Ogletree Deakins announced on May 21 that Jim Murphy, office managing shareholder in Washington, D.C., has been named co-chair of the firm’s newly renamed Government Contracting and Compliance Practice Group. The announcement comes as the group expands its resources to provide integrated compliance solutions throughout the full lifecycle of government contracting.
The expansion is intended to help federal contractors address increasing regulatory scrutiny and a growing range of workforce mandates. The practice group now offers support for Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) compliance, and other related areas such as cybersecurity, prevailing wage obligations, military leave under USERRA, and federal ethics laws.
“The regulatory scrutiny that federal contractors face now reaches beyond contract performance to encompass many day-to-day employment decisions and practices,” said Jim Murphy. “From a compliance and risk management standpoint, it no longer makes sense for a contractor to split its compliance strategies between employer obligations and contractor obligations.”
Murphy joins Scott Kelly, shareholder in Birmingham and Washington D.C., and Joseph Ashman, shareholder in Richmond, as co-chairs of the practice group. Murphy previously served as senior counsel at Northrop Grumman before leading labor and employment law at General Dynamics Corporation for ten years. Ashman is a former U.S. Army Captain who worked with contractors on procurement matters at Wiley Rein before serving twelve years with the U.S. Department of Justice; he was most recently Associate General Counsel at Booz Allen Hamilton. Kelly leads Workforce Analytics & Compliance at Ogletree Deakins.
“Bringing Jim on as co-chair allows us to provide even stronger support to the federal contractors who are now in the crosshairs of federal enforcement initiatives,” said Joseph Ashman. “He brings extensive litigation experience and a unique perspective from multiple in-house counsel roles with Fortune 100 companies. His insights, paired with those of the cross-functional attorneys we’ve added as advisors to this group, revolutionize the way we support contractors today.” Key members also include specialists in whistleblower defense, workforce analytics, military workforce issues, cybersecurity, prevailing wage law, global deployment matters, drug-free workplace rules, and compliance reporting.
In addition to changes within this practice area, Ogletree Deakins recently selected new leaders for four other groups: Corie Anderson will co-chair Manufacturing Industry; Scott Kelly will lead Pay Equity; Todd Duffield will head Mergers & Acquisitions; Brian Bumgardner will lead Life Sciences Industry Group.
