Partner, Los Angeles
444 South Flower Street
8th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071-2901

TEL: 213.243.6200
FAX: 213.243.6330
EMAIL: tabbott@mckennalong.com

PROFILE

Tom Abbott currently serves as the Chairman of the Government Contracts practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, the largest and oldest such practice in the United States.  Since joining the firm in 1983, he has worked on a wide variety of complex administrative, international, civil and criminal government contract issues.  During the 25 years of his career, he’s argued cases before California and federal trial courts, the United States Court of Federal Claims and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals. Several of his cases have involved claims in excess of $100 million.  Tom has also successfully pursued claims under Public Law 85-804.

Tom has extensive involvement with construction contract disputes involving governments, including terminations, delay and defect claims.  Tom is currently representing construction contractors with disputes related to the Katrina rehabilitation effort and the Iraq reconstruction efforts.  He is active in the day-to-day counseling of contractors supporting the government’s move to privatization, outsourcing, and commercial contracting.  His practice also includes the implementation of compliance and ethics training programs and internal investigations.  He participated in the voluntary disclosure program at DOD since its inception and has been heavily involved in the development of the new FAR mandatory disclosure program.

Tom was directly involved in the resolution by international arbitration or mediation of contract disputes involving NATO, and the governments of Canada, Spain, Greece and Egypt, as well as commercial disputes with French, Korean and Japanese companies.  He has been extensively involved in counseling and litigation involving FMF, FMS and USAID contracts. Tom routinely assists clients on classified contract, facilities clearance, and personnel clearance issues.

He has in-depth knowledge of government procurement law, including actions under the False Claims Act; bid protests; rights in data; product liability issues involving the "government contractor defense;" subcontract disputes; and contract claim and termination issues. He is highly skilled in cases involving alleged defective pricing and cost accounting standards violations.  Tom has comprehensive experience in handling complex claims involving technology questions, including software design and development, system engineering, test and inspection, quality assurance and configuration management.

Tom graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as  a Surface Warfare Officer for seven years, including tours as a manager of a DDG shipyard overhaul, and as an Executive Support Officer for Secretaries of Defense Harold Brown and Casper Weinberger.

Chambers USA 2008 has recognized Tom Abbott as one of the leading government contracts lawyer in the nation.