Hunton’s Geoffrey Fehling Confirmed to DC Bar Foundation’s Young Lawyers Network Leadership Council
December 30, 2019 —
Michael S. Levine - Hunton Andrews KurthCongratulations to Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP insurance recovery lawyer,
Geoffrey Fehling, on his confirmation by the DC Bar Foundation’s Board of Directors to the organization’s Young Lawyers Network Leadership Council.
As the leading funder of civil legal aid in the District of Columbia, DCBF awards grants to the District’s legal services organizations that provide free civil legal services to low-income and underserved people in the District. Since its inception, DCBF has awarded more than $80 million in grants.
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Michael S. Levine, Hunton Andrews KurthMr. Levine may be contacted at
mlevine@HuntonAK.com
Wilke Fleury Attorneys Highlighted | 2019 Northern California Super Lawyers
September 16, 2019 —
Wilke, Fleury, Hoffelt, Gould & Birney, LLPWilke Fleury is proud to announce that 14 of our astounding attorneys were featured in the Annual List of Top Attorneys in the 2019 Northern California Super Lawyers magazine.
Super Lawyers rates attorneys in each state using a patented selection process; they also publish a yearly magazine issue that regularly produces award-winning features on selected attorneys.
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Updates to AIA Contract Applications
January 07, 2025 —
Anand Gupta - Construction Law Zone BlogThe construction industry often relies on contract forms drafted by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). These AIA forms include agreements between owners, designers, consultants, contractors, subcontractors, and construction managers. Some prefer to use the forms in the stock form, but others prefer to modify the language to their benefit. These modifications can be made in Microsoft Word and uploaded into AIA’s current web-based system, ACD5, to create redlines against the standard AIA forms (Checked-Drafts) and final clean versions without the “DRAFT” watermarks. Law firms and clients keep repositories of these modified templates for future projects.
A common issue with modifying documents offline in Microsoft Word and passing the documents back-and-forth between different email and document management systems is that the metadata of the forms becomes corrupted. AIA technical support then must reset the metadata, which takes hours or days. This delay can pose challenges to clients when they are up against a deadline.
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Anand Gupta, Robinson+ColeMr. Gupta may be contacted at
agupta@rc.com
Untangling Unique Legal Issues in Modern Modular Construction
September 09, 2024 —
Chad Theriot & Brad Sands - Construction ExecutiveModular construction has grown significantly over the last few years and shows no signs of slowing down. This construction method is a departure from traditional approaches where all construction activity occurs onsite. Modular construction involves building standardized project components—usually in an offsite, controlled environment—which are then transported and assembled at the project site. Offsite construction generally allows for better quality control and economic efficiency, as it can utilize an assembly-line process. Modular fabrication can also centralize skilled labor in regions with lower labor costs.
Establishing each party's expectations upfront is always important, but even more so in modular construction since much of the construction activity is performed away from the ultimate project site. This requires extensive coordination among designers, fabricators, installers and owners to ensure construction, testing and quality progresses accordingly. Every field change and design clash could have an exponential impact on the modular fabrication efficiencies given the assembly-line approach and remote nature of modular work.
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Chad Theriot & Brad Sands, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
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Addenda to Construction Contracts Can Be an Issue
March 30, 2016 —
Christopher G. Hill – Construction Law MusingsWe’ve all been there. Your client either has a well drafted standard subcontract (with any luck in consultation with an experienced construction attorney) that it presents to its subcontractors and suppliers or your client is presented with a construction contract that has some provisions that it would prefer were either different or gone altogether.
In the first of these scenarios, your client often gets push back from a subcontractor to change certain provisions. Such a response is not necessarily a bad thing depending on the provisions that the potential subcontractor may have. The construction contract documents will govern the way that the project moves forward and will be strictly enforced in Virginia and elsewhere so some early give and take is not unusual or unwanted.
In the second scenario, your client is likely to be reading a fairly one sided document. The General Contractor has drafted the contract and is “north” of your client in the payment chain. Like it or not, they will in most instances leave it to you and your attorney to root out the particularly egregious on sided terms and seek to negotiate them to some sort of equality.
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Christopher G. Hill, Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PCMr. Hill may be contacted at
chrisghill@constructionlawva.com
Beyond Inverse Condemnation in Wildfire Litigation: An Oregon Jury Finds Utility Liable for Negligence, Trespass and Nuisance
July 10, 2023 —
Marisa Miller, John Yacovelle & Kazim Naqvi - Sheppard MullinOn June 10, 2023, a jury in Portland, Oregon found PacifiCorp and Pacific Power (collectively, “PacifiCorp”) liable for negligence, trespass, and nuisance based on a series of four wildfires that occurred during Labor Day weekend in 2020. PacifiCorp prevailed against the plaintiffs on the claim of inverse condemnation. With respect to the tort-based claims, the jury awarded approximately $72 million in compensatory damages to 17 plaintiffs. The jury later found PacifiCorp liable for $18 million in punitive damages, or one quarter of the compensatory damages that the jury awarded to the 17 plaintiffs. The jury’s liability findings apply to a broader class of owners, whose damages will need to be individually proven in a yet-to-be defined second phase of proceedings. Post-verdict motion practice and appeals may affect the jury’s findings.
Reprinted courtesy of
Marisa Miller, Sheppard Mullin,
John Yacovelle, Sheppard Mullin and
Kazim Naqvi, Sheppard Mullin
Ms. Miller may be contacted at mmiller@sheppardmullin.com
Mr. Yacovelle may be contacted at jyacovelle@sheppardmullin.com
Mr. Naqvi may be contacted at knaqvi@sheppardmullin.com
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BHA has a Nice Swing: Firm Supports Wounded Warrior Project at WCC Seminar
May 01, 2015 —
CDJ STAFFIn just two weeks, the 22nd West Coast Casualty (WCC) Construction Defect Seminar returns to the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. The annual event begins on Thursday, May 14th, with breakfast and registration starting at 7:30am. Panel discussions on various construction defect related topics begin at 8:30am and continue through the morning and afternoon, followed by a cocktail reception in the early evening. The following day includes break-out sessions with the event concluding in the afternoon. Attendees can enhance their seminar experience with the WCC Construction Defect Seminar Mobile App. The event schedule, speaker information, product information, sponsor details, and interactive floorplan can all be accessed through the app. Furthermore, registered attendees will have access to session presentations.
The designated charity for this years’ event is the
Wounded Warrior Project and there are several ways for attendees to support this honorable cause. In addition to the opportunity to purchase a “Buy A Banner” to hang in the seminar hall, there will be a traditional raffle for two American Themed quilts donated by Marianne Cutcher. Bert L. Howe and Associates, Inc. has also stepped up to support Wounded Warriors, and attendees will get the chance to help raise money for this cause in the following manner:
If you stop by the Bert L. Howe & Associates (BHA) booth at the seminar and try their “Sink A Putt For Charity” not only will you have the chance to win a $25 Best Buy gift card, but you’ll also have the opportunity to help raise funds for Wounded Warriors. For every hole-in-one made at their booth, BHA will also make a $25.00 cash donation in the golfer’s name to the Wounded Warrior Project. BHA strongly supports the goals and principles of Wounded Warriors, and is honored to assist the organization in fulfilling its mandate of assisting our returning military heroes who are in need.
Download an invitation and register for WCC Seminar...
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ASCE Statement On White House "Accelerating Infrastructure Summit"
October 17, 2022 —
Maria Lehman, President-elect - American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)WASHINGTON, D.C. –We thank the Administration for convening the Accelerating Infrastructure Summit, which highlighted the possibilities stemming from the bipartisan infrastructure law. Nearly one full year since it was passed into law, this transformative legislation is beginning to kickstart vital infrastructure projects nationwide that will improve the country's economic efficiency and prioritize public health and safety.
We know that together, builders, engineers, planners, and those entrusted with infrastructure projects must meet the moment and deliver projects on time, on task, and on budget for communities to make the most of these new resources. This generational investment in infrastructure is much needed - the 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure assigned the nation's infrastructure a cumulative grade of "C-" across 17 categories of infrastructure.
ASCE is ready to help optimize these investments for communities across the country and make sure all will benefit, whether it is providing contract templates to expedite the process or offering peer support to smaller and rural agencies.
ASCE is also focused on education in our industry to better equip civil engineers with the knowledge and expertise to execute alternative project delivery methods with a March 2023 Construction Institute Summit in St. Louis, which will provide a dedicated track to highlight innovations that help reduce the time for construction projects.
The bipartisan infrastructure law has provided us the opportunity to transform America and bring our infrastructure into the 21st century, and we will need diverse perspectives, innovative technologies and processes, and a robust workforce to make the most of this once-in-a-generation investment.
ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 150,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel.
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