There’s a New Government Contracts Boutique in D.C.

A 10-lawyer government contracts boutique in Washington D.C. is launching on Tuesday with a handful of former lawyers from major law firms and government agencies.

Called Nichols Liu LLP, the firm is founded by Robert Nichols, the former co-chair of Covington & Burling’s government contracts practice, and Andy Liu, the recent general counsel of the Social Security Administration and a former Crowell & Moring partner.

[caption id="attachment_46126" align="aligncenter” width="461"][Image “nichols” (src=https://bol.bna.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/nichols.jpg)]Liu, left, Nichols, right.[/caption]

The firm advises clients who have contracts with federal agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the State Department and the Department of Defense.

Such contractors — often times aerospace companies and other manufacturers — sue the federal government when they feel they were unfairly cut out of a bid for work. Other times, such clients need representation against False Claims Act allegations brought by the U.S. government, alleging they submitted false invoices or were otherwise dishonest about work they performed.

Since Fiscal Year 2009, the federal government has recovered about $30 billion from False Claims Act complaints, according to Liu, who said that he doesn’t see the pressure abating any time soon. Nichols said that with a tighter budget under the Trump Administration, there should be more bid protests among contractors.

“Our objective is to build to about 50 lawyers in the next five years,” said Nichols. “It’s really the same model I took to Covington,” he added, noting that he expanded the Covington practice to 50 government contract attorneys in four years.

Already, Nichols Liu has about 30 temporary attorneys working on government contracts litigation and investigations for clients that both Nichols and Liu declined to disclose, citing confidentiality concerns.

Why did Nichols leave Covington?

“I had gone to Covington with the intention of building out the group and staying for about five years to do that, and that’s how it played out,” said Nichols of his departure. “One thing I ran into was relentless conflicts, and this happens at every large firm. I found that on several occasions, I wasn’t able to serve the clients that I was closest to because of these conflicts, and I would have to turn down work and the firm made some tough decisions about which work to turn down. I tend to be pretty loyal to my clients and I wanted to be in a smaller environment where conflicts wouldn’t dictate so much of the business.”

In forming Nichols Liu, Nichols enlisted the help of Gale Steinel, a consultant, to form its business model and draft the firm’s project management process, technology and billing protocol.

In addition to Robert Nichols and Andy Liu, the firm’s senior ranks include: Derek Gilman, former General Counsel of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency; Steve Shaw, former Air Force Suspension and Debarment Official; Natalie Thingelstad, former Chief of Compliance for USAID; Craig Crotteau, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers veteran lawyer specializing in infrastructure projects; and Ambassador Robin Raphel, who has 40 years of experience in the Middle East and Central Asia.

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