Legal

The ISC’s Offices of Chief Counsel (OCC) provide internal and external customers and partners independent legal counsel and business advice on a myriad of areas to include but are not limited to, general civil law, general intellectual property, government procurements, government ethics, environmental law, human resources, and real property law. OCC is also responsible for ISC matters pertaining to the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and portions of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. OCC staff also provides legal advice on Equal Opportunity Employment matters, litigation, and personnel security hearings.

Contracts & General Law: OCC is specifically responsible for providing advice on government contracts, ethics, employment, and finance. General Law attorneys and staff review solicitations and contracts for relevant legal issues, analyze draft procurement policy and proposed clauses for legal sufficiency, and provide ad hoc legal advice on government procurements. In addition, attorneys represent DOE before the Government Accountability Office for solicitation and award protests; they also support the Department of Justice in solicitation and award protests before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Further, GL attorneys and staff review agreements with other federal agencies and non-federal entities. In the area of labor and employment law, OCC serves as ISC’s legal counsel in labor arbitrations and represents the DOE before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Regulatory Law: OCC attorneys advise ISC site offices and the ISC on environmental, safety, security, health, real estate, multi-party funded construction contracts, and historic preservation issues. They also manage cases filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act and DOE laboratory contractor agreements with the United States Enrichment Corporation.

Intellectual Property: ISC attorneys work with patents, copyrights, trademarks, data rights, the internet, and technology transfer. They provide legal support for patentable inventions from the Office of Science’s national laboratories. Employees draft and prosecute patent applications and manage the government patent portfolio. In addition, ISC patent attorneys provide comprehensive intellectual property-related legal support for technology transfer activities and major DOE initiatives, addressing issues relating to licensing, patent waivers, procurement contracts, financial assistance awards, Work for Others, Agreements for Commercializing Technology, and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements. Lastly, the IP divisions provide comprehensive copyright law support to the Office of Scientific and Technical Information and site offices nationally. All Awardees should forward a confirmatory license for each filed patent application to the originating ISC office.

Primary Points of Contact (POCs)

• James Durant, (630) 252-2034
• Don Thress, (865) 576-1200

Federal Subject Matter Experts Supporting Site Offices