Fall of Sterling Aerospace

The Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand was a monument of Victorian Gothic grandeur, its soaring stone arches, stained-glass clerestories, and mosaic pavements reflecting seven centuries of British jurisprudence. But on this overcast Thursday morning, the ancient halls echoed with the final collapse of an American corporate empire. For thirty years, Sterling Aerospace had dominated the transatlantic defense sector through a ruthless combination of political lobbying, patent poaching, and…