Ted Olson Ted Olson speaks at the U.S. Supreme Court after DACA arguments on Nov. 12, 2019. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

Prominent Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher lawyers in Washington and Los Angeles are working with Morrison & Foerster on behalf of Amazon.com Inc. to sue the U.S. Defense Department over its decision to award a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to rival Microsoft Corp.

The Gibson Dunn team on the complaint, filed Friday in the U.S. Federal Claims Court, includes veteran Supreme Court advocate Ted Olson and Theodore Boutrous Jr., whose First Amendment media advocacy has pitted him against the Trump administration. Olson, who served as President George W. Bush administration's top appellate lawyer, earlier this month argued against President Donald Trump's move to rescind an Obama-era immigration program benefitting 700,000 so-called Dreamers who arrived as children.

Amazon's suit was filed under seal but accompanying court papers show the company could argue Trump's animus toward Amazon—focused partly on its ownership of The Washington Post—played into the Pentagon's surprise decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract to Microsoft. Trump regularly assails news reports that question his decision-making and leadership, and he has publicly criticized Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Kevin Mullen, co-chair of Morrison & Foerster's government contracts and public procurement practice, is lead counsel for Amazon in its Federal Claims lawsuit. Robert Metzger of the Washington litigation boutique Rogers Joseph O'Donnell is the chief lawyer for Microsoft, which intervened in the case to defend the Pentagon's award.

"We believe the facts will show they (DoD) ran a detailed, thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter were best met by Microsoft," Microsoft said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The case was assigned to Judge Patricia Campbell−Smith, who has served on the Federal Claims bench since 2013. Campbell-Smith was the court's chief judge from 2013 to 2017. The Washington-based Federal Claims court is home to multibillion-dollar government contract fights and other suits seeking monetary damages against the U.S.

Amazon's team from Gibson Dunn includes F. Joseph Warin, who leads the 200-lawyer litigation department in the firm's Washington office. Warin is also co-chairman of Gibson Dunn's white-collar defense and investigations group. Gibson Dunn's Andrew Tulumello, a veteran appellate lawyer, is also on the Amazon team, with partner Daniel Chung. The Los Angeles-based partners advising Amazon include Eric Vandevelde and Richard Doren.

Olson and Boutrous did not immediately comment Saturday. Boutrous was lead counsel for CNN reporter Jim Acosta, who successfully sued the Trump White House last year after it denied him media access. Boutrous is separately advocating for a Playboy columnist in a case against the White House pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Boutrous' observations and legal analysis has earned him tens of thousands of followers on Twitter.

In addition to Mullen, the Morrison & Foerster team includes J. Alex Ward, co-chair of the government contracts practice, and Washington associates Sandeep Nandivada, Caitlin Crujido and Alissandra Young.

Oracle Corp., eliminated from the bidding war over a $10 billion U.S. Defense Department cloud-computing contract, is pressing its claims in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Oracle is represented by Craig Holman, who leads the government contracts and national security practices at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer.

 

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