The Legal 500

Wulfsberg Reese Colvig & Firstman specializes in construction law, real property law, and complex litigation on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, international engineering and construction firms, major industrial and financial institutions, California public entities, and individuals. The firm’s primary practice areas include complex construction claims on heavy civil, power, process, and public works projects; complex business litigation, environmental law, and insurance coverage; and project planning, financing, and contracts for all types of construction projects and development programs.

Main Areas of Practice

Wulfsberg Reese Colvig & Firstman is nationally regarded for handling complex, document intensive, multi-party construction cases throughout the US, South America, and Europe, its use of technology and expert consultants, and its consistent focus on practical ‘end of the case’ results. The firm is the ‘firm of choice’ of many large engineering and construction firms and major public entities for their most significant and challenging litigation matters and high-profile trials.

In the construction field, the firm represents private and public entities on all facets of the construction process, including planning, construction documentation and regulatory compliance; advice, preparation, negotiation, and resolution of construction claims; negotiations with insurers, sureties, owners and, other contractors during all phases of the construction and claims resolution process; and prosecution and defense of construction claims in mediation, arbitration, and trials. The firm’s construction practice also includes preparation of construction manuals for complex design-build, design-bid-build, construction manager at risk, and building information management projects.

The firm also has a state-wide practice handling complex business litigation, insurance coverage and environmental litigation for a variety of private and public entity clients. These cases include complex real estate development disputes, allocation of liabilities for toxic contamination, and insurance coverage disputes involving scores of parties with stakes often involving tens of millions of dollars.

A distinguishing feature of Wulfsberg Reese Colvig & Firstman is its extensive experience in the trial and arbitration of major construction disputes – experience that far exceeds the actual ‘in court’ trial experience of most law firms in the construction law field.

History and Location

The firm was founded in 1969 and has maintained its principal offices in Oakland and Kaiser Center since 1986. Its 25,000 sq ft office is devoted to attorney offices, libraries, document depositories, and state-of-the-art equipment for optical scanning and document retrieval, computer aided research, and scheduling and graphics tools. The firm also establishes satellite offices, as necessary, to meet the needs of its active trial and arbitration practice.

Number of Partners: 16
Number of Other Fee-earners: 7
Total Fee-earning Staff: 23