INTRODUCTION
Legal compliance within the defence sector isn’t just important, it’s mission-critical. For businesses navigating national security, international trade, government procurement and other regulatory challenges, trusted legal and commercial insight makes all the difference.
That’s where Womble Bond Dickinson’s Global Defence and Security Solutions team comes in. Our transatlantic, multi-disciplinary team operates from key defence sector hubs:
In the UK we have offices in Bristol (the heart of UK defence procurement), the Solent region and Plymouth (naval, cyber security and autonomous systems research), Newcastle (a growing defence manufacturing base) and Edinburgh and London.
In the US we have offices in Washington D.C., Huntsville (Space & Missile Defence), Charleston (naval), Charlottesville (naval), Greenville, Houston (next generation air defence), Tysons Virginia, Charlotte and Silicon Valley (cyber and tech).
We work as one integrated team, cutting across practice areas to deliver seamless support.
For companies in the defence and security space, our tailored solutions include:
Our differentiators:
We maintain government clearances for our lawyers who require access to sensitive government information.
Our team includes:
Former Acting Associate General Counsel for the Mission and International Law Division of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) Office of General Counsel (OGC); and Special Advisor for the Department of Defence (DoD).
Former Senior Counsel to the Maritime Services division of BAE Systems.
Former Presidential appointee as the first General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the highest ranking legal official at DHS.
Former Presidential appointee at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); and former Senior Counsel for the U.S Senate Judiciary Committee.
A former officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps.
Former U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) Soldier.
Security solutions
Some of our practice areas of specific relevance to the defence and security area include:
White-collar defence, investigations, and regulatory enforcement
International trade and national security
Competition and antitrust
Intellectual property and AI
Data privacy/cyber security
Economic development
Domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions and other transactions
Government contracts and procurement
Aerospace and defence sector
We provide the full spectrum of legal services to the aerospace and defence industry and are particularly sought after for our counsel on regulatory matters, including anti-corruption, export control, and economic and trade sanctions, as well as export sales and bidding, intellectual property and technology, defence procurement, supply chain management, litigation, and corporate transactions.
Our team brings deep experience across both the UK and US markets. Many of our lawyers have held in-house roles and possess security clearance.
WHAT WE ADVISE ON
- Export control and economic and trade sanctions
- Ownership of technology and IP rights
- Digital Technology and the legal aspects of cyber security
- Commercial agreements, including government bids and procurement
- NDAs, support agreements, and maintenance contracts
- Regulatory requirements, operating permits and HSE issues
- Real estate • Project finance, banking facilities, and tax considerations
- Anti-bribery and corruption
- Shared data environments and data licensing
- Infrastructure and construction
- Recruitment, redeployment, or redundancies
- DEFCONs, DSPCR, FARS, and DFARS
- Sales contracts, logistics agreements and international trade
- Mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring.
EXAMPLES OF WORK
- Serve as outside patent counsel to one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers and defence corporations
- Assisted major aircraft manufacturer in developing and implementing global export control and economic/trade sanctions compliance programme
- Provided compliance and contract formation support to aerospace companies providing space launch services to the federal government
- Prepare and negotiating master purchase agreements for development, production, and support phases of OEM aircraft programs, including addressing complex intellectual property provisions, harmonising suites of terms and conditions, advising on legal options in relation to delays and disruption mitigation and workarounds and the resolution of vendor disputes
- Developed supplier framework agreements for a defence consultancy business
- Handled due diligence and restructuring work for a tier 1 defence company
- Provided support to an overseas agreement for the provision of warship parts.
