Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert Directory

OSHA Reinforces COVID Guidelines for the Workplace

March 08, 2021 — Joseph P. Paranac Jr. & Robert M. Pettigrew - White and Williams LLP
On January 29, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) updated its existing guidelines concerning coronavirus protection measures for the workplace. Focusing on the implementation of workplace protection programs, OSHA’s updated advisory guidance seeks to reinforce the benefits of implementing workplace policies along with the critical role employees have in combatting workplace spread. These guidelines are “intended to inform employers and workers in most workplace settings outside of healthcare to help them identify risks of being exposed to and/or contracting COVID-19 at work and to help them determine appropriate control measures to implement.” OSHA maintains that the implementation of a strong coronavirus protection program is the most effective way to combat virus spread in the workplace. OSHA has identified 16 categories or elements that an effective coronavirus protection program should address, which include appointing a workplace coordinator and conducting a workplace specific hazard assessment. This assessment should begin by identifying risks in the workplace and developing control measures to mitigate them. The guidance stresses that workers are often the most valuable source of information relating to conditions that contribute to the risk of spread. Reprinted courtesy of Joseph P. Paranac Jr., White and Williams LLP and Robert M. Pettigrew, White and Williams LLP Mr. Paranac may be contacted at paranacj@whiteandwilliams.com Mr. Pettigrew may be contacted at pettigrewr@whiteandwilliams.com Read the court decision
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Newmeyer & Dillion Attorney Alan Packer Selected to the 2017 Northern California Super Lawyers List

July 13, 2017 — Newmeyer & Dillion LLP
WALNUT CREEK, Cali. – JULY 7, 2017 – Prominent business and real estate law firm Newmeyer & Dillion LLP is pleased to announce that litigation attorney Alan Packer has been selected to the 2017 Northern California Super Lawyers list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of lawyers are selected to receive this honor. Packer will be recognized in the August 2017 issue of Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine. Packer is a partner in the firm’s expanding Walnut Creek office. He has practiced law in California for over 30 years, mostly representing parties involved in real estate, home building, commercial construction, and insurance matters. He represents homebuilders, property owners, and business clients on a broad range of legal matters. Packer is a frequent speaker at seminars and in-house training sessions for clients on issues relating to mechanic’s liens, construction litigation, insurance issues, and related matters. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The patented selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. About Newmeyer & Dillion For more than 30 years, Newmeyer & Dillion has delivered creative and outstanding legal solutions and trial results for a wide array of clients. With over 70 attorneys practicing in all aspects of business, employment, real estate, construction and insurance law, Newmeyer & Dillion delivers legal services tailored to meet each client’s needs. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with offices in Walnut Creek, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, Newmeyer & Dillion attorneys are recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©, and Super Lawyers as top tier and some of the best lawyers in California, and have been given Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review's AV Preeminent® highest rating. For additional information, call 949-854-7000 or visit www.ndlf.com. Read the court decision
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Manhattan Site for Supertall Condo Finds New Owner at Auction

December 15, 2016 — Oshrat Carmiel – Bloomberg
A development site slated for an almost 1,000-foot condo tower on Manhattan’s far east side found a new owner through a bankruptcy auction Tuesday, removing a hurdle for construction after about a year of delays. Gamma Real Estate, the lender to the project, won the auction with a credit bid of $86 million and is poised to take control of the site, pending approval from the bankruptcy court, said David Schechtman, a broker with Meridian Investment Sales, which handled the auction with another brokerage. Read the court decision
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Mr. Carmiel can be followed on Twitter @OshratCarmiel

Two Firm Members Among the “Best Lawyers in America”

September 01, 2016 — A&C Crew – Ahlers & Cressman PLLC
We are excited to announce that John P. Ahlers has been selected as a “Lawyer of the Year” in Construction Law, and John P. Ahlers and Paul R. Cressman, Jr. have been selected as “Best Lawyers in America” in Construction Litigation by Best Lawyers for 2017. Best Lawyers has recognized Mr. Ahlers and Mr. Cressman as “Best Lawyers in America” since 2007 and 2013, respectively. Read the court decision
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Catching Killer Clauses in Contract Negotiations

January 29, 2024 — James T. Dixon - Construction Executive
Risk-management personnel who are in the business of reviewing and negotiating construction contracts have some simple tools at their disposal to make sure their edits are addressing all of the killer risk-shifting clauses in those contracts. One of those is the index to that document. But not all authors of construction contract documents are kind enough to include an exhaustive index in their form agreements. One of the most popular sets of general conditions, the A201 General Conditions published by the American Institute of Architects, includes one that is fairly comprehensive. It identifies the six terms that include a reference to indemnification, for example. On the other end of the spectrum are the innumerable custom forms created by public and private project owners, and these rarely have an index. Even more powerful than an index is the search or find functions that are available in word processing applications and now in Adobe, the publisher of documents in portable document format, more commonly known as PDF. But with PDF documents, one must be careful to make sure the document under review is in fact searchable. Because every letter counts, it is important to have full confidence in the integrity of the search. Reprinted courtesy of James T. Dixon, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the court decision
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The G2G Mid-Year Roundup (2022)

July 03, 2022 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
Our mid-year roundup highlights the top-read Gravel2Gavel posts from 2022 so far. Our authors provided deep industry insights and summarized hot topics that addressed various legal implications and disruptions that affected the market, ranging from topics like investing in real estate metaverse to the clean hydrogen transition.

Do Municipal Gas Bans Slow the Clean Hydrogen Transition in Real Estate? by Sidney L. Fowler, Robert G. Howard and Emily Huang. The authors discuss the potential of clean hydrogen and how it will play a significant role in the energy transition by serving as a carbon-free form of energy storage and heat production.
NFT Use Cases in Real Estate by Megan L. Jones and David W. Wright. The authors discuss how entrepreneurs are searching for new industries to disrupt utilizing the advantages offered by NFTs and blockchain more generally, with many turning their heads towards real estate.

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Design, Legal and Accounting all Fight a War on Billable Hours After the Advent of AI

June 10, 2024 — Jeff Yoders - Engineering News-Record
Billable hours have long been the professional services standard by which architects, engineers, lawyers and accountants all get paid. But What if that effort wasn’t from human toil at all? Artificial Intelligence is already chipping away at the venerable billable hours business model, completing in just minutes or seconds tasks that would take humans hours. As these tools grow more efficient and accurate, many firms are having to reevaluate how they allocate their resources, and project delivery practices may have to evolve as well. Reprinted courtesy of Jeff Yoders, Engineering News-Record Mr. Yoders may be contacted at yodersj@enr.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Philadelphia Voters to Consider Best Value Bid Procurment

May 10, 2017 — Wally Zimolong - Supplemental Conditions
My friend and colleague, Chris McCabe, recently published an opinion piece on Philly.com concerning the May 16 ballot question that asks Philadelphia voters to approve a change in the way Philadelphia awards public contracts. Currently, Philadelphia, like all municipalities in Pennsylvania, uses an objective lowest responsible bidder standard in the award of public contracts. Under this approach, public contracts must be awarded to a bidder that responds to all of the criteria of the request for bids and offers the lowest price. Under this traditional approach the award of public contracts is completely transparent. The May 16 ballot initiative seeks to change this. If approved, Philadelphia could award public contracts using a host of subjective factors. What those factors would be are unknown because the policies are not yet written. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Wally Zimolong, Zimolong LLC
Mr. Zimolong may be contacted at wally@zimolonglaw.com

CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES