Thomas P. McLish focuses on complex litigation in state and federal courts.

Practice & Background

With extensive trial and appellate experience, Mr. McLish represents clients in complex commercial litigation. He primarily focuses on cases involving government contract disputes, including bid protests and matters involving allegations of fraud or false claims. He has represented owners, contractors and design engineers in complex lawsuits concerning the construction of large projects throughout the country, as well as health care companies, defense contractors and suppliers of commercial items and services.

Mr. McLish litigates before U.S. appellate and district courts, state courts, the Court of Federal Claims, federal boards of contract appeals and arbitration panels. He has handled government contract disputes before various U.S. agencies, including the General Services Administration, the departments of Defense, Navy, Air Force and Army and the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as bid protests before the Government Accountability Office.

His broad litigation experience also includes defense of securities fraud lawsuits, intellectual property litigation and consumer class actions.

From 1990 to 1995, Mr. McLish was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch. In that position, he handled civil contract, fraud and federal labor law disputes, including major weapons system procurement, construction and Fifth Amendment “takings.” From 1989 to 1990, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Robert P. Patterson Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. McLish was an editor of the Columbia Law Review.
Representative Matters

Mr. McLish has represented clients in numerous bid protests, both as protestor and intervenor. Recent examples include:

successfully protesting for a construction contractor against the award of contracts in the Middle East by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and for a provider of temporary personnel services against the State Department
successfully representing the awardee/intervenor in a GAO protest of the award of a contract privatizing debt collection by the IRS.