Public Contract Law Journal

• Karen L. Manos

Karen L. Manos is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.  In November 2004, Ms. Manos was identified by Legal Times as one of twelve “Leading Lawyers” in government contracts in the Washington, D.C. area.  The 2006 edition of Chambers USA ranked Ms. Manos among the top 22 government contracts lawyers nationwide.  Ms. Manos graduated in the top two percent of her class from the U.S. Air Force Academy (B.S., distinguished graduate, 1981), and first in her class from the Duke University School of Law (J.D., with highest honors, 1986), where she was a Note Editor for the Duke Law Journal.  Before entering private practice in 1995, Ms. Manos served as an Air Force judge advocate, and had assignments with the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Air Force Space & Missile Systems Center, the Defense Information Services Agency, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.  She has extensive experience on a broad range of government contracts issues, including complex claims preparation and litigation, civil and criminal fraud investigations and litigation, qui tam suits under the False Claims Act, defective pricing, cost allowability, the Cost Accounting Standards, suspension and debarment, bid protests, and corporate compliance programs.

Ms. Manos is the author of the two-volume book, Government Contract Costs & Pricing, which is widely recognized as the definitive text in the area.  Her publications have also appeared in the ABA Public Contract Law Journal, the Catholic University Law Review, the Nash & Cibinic Report, Federal Contracts Report, The Government Contractor, the Costs, Pricing & Accounting Report, the Government Contract Audit Report, the Iraq Reconstruction Report, and Purchasing Today.  Ms. Manos currently serves as Secretary of the American Bar Association Section of Public Contract Law and served for several years as Co-Chair of its Accounting, Cost & Pricing Committee.  She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Public Contract Law Journal; the Editor-in-Chief of the Cost, Pricing & Accounting Report; a member of the Advisory Board of The Government Contractor; a member of the Procurement Planning Division of the National Defense Industrial Association and past chair of its Contract Finance Committee; and a Fellow of the National Contract Management Association and former president of its Silicon Valley Chapter.