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Article by: Paxton Ouellette Australia’s February 2026 announcement of a game-changing AUD 3.9 billion investment as a down payment for a new submarine construction yard in Osborne, South Australia was eye-catching. Indeed, Australia’s Minister for Defense Industry, Pat Conroy, touted: “When this shipyard is constructed and when it’s finished, it will be the only...

Article by: Nicholas Perry, Associate Ward & Berry has been keeping a close eye on the Trump Administration’s Government-wide audit of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program, which has already led SBA to issue more than 1,000 suspension notices to 8(a) firms (see our prior blog posts on the audit here...

Article by: Aaron Jackson, Partner Fifteen years ago, I led legal operations for a Department of Defense mission in the jungles of Central America. As our team began planning for redeployment back home, I identified a potential risk in our future operations plan. As a “long-shot” to get ahead of the risk, I located...

Article by: Matthew Saliman, Associate The Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in on a significant personal jurisdiction dispute that could have meaningful implications for international contractors and cross-border transactions. In Société Générale de Banque au Liban SAL v. Lelchook, No. 25-983, a Lebanese bank seeks review of a Second Circuit decision holding...

Article by: Rory Hatch, Associate In our previous post, we covered the DOL’s independent contractor classification changeup. The Wage and Hour Division issued guidance in May 2025 that the 2024 Rule would be traded for the more flexible “economic realities” framework from the 2008 Fact Sheet. At the time, we noted that a proposed...

Article by: Rory Hatch, Associate Redesignated HUBZone Areas July 1, 2026 is a critical date for thousands of HUBZone-certified small businesses across the country. When the SBA updated the HUBZone map on July 1, 2023 — reflecting data from the 2020 U.S. Census — many areas that previously qualified as Historically Underutilized Business Zones...