North America - United States • Government
DLA Piper LLP (US)
DLA Piper LLP (US) enjoys long-standing trusted advisor relationships with government contractors in the defense, logistics, tech, and energy spaces, who regularly retain the team for investigations, M&A, claims, disputes, and compliance counseling. Sam Knowles and Dawn Stern have jointly assumed leadership of the Washington DC-based team. Knowles runs the gamut of litigation and client counseling, including high profile bid protests for Loyal Source, commercial item contract counseling for UPS, and incorporating expertise in IP, data rights, and FCA issues. Stern’s bread and butter is litigation, collaborating with the firm’s white collar experts on investigations, as well as undertaking claims and disputes work for clients like ANHAM. Former chair Richard Rector remains engaged on bid protests, claims, and disputes. Daniel Cook works extensively with the pharmaceutical, medical device, and life sciences sectors, and Brad Jorgensen in Austin focuses primarily on M&A support.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Richard Rector and Dawn Stern are both top notch and we enjoy working with them. They are responsive and practical.’
‘The team is extremely knowledgeable in this area with relevant experience necessary to provide valued advice. Additionally, the advice received is actionable, which is extremely important in a fast-paced in-house environment. Also, the team is collaborative, extremely responsive, and genuinely agreeable to work with.’
‘Sam Knowles is a great partner to in-house attorneys. He is accessible, extraordinarily knowledgeable, a problem solver, and very responsive. He is able to work directly with business colleagues in an appropriate manner, and I can trust that he will expend the appropriate resources in providing outside counsel legal support.’
‘The DLA Piper team has a deep understanding of all aspects of government contracting. They provide valuable perspective on the issues we face, and because of their knowledge of our business, they are able to provide insights that are relevant to our company.’
‘The team is very responsive, and they quickly orient themselves to applicable deadlines. They have also paid attention to our department's diversity goals and made an effort to help us achieve those goals. ’
‘Sam Knowles knows our business and our operations well. This knowledge allows Sam to focus on the issues that impact us and tailor his guidance accordingly. It also drives efficiency and has earned him a strong reputation among our businesspeople.’
‘This practice is comprised of attorneys having extensive experience with contracts not only with the US Government, but with governments around the world. We do business around the world, and have always been able to rely on this practice regardless of the jurisdiction.’
‘Sam Knowles is our primary contact, and the attorney we turn to with any questions concerning our contracts with the US Government. His wealth of experience allows him to predict the question we are going to ask before we fully describe the fact pattern of a given issue.
Key clients
- United Parcel Service Inc.
- Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
- General Electric Company
- HP Inc.
- Allied Universal
- Rolls-Royce Corporation
- G4S Ltd.
- Loyal Source Government Services LLC
- Chemonics International Inc.
- American International Group Inc.
- Euclid Transactional LLC
- Berkley Transactional
- Liberty Global Transaction Solutions
- Swift & Staley Inc.
- Renovus Capital Partners
- ANHAM FZCO
- Luma Energy LLC
- ICF International Inc
- Inserso Corporation
Work highlights
- Successfully protested the disqualification of G4S from four procurements for US embassy security services before the COFC.
- Successfully represented Loyal Source Government Services in protesting a $1bn contract for medical-screening services before the GAO.
- Successfully assisted ANHAM with mediating a contract claim for $34m for costs arising from the termination of a food-supply contract in Afghanistan.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Sam Knowles, Dawn Stern