Wiley Rein’s Scott McCaleb Named a “Government Contracts MVP” by Law360

Washington, DC — Scott M. McCaleb, a partner in Wiley Rein’s top tier Government Contracts Practice, has been named a 2014 “Government Contracts MVP” by Law360, which notes he “has secured favorable results for his clients in noteworthy cases, helping to solidify the government contracts practice group’s formidable reputation.”  Mr. McCaleb was one of only five attorneys recognized nationwide by the publication in this practice area.

In a December 17 profile, Law360 highlighted Mr. McCaleb’s advisory work regarding the Affordable Care Act and his defense work in a pending $78 million false claims suit, as well as his bid protest work on a $4.2 billion NASA contract to develop privately owned spacecraft for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.

After the rollout of HealthCare.gov, Mr. McCaleb and his team represented CGI in its dealings with Congress.  “It was an 18-hour-a-day case, and being able to work with really smart in-house counsel and talented folks here at Wiley made it a terrifically interesting matter to work on,” Mr. McCaleb said.  “It’s always a challenge to gather, review and synthesize data when you’re talking about the amount of documents we were dealing with.”

The publication also noted Mr. McCaleb brought that same work ethic to his representation of Bollinger Shipyards Inc., which was the target of a 2011 suit alleging violation of the False Claims Act and common law fraud related to U.S. Coast Guard boats the government said were rendered unseaworthy by allegedly faulty repairs by Bollinger.  A Louisiana federal judge dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice in October 2013, and the matter is currently pending appeal.  Mr. McCaleb likewise commented that the “contributions of the entire Wiley Rein and Bollinger team cannot be overstated.”

Mr. McCaleb said he naturally fell into the profession, beginning with his undergraduate work at Brown University, which he completed on an ROTC scholarship.  He then asked to have his active duty obligations delayed so he could attend law school.  In receiving the recognition from Law360, Mr. McCaleb discussed why he decided to enter the field.  “It’s very fast-paced litigation,” he said.  “In other practice areas, major cases involving millions of dollars stick around for five or 10 years.  These cases that . . . involve[] billions and billions of dollars are decided within a hundred days.  It’s adrenaline litigation.”