Former Defense Department Lawyer Kathy Brown Joins Covington

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Apr 15, 2014, 01:45 ET

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Kathy Brown, most recently an Associate General Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense, has joined Covington & Burling, where she is expected to play a key role in the firm's aerospace, defense and security industry group.

Ms. Brown will focus on practices that intersect with transactional work for the defense industrial base. This includes advising companies on government contract cost, audit and compliance requirements; navigating all stages of the acquisition process; and handling regulatory issues concerning mergers and acquisitions in the defense industry. In addition, she will advise clients on national industrial security-related requirements, including foreign ownership, control or influence ("FOCI") determinations, and transactions involving review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Ms. Brown has more than three decades of experience at the Defense Department, where she handled government defense contracts and defense industry M&A, including competition, CFIUS and FOCI reviews. She has served as Associate General Counsel for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics in the Defense Department's Office of General Counsel since 1990. In that role, she gained significant expertise with the cost principles and the Cost Accounting Standards, the identification and mitigation of organizational conflicts of interest, and all aspects of the procurement process, from requirement definition through the final contract closeout and property administration. Prior to that, Ms. Brown served for eight years as Associate General Counsel at the Defense Logistics Agency, the Defense Department's largest logistics combat support agency.

"Kathy will be a terrific colleague, strengthening our ability to serve clients on a wide range of defense and national security matters, including regulatory, legislative, and policy matters related to government contracting and foreign direct investment," said Mark Plotkin, co-chair of the firm's aerospace, defense, and security practice.

Robert Nichols, co-chair of the firm's government contracts practice, noted Ms. Brown's regulatory experience. "Kathy brings deep regulatory expertise in cost accounting and a number of other areas that will be important to our clients."

Ms. Brown joins Covington less than six months after Roger Zakheim, former general counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, enhancing the firm's ability to advise defense clients from both a legislative and executive branch perspective.

"I look forward to assisting Covington clients in navigating the labyrinth of government acquisition regulations and the daunting M&A process in the defense industry and in CFIUS," Ms. Brown said.

Ms. Brown earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, her law degree from Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, and her master of laws degree in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.

Covington & Burling LLP, an international law firm, provides corporate, litigation, and regulatory expertise to enable clients to achieve their goals. Founded in 1919, the firm has more than 800 lawyers and offices in Beijing, Brussels, London, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC.

Contact:
Rebecca Carr
202-662-5110
[email protected]

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SOURCE Covington & Burling LLP