Photo By Jonathan Stack | Elizabeth Grant, DLA’s associate general counsel for acquisition and the most senior...... read more read more
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FORT BELVIOR, Va. -- As another week comes to an end, so does Elizabeth Grant’s nearly three-decade tenure at the Defense Logistics Agency.
DLA’s associate general counsel for acquisition, the most senior contract lawyer in the agency, has been selected to be a judge on the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.
Grant began working at DLA in 1983 at DLA Energy, known then as the Defense Fuel Supply Center, and said she believes her time at DLA has prepared her well for her upcoming venture.
“A fundamental part of my job is to give advice that complies with the law, so I have to essentially be a judge,” she said. “When either a client or a field office sends a document for my review and concurrence, I have to decide if the agency position will prevail if the action is challenged. “
After 30 years of practicing government contract law, Grant said she feels her depth and breadth of knowledge of acquisition law will serve the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals well.
“I spent my first few years at DLA doing exclusively contract litigation. Although I have not done much direct litigation since then, since I’ve been in the position where I’ve had to review and assess so many controversial issues, , I’m hopeful my transition will be smooth,” she said. “
Grant started at the fuels center as their unofficial chief trial attorney, because the center had inherited a lot of litigation over some work done for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
“Then I did advice and counsel work and became their first fraud counsel, dealing with fraud and business integrity types of issues, right when the fraud program was launching at a significant level throughout the agency,” she said.
She said it was fun to be on the ground floor of the program. In the late 1980s, she became that organization’s deputy counsel.
“I had a medley of specialty areas in DLA Energy,” she said. “Then, the DLA general counsel asked me to come to headquarters and be DLA’s legal representative on the [Defense Acquisition Regulation] Council, which I did for two years.”
Grant has been in her current position as DLA General Counsel’s associate for acquisitions for 18 years and said there have been lots of different changes in that period that made her job grow and be refreshing.
“It’s not like you’re in the same position and it hasn’t changed for 18 years,” she said.
Grant said all of her experiences in DLA have helped prepare her to be a judge on the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, where she will judge on government contract disputes within the Defense Department, and a few other organizations such as NASA.
“I’ll be issuing opinions on cases, and helping conduct alternate dispute resolutions or settlement negotiations,” she said.
Grant said she is very much looking forward to her new position, but added that she is going to miss the people in DLA General Counsel.
“The people at the [primary-level field activity] offices and headquarters have been fun to work with,” she said.
Although the acquisition lawyers in the field don’t report to headquarters, Grant has had an opportunity to meet and work with them. They report to their own chief counsel, but Grant was the head of a practice group that essentially keeps the acquisition lawyers linked up and working together as a subject matter specialty community.
“I feel I’ve brought some connection among the acquisition lawyers,” she said.
Grant said she is also going to miss the clients she’s had over the years and feels she’s had a good relationship with them.
She said her biggest challenge was often being under tremendous time pressure to issue opinions quickly, often on sensitive issues.
“The client wants a certain result and wants the lawyer to get them there,” Grant said. “So I think I’ve tried to bring a balance of always trying to get the client where they want to go, but still operating within the constraints of law.”
As well as preparing Grant for her new job, her experiences have helped her mentor the six lawyers on her team.
“She’s a great mentor,” said Amber Hassan, a DLA associate general counsel for acquisitions. “She knows a lot in all aspects of our job.”
Grant really focuses on their development and on trying to get her employees on good projects that will further their exposure to all aspects of the agency, said Hassan, who’s worked for Grant for three years.
Hassan said she was put on the Program Management Review group, a team conducting internal audits for contracting, because Grant thought she’d be good at it and to give her a chance to visit the DLA field activities.
“That was a great opportunity for me,” Hassan said. “She’s always giving advice on career progression and job-related matters.”
Grant will tell you what a good class to take is or project to work on and why, Hassan said, adding that she believes Grant helps her employees avoid getting boxed into one area and helps them experience different opportunities.
“I think it’s very important to share my thought process – why I did something a certain way,” Grant said. “It’s not enough to show them the end result. I think you have to show them the steps that got you there.”
Whether you’re a supervisor or senior person in the office, mentoring is part of your job, Grant said.
“You’re supposed to care about other people, help them improve and share with them what you know,” she said. “That is a responsibility I think is on all of us.”
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.15.2011 16:45 |
| Story ID: | 67128 |
| Location: | FORT BELVOIR, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 207 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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