Best Practices Construction Law : Construction Lawyer & Attorney : Matthew DeVries : Smith Cashion & Orr Law Firm : Green Building & LEED Litigation

On Thursday, I will be joining a panel of construction attorneys and consultants to address the issue of aging infrastructure in America and, in particular, how to finance all the work that needs to be done. 

Our panelists include: 

Christopher Montez, Thomas, Feldman & Wilshusen, LLP, Dallas, TX
Kenneth R. Baker, Hill International, Poway, CA
Sarah Biser, McCarter & English, LLP, New York, NY
Robert Rubin, McCarter & English, LLP, New York, NY
Dennis Staats, Navigant Consulting, Boston, MA

You can still register for the short webinar on the Forum's website. Here are a number of answers that our panelists will try to answer: 

• What is the problem? Where are the major failures? 
• What are the sources of funding?
• How much money does the Federal Government want to pitch in?
• What can contractors do to maximize their changes to win Federally funded work?
• How may Public Private Partnerships help solve the problem?
• What does it take for a PPP to be successful?
• What can construction counsel do to help his/her clients in this arena?

If you have any questions that want answered in the webinar, it's not too late.  Send me an email and I will make sure that one of the panelists addresses it.

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I am in San Francisco this week for the MidWinter Conference of the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry.  The topic this year is "Government Construction Contracting" and I will be tweeting under the hashtag #ABAConstruct.

In news relevant to Federal contractors, construction industry players and Californians, the San Francisco Business Times reported yesterday on the approval of a $171 billion federal loan for the construction of a new transit center in San Francisco.  The loan is earmarked to pay for ramps to the Bay Bridge, a bus storage facility and the design of underground transit facility.  Good for the construction industry in California.  Other states are supposed to get some of the $8 billion set aside by the Obama administration for high-speed rail.

What can we learn from this report?  Almost every "construction news" feed that I follow includes some news article about the sustained decline in construction jobs.  There are also many reports about the stagnant hold on residential building.  Here's what I think:

• Federal and state projects will continue to represent the primary areas of growth within the construction industry for 2010.
• As those projects are the only ones available, there will continue to be increased competition for the limited work.
• There will continue to be an increase in bid protests and disputes arising out of these projects.

What do you foresee? 

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For all my Nashville and Middle-Tennessee friends, I want to take a moment to highlight two upcoming conferences.  Although the programs are geared towards construction lawyers, don't shy away if you did not get a "shark degree" from Build 'Em Big University ... Each conference offers a little different glimpse depending on your career path.  What do I mean? 

The Fundamentals of Construction Law will be held on November 5, 2009 in Nashville, TN (...along with many other locations...) and is taught by leading construction lawyers.  This program presents a unique opportunity for new construction lawyers or experienced lawyers who occasionally practice construction law to learn the essentials from those who practice it daily at its highest levels. The program concisely covers the gamut of construction issues including:the roles of the key participants in a project, the structure of project delivery systems, the bidding and construction process, insurance and bonding and dispute resolution.

For the non-lawyer: This seminar will give you a great glimpse into the basic legal principles affecting your construction practice.

The Nashville conference is being coordinated by Joe Welborn, one of my partners (... and all-around-great-guy...).  If you have any questions about the program, then send Joe an email.

The second conference, the Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel Fall Meeting, will be held the very next day on November 6, 2009.  For the construction lawyers, there are three seminars right up your alley:

• Litigation Strategies for the Construction Law Practitioner, by experienced litigator Andy Ness
• Steel Structural Collapse of the Chicago Post Office Building, by engineer and expert Ian Chin (pdf)
• Bankruptcy Law for the Construction Practitioner, by bankruptcy guru Dan Puryear

For the non-construction lawyer:  You will not want to miss the mock trial! Learn from the pros on how to best present your case.  Participants include: Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobb Lyle (as judge), Tim Gibbons and Todd Panther (as advocates), and Gary Parkes and David Wright (as fact and expert witnesses).

The TACC conference is being coordinated by Vic McConnell, another one of my partners ( ...and another-all-around-great-guy...).  If you have any questions about the program, then send Vic an email.

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