Practice Areas & Industries: Baker & Daniels LLP

Practice Group Overview

The vast array of issues that arise from land acquisition through construction completion give rise to an equally large array of potential legal problems. The Construction Law Group at Baker & Daniels brings a wide variety of experience and training together to address these problems.

The group is an interdisciplinary team of lawyers collaborating to provide effective, proactive representation to owners, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, design professionals and lenders in a wide range of contexts that relate to the development and completion of construction projects and resolution of construction disputes. In addition to extensive experience with the construction process, group members also draw on their litigation, transactional, real estate and financial services expertise to address issues in the development process leading up to a construction project and the collateral disputes that can result after the completion of a project. Members of the Construction Law Group assist clients in virtually every aspect and phase of the construction process, including:

• Serving as lead counsel in a wide variety of real estate acquisition, financing and construction projects involving all types of commercial, industrial, municipal and retail developments;
• Representing lenders and borrowers in the real estate financing area;
• Assisting clients in obtaining state and local economic incentive packages;
• Developing pre-construction legal strategies and systems;
• Preparing construction and professional services agreements for major development projects, including office buildings, industrial properties, retail properties and other commercial uses;
• Providing legal assistance and counsel to owners, contractors and design professionals during the construction project itself;
• Assisting with project management issues during construction, including disputes arising over contract interpretation, completion and performance, and the preservation of contract rights through timely notice;
• Enforcing contractually-required alternative dispute resolution mechanisms;
• Working proactively with owners, contractors, and design professionals to anticipate and to avoid potential conflicts that would otherwise result in litigation and developing non-litigation alternatives to resolve disputes; and
• Representing owners, lenders, design professionals, contractors, and suppliers in an extensive array of construction litigation and alternative dispute resolution situations.

As part of the comprehensive nature of the services that the Construction Law Group delivers, the Construction Law Group collaborates with and calls on the expertise of other legal disciplines within Baker & Daniels, including attorneys who practice in public finance, government services, employment law and benefits, environmental, real estate and insurance. The Construction Law Group also has expertise in resolving disputes collateral to the construction process, including title insurance litigation, landlord/tenant ejectment, foreclosure prosecution and defense, and zoning matters.