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M. Yuan Zhou

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Areas of Focus

Overview

M. Yuan Zhou advises government contractors on their most pressing legal challenges at the federal, state, and local levels. She guides clients through complex internal investigations, concurrent government proceedings, crisis management, suspension and debarment, as well as mandatory and voluntary disclosures related to the False Claims Act, Procurement Integrity Act, Anti-Kickback Act, and other civil and criminal matters. Yuan also advises contractors on a wide range of regulatory compliance requirements, including supply chain security, data rights, commerciality determinations, revolving door, gifts and gratuities, and a variety of issues related to prime/sub and teaming relationships. She also helps companies with reviewing, enhancing, and standing-up contractor compliance programs. 

Yuan is a co-host of “Fastest 5 Minutes, the Podcast Government Contractors Can’t Do Without,” which provides a biweekly summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments. She is also a faculty member for The Masters Institute in Government Contracting, an advanced program in government contracting hosted and organized by Federal Publications Seminars, and serves on Law 360’s Aerospace and Defense Editorial Board. Yuan is also a contributor to the government contracts chapter in “Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel,” a joint project between the Association of Corporate Counsel and Thomson Reuters. 

Prior to law school, Yuan was a special assistant at the White House and a White House intern for the Obama Administration. She received her J.D., with honors, from The George Washington University Law School, where she was a Dean's Fellow, notes editor of the Public Contract Law Journal, and a member of the Moot Court Board.

Career & Education

    • The George Washington University Law School, J.D., 2014
    • Barnard College, B.A., psychology and political science, 2010
    • The George Washington University Law School, J.D., 2014
    • Barnard College, B.A., psychology and political science, 2010

    • District of Columbia
    • Maryland
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
    • District of Columbia
    • Maryland
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

M. Yuan's Insights

Podcast | 05.15.26

Fastest 5 Minutes: Fixed Price Contracting EO, FCA, FOCI

This week’s episode covers a new Executive Order on fixed-price contracting, a new DOJ initiative targeting coordination with data-mining qui tam relators, and a proposed rule that would extend FOCI reviews to uncleared defense contractors, and is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without....

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Insights

Podcast | 05.15.26

Fastest 5 Minutes: Fixed Price Contracting EO, FCA, FOCI

Blog Post | 05.07.26

Fastest 5 Minutes: DEI EO, SBIR, Pentagon Budget

Podcast | 04.28.26

Fastest 5 Minutes: DEI EO, SBIR, Pentagon Budget

Speaking Engagement | 04.23.26

"Navigating the Current Government Contracts IP Environment," OOPS 2026, Tyson's Corner, VA.

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Practices

M. Yuan's Insights

Podcast | 05.15.26

Fastest 5 Minutes: Fixed Price Contracting EO, FCA, FOCI

This week’s episode covers a new Executive Order on fixed-price contracting, a new DOJ initiative targeting coordination with data-mining qui tam relators, and a proposed rule that would extend FOCI reviews to uncleared defense contractors, and is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without....

View All Insights