Government Contracts Litigation, Compliance and AI Counsel

Practical Counsel Informed by 30+ Years’ Experience

I represent government contractors in litigation and advise them on compliance, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, proprietary information, employment, and related business risks. I know how government contractors must operate at the intersection of commercial obligations, procurement rules, regulatory enforcement, and rapidly changing technology — including cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. A contract dispute or compliance problem can threaten not only a particular project, but also a contractor’s reputation, eligibility for future work, and relationships with government customers and business partners.

I bring over 30 years of litigation experience to the table, including service as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where I handled commercial litigation trials and appeals as well as government-contract and construction disputes.

Discuss Your Government Contract Challenges With Sean

Government Contracts Litigation

Government-contract disputes frequently involve more than the terms of the government’s solicitation or contract. They may also implicate teaming agreements, subcontracts, intellectual property, employee relationships, regulatory representations, cybersecurity requirements, and the parties’ conduct during performance.

I prosecute and defend disputes involving:

  • Prime contractor and subcontractor relationships

  • Teaming agreements and joint business opportunities

  • Contract performance, delay, termination, and payment

  • Proprietary information and trade secrets

  • Employee and executive departures

  • Representations made during procurement or contract performance

  • Cybersecurity and data-security obligations

  • Construction and professional-services contracts

  • Fraud, misrepresentation, and False Claims Act-related allegations

  • Internal investigations, subpoenas, and government inquiries

  • Emergency temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions

  • Trials, appeals, and post-judgment proceedings

Whether the dispute involves the government, a teaming partner, a subcontractor, a competitor, or a former employee, I work with the client to understand both the immediate claim and its implications for the client’s ongoing government business.

Experience on Both Sides of Government Litigation

As a Trial Attorney in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, I represented the United States in commercial litigation, trials, and appeals, including government-contract and construction matters.

That experience provided an inside understanding of how the government investigates disputes, evaluates evidence, develops litigation positions, and makes decisions about settlement and trial.

In private practice, I have applied that experience in representing government contractors facing commercial disputes, regulatory concerns, investigations, cybersecurity obligations, and claims involving confidential or proprietary information.

I understand that a contractor’s litigation strategy must account for more than whether it can prevail in a particular case. Decisions may also affect customer relationships, contract eligibility, insurance coverage, security obligations, certifications, future proposals, and the company’s overall reputation in the government marketplace.

Compliance Counseling for Government Contractors

Government contractors often must comply with requirements that extend beyond those imposed on other commercial businesses. Those requirements may govern cybersecurity, controlled information, subcontractors, employee conduct, supply chains, certifications, recordkeeping, and representations made to the government.

I help contractors identify and manage legal risk involving:

  • Federal Acquisition Regulation and agency-specific requirements

  • Contractual representations and certifications

  • Cybersecurity obligations

  • Controlled Unclassified Information

  • NIST security requirements

  • CMMC and DFARS compliance

  • FedRAMP and cloud-service considerations

  • Subcontractor and vendor flow-down obligations

  • Policies, procedures, and employee training

  • Internal reporting and escalation

  • Incident response and evidence preservation

  • Internal investigations

  • Potential False Claims Act exposure

The goal is not to create compliance documentation that sits unused on a shelf. It is to build defensible processes that reflect how the organization actually operates—and to identify gaps before they become adverse audit findings, disputed certifications, investigation issues, or litigation evidence.

Artificial Intelligence and Government Contracting

Artificial intelligence offers government contractors substantial opportunities. It can assist with research, proposal development, contract administration, project management, software development, data analysis, workforce management, and operational efficiency.

It can also create significant legal and contractual risk.

Employees may enter controlled, proprietary, personal, or customer information into public AI systems. AI-generated proposal language may be inaccurate or unsupported. Vendors may train their models on contractor data or reserve broad rights to use it. Automated employment or performance tools may produce discriminatory results. AI-generated work may create questions about intellectual property, cybersecurity, human oversight, recordkeeping, and responsibility for errors.

For a government contractor, these problems can affect more than ordinary commercial liability. They may implicate contractual compliance, procurement representations, cybersecurity certifications, False Claims Act risk, and the contractor’s eligibility for future work.

AI Governance for Government Contractors

I help contractors develop practical legal controls for the selection and use of artificial intelligence, including:

  • Identifying where and how AI is being used

  • Classifying approved, restricted, and prohibited uses

  • Protecting CUI, proprietary information, trade secrets, personal data, and customer information

  • Evaluating AI vendors, contract terms, and data-use practices

  • Establishing appropriate human review and approval requirements

  • Addressing AI use in proposals and government submissions

  • Reviewing AI-assisted employment and personnel decisions

  • Preserving privilege and work-product protection

  • Establishing documentation and record-retention practices

  • Creating incident-reporting and escalation procedures

  • Training employees and management

  • Preparing for audits, investigations, discovery, and litigation

An effective AI policy must do more than prohibit employees from putting confidential information into ChatGPT. It should reflect the contractor’s actual technology, information, workforce, contracts, and regulatory obligations.

When to Call

Government contractors should consider seeking legal advice when:

  • The company is preparing for CMMC assessment or responding to a compliance gap

  • The company is considering or already using generative AI

  • Employees are using unapproved AI tools

  • A vendor is introducing AI functionality into an existing product or service

  • The company is handling CUI or other sensitive government information

  • A proposal or certification raises questions about cybersecurity or AI use

  • A prime contractor or subcontractor disputes performance, payment, or data rights

  • An employee or competitor may have taken proprietary information

  • The company receives a subpoena, inquiry, audit request, or preservation notice

  • An internal concern could develop into a False Claims Act allegation

  • A contract dispute may require immediate injunctive relief

  • The company needs to brief its board or senior leadership on AI, cyber, or compliance risk

Early legal involvement can help preserve privilege, protect evidence, coordinate technical and business teams, evaluate disclosure obligations, and prevent an avoidable problem from escalating.

Litigation Experience Applied to Compliance

Compliance advice is stronger when it accounts for how decisions will look in an investigation or courtroom.

Policies, certifications, vendor contracts, internal emails, risk assessments, training records, incident reports, and board presentations can all become evidence. The issue may not simply be whether the company had a policy. It may be whether the policy reflected actual practices, whether employees understood it, whether exceptions were documented, and whether the company responded appropriately when a problem emerged.

My litigation experience allows me to help contractors approach compliance with those questions in mind. My objective is to help clients make deliberate decisions, document them defensibly, and respond effectively if those decisions are later challenged.

Why Work With Me

I bring together government-litigation experience, commercial trial experience, and recognized credentials in privacy and artificial-intelligence governance.

  • More than 30 years of commercial litigation experience

  • Former Trial Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice

  • 30+ years’ experience litigating government-contract and construction disputes

  • Experience with internal investigations and False Claims Act-related matters

  • Certified Information Privacy Professional for the United States (CIPP/US)

  • Certified Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional (AIGP)

  • Harvard College, with honors

  • Columbia Law School

  • Law clerk to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

  • President-Elect of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel