Offit Kurman

Commercial Litigation

Principal

Thomas Powell is a principal attorney in Offit Kurman’s Construction Law practice group. He is an experienced trial attorney with a background in contracts, construction and commercial litigation, and government contracts. An engineer and a lawyer, Thomas received his legal training from George Washington University’s National Law Center, where he received his law degree (J.D.) and a Master of Laws in Trial Advocacy degree (L.L.M.) from Temple University. He also holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Civil Engineering from Villanova University (B.C.E.) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (M.S.C.E.), respectively.

Thomas appears regularly before various state and federal courts as well as arbitral tribunals, including international arbitral tribunals. He has represented individuals, businesses, corporations, and foreign government entities on matters valued from a few thousand to more than one billion dollars.

Thomas’s experience includes litigation on the Marriott Marquis Hotel and the Superstorm Sandy insurance claims in Federal Court in New York City, and the Capital One Arena and the District Wharf in Washington D.C. His experience encompasses matters on federal, municipal and commercial buildings, airports, dams, refineries, and numerous other construction projects including representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the construction of the Cultural Mission of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Fairfax, Virginia

Since 1992, Thomas has taught “Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering and the Construction Process” at the University of Maryland in the A. James Clark School of Civil Engineering’s Graduate Program in Construction Management. Thomas is an instructor at the Georgetown University Law Center/National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) annual trial advocacy and deposition programs and he also has taught at the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry’s Trial Advocacy Program.

Prior to practicing law, Thomas worked as a civil engineer for a well-known international construction company engaged in heavy industrial design, manufacture, and construction. He has lived and worked in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates, and his engineering roles have included draftsman, design engineer, project engineer, and resident engineer on-site in the United Arab Emirates

American Bar Association

American Association for Justice

Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

“Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering and the Construction Process,” University of Maryland, A. James Clark School of Civil Engineering’s Graduate Program in Construction Management, Adjunct Professor

Georgetown University Law Center/National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA), Instructor

Temple University Beasley School of Law (LL.M.) - Trial Advocacy

George Washington University Law School (J.D.) - The National Law Center

Villanova University (B.C.E.) - Civil Engineering

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (M.S.C.E.) - Civil Engineering