The Value We Bring to the Client
Relationship
First and foremost, our approach at K&L Gates is to invest in the relationship. Our clients
often require real-time advice on government sales and channel opportunities and
regulatory and investigatory issues. To deliver proper counsel on these matters, we focus
at the outset of the relationship on educating ourselves about the client’s products,
services, market strategy, compliance systems, and other core aspects of the client’s
public sector contracting operations.
Second, we anticipate and forecast sea changes in regulatory and litigation trends
affecting government contractors and prepare our clients to adapt. We assist clients every
day on cutting-edge issues such as protection of IP developed under or brought to a
government contract; investigating and reporting matters subject to the mandatory
disclosure provisions of the recent FAR ethics/disclosure rule; and structuring
government contracts corporate operations to minimize regulatory burdens and facilitate
regulatory compliance.
Third, in an increasingly hostile legal environment, we are highly experienced in assisting
clients in procurement fraud investigations and related proceedings such as the defense of
government contractors and subcontractors in litigation under the U.S. Civil False Claims
Act (FCA). The FCA has become a powerful and increasingly utilized enforcement tool
by the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, the qui tam or
whistleblower provisions of the FCA, which allow for private parties to file a lawsuit in
the name of the United States, have increased risk significantly for contractors. We have
a dedicated team – which often works in tandem with members of the government
enforcement practice – that litigates FCA matters. In the past year, the team has
triumphed on two high-profile motions to dismiss FCA cases against two of the largest
government IT contractors in the United States – Hewlett-Packard and EMC.