McLean, Virginia, on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., with a light reception to follow. A virtual participation option will be available.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The panel will discuss the impact of the new administration on government contracting, including the President’s Executive Orders regarding DEI and how to respond to them; stop works, terminations, and other contract actions and what contractors can be doing in light of them; and the legal issues surrounding a decision by the Executive Office not to spend appropriated funds.
Panelists:
For more information, please visit the registration page.
Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that eight attorneys from the firm’s nationally recognized Government Contracts group have been appointed to leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section for the 2024–2025 term.
Visit our website to learn more about their roles and the Section of Public Contract Law.
Blank Rome is pleased to host two upcoming American Bar Association (“ABA”) Public Contract Law (“PCL”) Committee meetings in September.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
12:00–1:15 p.m. EDT
Blank Rome’s Washington, DC office will host the annual ABA PCL Bid Protest Committee “Back to School” panel, with a virtual option. This will be followed by a Vice-Chair Planning Session from 1:15 to 2:00 p.m. Committee co-chair and Blank Rome Government Contracts partner Elizabeth N. Jochum will serve as a panelist, along with Samantha Lee (Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Government Accountability Office), Kayleigh Scalzo (Partner, Covington & Burling LLP), Andy Smith (Chief of Bid Protests, U.S. Army), and Evan Williams (Counsel, Mayer Brown LLP). Panelists will discuss important bid protest decisions and developments that you may have missed over the summer. For more information, and to register, please visit: Bid Protest Committee: Annual “Back to School” Panel.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
12:00–1:00 p.m. EDT
Blank Rome’s Washington, DC office will host a meeting of the ABA PCL Intellectual Property Committee, with a virtual option. Committee co-chair and Blank Rome Government Contracts attorney David Bodner will serve as panel moderator, and the panel will include Ted Jung (PEO IWS Chief Architect, Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters), Rizlane Riahi (Deputy Section Head OGC, Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters), and Chinedum Okparaeke (Legal Counsel, Anduril Industries). The panel will discuss the topic, “Consider This When Purchasing or Selling Software,” including pre-award data rights considerations when purchasing software as required by the 2023 changes to DFARS Subpart 227.72. For more information, and to register, please visit: Consider This When Purchasing or Selling Software.
Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that nine attorneys from the firm’s nationally recognized Government Contracts group have been appointed to leadership roles in the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) Public Contract Law Section for the 2023–2024 term, marking the highest number of ABA Public Contract Law Section leadership positions held by our attorneys in the firm’s history.
Visit our website to learn more about their roles and the Section of Public Contract Law.
Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that partner Dominique L. Casimir, who serves as co-chair of the firm’s General Litigation group, received the American Bar Association Section of Public Contract Law‘s (“the Section”) Section Chair’s Special Recognition Award.
Please visit our website to learn more about Dominique’s award.
Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that partners Dominique L. Casimir, Justin A. Chiarodo, Stephanie M. Harden, Luke W. Meier, and Jennifer A. Short; senior counsel David M. Nadler; and associate Robyn N. Burrows, of the firm’s nationally recognized Government Contracts group, have been appointed to leadership roles for the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) Public Contract Law Section.
They will serve in the following roles for the 2021–2022 term:
The ABA Section of Public Contract Law serves to provide balanced recommendations on procurement policy, provide a forum to engage with colleagues across all segments of the procurement industry, and gain insight into and develop unique perspectives of federal, state, and local public contract law. For more information, please visit the Section’s webpage.
Dominique L. Casimir and Justin A. Chiarodo ●
A few weeks ago we wrote about our Government Contracts practice group’s decision to opt in to the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge (the “Challenge”) launched by the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Section of Public Contract Law. The 21-Day Challenge was a syllabus of 21 daily assignments—curated for the ABA by Dominique Casimir—focusing on the Black American experience, including Black history, identity and culture, the experience of anti-Black racism in America, and the intersection between systemic racism and the legal profession.
What We Did: We invited our clients to participate with us in a series of weekly discussion groups to share perspectives on the racial equity movement currently underway in this country, to reflect on how we got here, and to challenge ourselves to consider what we are doing—in our respective workplaces, and as individual lawyers—to work towards racial equality. This experience was unlike anything we have done with our clients before, and admittedly we were not sure how clients would respond when we invited them to engage with us in an ongoing series of small-group, candid discussions about a topic as sensitive as race. We were incredibly humbled that so many of our clients enthusiastically welcomed this opportunity.
Continue reading “Our Clarion Call: Thoughts on Our 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge”Dominique L. Casimir and Justin A. Chiarodo ●
This will not be a typical Government Contracts Navigator post. But it concerns an issue as important to the government contracts bar as any new law, regulation, or judicial decision. We all have stories about how we came to practice in this vibrant field, which plays such a critical role in protecting our nation and advancing the public policies of the United States—including due process, fair competition, and equal opportunity. But we cannot ignore the reality that the great diversity of the government contracts law practice is not well-reflected in our bar of practitioners.
The events of recent weeks have led us to think hard about we what can do to help achieve greater racial diversity in our practice area. As lawyers, we typically solve the most complex problems we face by developing creative teams whose members are open to learning, collaborating, and communicating. That is why, as a practice group, we’ve jumped at the chance to participate in the ABA Section of Public Contract Law’s 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge (the “21-Day Challenge”). We believe that the 21-Day Challenge gives us an opportunity to learn, collaborate, and communicate with one another on one of the most pressing and important challenges in our professional lives: creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive government contracts bar. Our practice group is “all in,” and we invite you to join us as we answer the ABA Section of Public Contract Law’s invitation to participate in the 21-Day Challenge.
Continue reading “Our Clarion Call: Join Us in the ABA’s 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge”
