US > Real estate and construction > Construction: Southeast
Construction - Southeast
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PRACTICE: Carlton Fields’s ‘premier legal team’ advises on every conceivable kind of construction project, ranging from hotels and convention centers to hospitals, schools and highways. Aside from transactional and contentious matters, the practice assists with construction-related areas like environmental issues, financing, insurance, labor law and taxation. Representative matters include obtaining a multi-million dollar judgment against a developer and contractor on a defective construction claim for an 18-story condominium, negotiating the surety’s take-over and completion of public school projects upon termination of the general contractor, and recovering from an engineering firm on a defective design claim.
CLIENTS: Clients include contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, sureties, private owners, architects and engineers.
INDIVIDUALS: Tampa-based George Meyer is recommended for large, complex development projects, Florida lien law and claims analysis. Managing shareholder of the Orlando office Charles Cacciabeve represents owners, architects and engineers in litigation, and has extensive experience in negotiating construction contracts.
In Miami, Bruce King is known for surety matters.
PRACTICE: National firm Holland & Knight LLP has offices in Orlando, Tallahassee and Tampa, with its construction practice working closely with the firm’s tax, real estate, labor, finance and environmental attorneys. Recent projects requiring the practice’s ‘deeply impressive’ expertise in the south east include Animal Kingdom (Walt Disney World), Heathrow International Business Center and Palm Beach International Airport. The practice has defended claims totalling $51m on behalf of a manufacturer, arising from the construction of a desalinization plant in Florida, and prosecuted a major architectural firm over the design of courthouses.
CLIENTS: Contractors, owners, developers, and manufacturing companies, list as clients.
INDIVIDUALS: Co-practice group leaders Christopher Weiss and Ben Subin are recommended for major litigation at state and federal court levels.
PRACTICE: Peckar & Abramson’s three Florida offices act for national and international general contractors on major Florida projects. This ‘truly excellent’ New York-based firm has a solid litigation practice, yet prides itself on successful avoidance of the substantial risks inherent to the construction industry, and has particular expertise in airports, government buildings, highways, power generation facilities, environmental clean-ups, sports arenas, and hospitality industry projects.
CLIENTS: The practice has a curious focus on general contractors and construction managers, as opposed to developers, subcontractors and design professionals.
INDIVIDUALS: Florida managing partner Stephen Reisman is recommended for transactional negotiations and litigation. Melinda Gentile is noted for her construction dispute resolution practice, including contractor’s liens and defect claims.
PRACTICE: Akerman Senterfitt’s Southeast construction practice is ‘responsive, through and helpful’. The firm’s roots are in Florida, but it has branched out in recent years, both nationally and internationally, and in 2006, the group merged with the ‘unparalleled’ Virginia-based construction and government contracts boutique Wickwire Gavin. The team interacts closely with its real estate, environmental and government contracts attorneys, and is second-to-none for its expertise in the Critical Path Method (CPM) of scheduling construction delays. On the transactional side, the practice acted on the development of a luxury resort community of 565 oceanfront acres on Providence Island, whose ownership group includes Tiger Woods and the Tavistock Group. Of interest on the litigation side, the group is advising in relation to multi-million dollar claims from contractors and subcontractors concerning the US Capitol Visitors’ Center Project. ‘The practice has acted most effectively on our behalf, helping us recover almost every dollar claimed in legal actions’ state clients. ‘There is no other legal team I know that could match its construction law capabilities’.
CLIENTS: The client list includes developers, owners, major utility owners, and contractors. Recognizable names include Albany Developer, Office Depot, Orleans Homes, Miami International Airport, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Brickell Harbour, Florida National College, Ceco Construction and City of Orlando.
INDIVIDUALS: Tysons Corner-based Jeffrey Gilmore is the practice group chair, and has acted on a raft of construction disputes. He was lead litigation counsel for a foreign-based owner in defeat of EPC contractor claims for nearly $200m. Stacy Bohm, of the Fort Lauderdale office, acted on the construction contracts for the $180m Miami Dolphin Stadium Improvement Project, involving the construction of an additional 400,000 sq ft. Owen Shean impresses ‘with the depth of resources and connections he is able to bring to bear on a client’s account’. As for Stephen Hurlbut, ‘there is no better construction lawyer on earth’.
PRACTICE: Atlanta-based Kilpatrick Stockton LLP ‘is blessed with a sound construction group’, and widely praised for its ‘supreme expertise’ in transportation-related projects. The practice acted as outside counsel in the $5.4bn expansion of Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport, and represented a Dallas suburb on more than $30m of claims against designers and contractors on a failed advanced waste water treatment facility. Also of interest, the team has recently been acting for the turn-key operator on the $1bn light rail mass transit system for San Juan, Puerto Rico, and it boasts a niche (indoors) air quality group, with extensive experience handling mold contamination matters for owners, architects, schools and lenders.
CLIENTS: Clients range from multinational and Fortune 500 companies comprised of public and private owners, to general contractors, real estate developers and engineering firms.
INDIVIDUALS: Brian Corgan is highly recommended for construction contracts, litigation and ADR. Co-managing partner William Dorris has acted on major projects throughout the country, his clients including a city expanding its airport, and a design builder of federal penitentiaries in Kentucky and West Virginia. Construction and infrastructure projects group head Randall Hafer has advised on mass transit systems, tunnels, airports, power plants and waste water treatment plants.
Moye, O’Brian, O’rourke, Pickert & Martin
PRACTICE: The 16-strong team at Florida law firm Moye, O’Brian, O’rourke, Pickert & Martin ‘knows the construction business inside out’, state clients. The practice handles the contractual side to projects, yet is very firmly focused on litigation, its reach and reputation extending far beyond the southeast region. Instructions derive from both the public and private sector, including both owners and general contractors, and the team has recently been advising on Miami International Airport’s headline development.
CLIENTS: Representative clients include Archer-Western Contractors, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, HDR Design-Build, Prestige Lumber & Supplies and Universal City Development Partners.
INDIVIDUALS: The ‘down-to-earth and straight talking’ Maitland-based James Moye is recommended for complex construction disputes. Stephen Pickert, John O’Rourke and Gregory Martin are also highly regarded attorneys.
PRACTICE: Atlanta-based Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP is a construction litigation boutique known for ‘aggressive yet constructive performances’. In addition to its far-reaching network of regional branches, the practice continues to extend its national reach, its wide-ranging advice encompassing delivery systems, contractual risk assessment, environmental matters, design issues, delays, terminations, insurance claims, and dispute resolution. Projects undertaken have included hospitals, waste-water treatment plants, prisons, casinos, highways, airports and federal government facilities.
CLIENTS: The practice acts for the full gamut of construction clients, including owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers, and construction manager clients.
INDIVIDUALS: Philip Beck has drafted enormous numbers of design and construction contracts, and represented clients in over a hundred arbitrations and mediations conducted throughout the US. Ronald Robey has negotiated hundreds of construction contracts, and handled construction and insurance disputes, with recent work undertaken for Las Vegas-based clients. George Wenick is recommended for highway construction claims and litigation, with involvement in projects in more than half of the fifty states and Puerto Rico, while James Butler is known for hazardous waste issues and construction contracts.
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
PRACTICE: Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP is a large full-service Atlanta law firm that took over Griffin Cochrane & Marshall’s construction department back in 2006. The practice is still better known for its government agency work as opposed to construction, but it has a ‘first-class name’ for litigation. Representative experience includes acting for a contractor building a steel galvanizing line, in relation to delayed and accelerated work claims, the jury verdict equalling 100% of the client’s multi-million-dollar claim. The practice also acted on the contract negotiations for the construction of a power plant.
CLIENTS: Clients include major EPC contractors, general contractors, subcontractors, engineers, owners, municipal districts, and material suppliers in large industrial and commercial construction projects.
INDIVIDUALS: Lee Davis is frequently called upon to serve as lead counsel in complex trials throughout the US and internationally, and was lead counsel against a subcontractor building a US Army helicopter base, standing out as the longest trial in the county’s history at the time. Barry McCabe is recommended for his experience in resolving complex construction disputes, having represented clients on stadium, hotel, casino, pharma and courthouse projects.
Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, LLP
PRACTICE: Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, LLP is a highly specialized boutique law firm built around the design and construction industry, with a ‘preeminent reputation’ in surety matters. The practice has over 100 attorneys working nationwide, handling complex design and construction issues and disputes, and is especially adept at settling potential litigation through mediation and ADR. Its links to the arbitration community are second-to-none, and the team recently achieved a significant arbitration victory after years of litigation.
CLIENTS: Some clients have been with the firm since its 1978 inception. The names appearing on the list include Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT), Alfa Laval, Stone & Webster Asia and Parsons Iraq Joint Venture.
INDIVIDUALS: Virginia managing partner Robert Watt has longstanding experience advising on the construction of major infrastructure throughout the world, and handles disputes with various governmental bodies, including the United States Corps of Engineers.
PRACTICE: Fort Lauderdale-base firm Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. has ‘an impressive range’ of construction-related experience, having acted on transactions and disputes ranging from multi-family dwellings to large commercial buildings, planned unit developments, retail, and industrial projects. The practice is especially known for its work with governmental entities, including lobbying and contentious procurement work concerning design-build contracts, bid disputes, and performance bond claims.
CLIENTS: The practice has special relationships with government bodies, owners and developers, and it is also regularly instructed by contractors, design professionals, and materials manufacturers in connection with the construction of high rise developments.
INDIVIDUALS: Steven Lesser successfully represented homeowner Phillipe Moransais in the landmark Moransais v Heathman case before the Florida Supreme Court, and serves as special construction litigation counsel to The School Board of Broward County handling delay claim litigation.
Ferencik, Libanoff, Brandt, Bustamante & Williams
PRACTICE: Ferencik, Libanoff, Brandt, Bustamante & Williams is a seven-partner construction law boutique focused on ‘exemplary transactional and contentious work’, including liens, delay claims, contract disputes, engineers and architects’ negligence, performance bond litigation and the labor aspects of construction projects.
CLIENTS: Clients include owners, developers, design professionals, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, manufacturers and sureties.
INDIVIDUALS: Alexander Williams currently serves as legal adviser to the Construction Association of South Florida. Ira Libanoff and Robert Ferencik also garner strong praise from the market.
PRACTICE: The small Atlanta office of full-service national law firm King & Spalding has a dedicated construction law group focusing predominantly on transactional matters, yet since the downturn, the team has seen a marked increase in contentious work. Distinguishing features of the practice are its commitment to product development, the national and international reach (offices are also open in London and Abu Dhabi), and complex energy and heavy infrastructure projects (as opposed to commercial buildings). Representation is deliberately limited to owners and developers, rather than contractors or subcontractors, with highlights including advising on multi-billion dollar international construction programs, acting in the negotiation of a long-term service agreement for a 2200 MW nuclear plant (the first new Greenfield nuclear power plant to file for a combined construction and operating licensing permit in the US in almost 30 years), and being counsel to a major oil company in a high-value construction-related arbitration
CLIENTS: The clients tend to be prominent national and overseas owners and developers.
INDIVIDUALS: Atlanta-based John Hinchey is well-regarded, both for transactional projects and disputes.
PRACTICE: Virginia firm Kraftson Caudle is a three-partner law practice specializing in construction and government contracts law. This ‘small but perfectly formed boutique’ has extensive experience in power plants, highways, chemical processing plants, waste treatment facilities and airports, its advice encompassing contract negotiation, claims drafting, mediation, and litigation, and it is widely praised for ‘impressive cost management techniques’.
CLIENTS: Public and private owners, design professionals, contractors and sub-contractors have all instructed the practice.
INDIVIDUALS: Daniel Kraftson is ‘one litigator you definitely want on your side’, while ‘highways guru’ Larry Caudle garners respect.
PRACTICE: Moore & Lee is a Virginia boutique ‘completely focused on the needs of the construction industry’. The practice acts on high-rise commercial buildings, power plants, schools, stadiums, wastewater treatment plants, and bridge and road projects. The group successfully represented a contractor prosecuting a headline disruption and cumulative impact claim that the federal government had rejected, with the contractor ultimately being awarded 100% of its claims.
CLIENTS: All tiers of the construction industry are covered, including prime contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, owners, developers, sureties and design professionals.
INDIVIDUALS: Charlie Lee is strongly recommended for all areas of construction, government contracts and surety law in relation to heavy industrial and commercial projects, and won a default termination case against the District of Columbia, obtaining multi-million dollar settlements on a wastewater treatment project. Robert Moore advises on federal procurement law, government and commercial construction contracts, focusing especially on contract dispute resolution, including bid protests and claims concerning power plants, wastewater treatment plants, dams, hospitals and office buildings.
PRACTICE: The construction lawyers at Virginia law firm Smith Pachter McWhorter act on all phases of the contracting process, from contract bidding and negotiation, through to contract performance and litigation, including terminations. However, this ‘standout regional practice’ is especially noted for its strong focus on dispute avoidance, including payment disputes on projects bonded under the Miller Act and Little Miller Act, as well as the enforcement and defense of mechanics’ liens.
CLIENTS: Contractors, owners, subcontractors and design professionals have instructed the practice on both public and private projects.
INDIVIDUALS: Richard Smith has a ‘second-to-none reputation’ for his work as a mediator, arbitrator, project neutral and Disputes Review Board member. Val McWhorte is recommended for his representation of contractors in large, complex claims arising under federal, state, and local government contracts, as well as contracts between private parties.