Practice Areas & Industries: Kilpatrick Stockton LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

The Construction and Public Contracts Practice Group of Kilpatrick Stockton is a nationally recognized team of attorneys with more than 70 years of experience in construction and public contracts law. Our attorneys are leaders in dealing with complex construction matters throughout the United States and overseas. Through our exclusive focus on construction-related issues, the group has a vast amount of experience in virtually every type of construction project, including wastewater treatment plants, airports, tunnels, prisons, hospitals, office buildings, sports arenas, schools, hotels and resorts, power plants and industrial facilities.

Our representation spans all segments of the construction industry from owners, public and private, to general contractors, real estate developers, design and engineering firms, contractors and sureties. We have counseled multi-national and Fortune 500 corporations and trade associations representing billion dollar industries, as well as smaller local and regional clients. Our attorneys routinely appear in courts throughout the United States.

We know how to prevent and resolve disputes. Dispute prevention and early resolution of unavoidable conflicts are cornerstones of our practice. We have years of experience working directly with key project personnel to avoid disputes and effectively and efficiently resolve on a "real-time" basis those disputes which cannot be avoided. We regularly represent clients in mediations and arbitrations, and our lawyers are well experienced in other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Many of our construction lawyers are certified to act as arbitrators and mediators in various State and Federal forums, as well as before the American Arbitration Association.

Services Available

We provide a full range of services to our clients including planning, permitting, financing, environmental compliance, negotiating, contract review and drafting, dispute avoidance and resolution, and litigation. We also educate our clients on the benefits of involving our attorneys in the early stages of a project in order to minimize the risk and exposure to claims and disputes, thereby helping to complete the project within time and budgetary contractions.

In addition to serving you, we have published numerous articles on construction law and public contracts in trade magazines and other periodicals. We have authored or co-authored numerous books, including Alternative Clauses to Standard Construction Contracts (Aspen, 2d ed. 1998), Construction Litigation: Practice Guide with Forms (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) and Proving and Pricing Construction Claims (John Wiley & Sons, 2d ed. 1996). Our attorneys also maintain a heavy schedule of lectures and seminars on techniques for avoiding and resolving construction disputes sponsored by various trade organizations, colleges and universities and other organizations including the American Bar Association, the Associated General Contractors, the American Underground Construction Association and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

As a value-added service to our clients, we develop in-house seminars focusing on the areas of law relevant to our clients' particular needs. Detailed, up-to-date client communications and involvement in every step of the case is very important to Kilpatrick Stockton. Our attorneys and legal staff coordinate closely with the client's in-house legal, technical and administrative resources in order to provide top quality legal services.

Representative Transactions

• Serving as outside counsel to assist the city Law Department on legal matters related to the $5.4 billion expansion of Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. The Hartsfield Development Program is a ten-year project that includes the construction of a 5th runway; a new international terminal; enhanced road and rail access; additional parking facilities and new rental car facilities.
• Prosecuted a claim against an engineering-construction firm on a $1 billion coal-fired power plant located in Florida. Claim was settled and our client recovered approximately $10 million.
• Provided project advice with respect to the development and construction of new treatment facilities at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard University.
• Handled a matter involving defectively constructed runways at Tampa International Airport that ultimately were replaced.
• Assisted with The Boston Harbor Project. This 11-year project will provide 61 communities and 2.5 million people with new wastewater treatment facilities with a capacity of over 900 million gallons per day. Acted as fully-integrated member of the owner's management team, providing day-to-day advice on all aspects of design and construction. Worked with the owner, designer and construction manager to resolve problems quickly and keep construction moving and assisted in reporting to the owner's Board of Directors, the federal court overseeing the project and various regulatory bodies.
• Represented a Southern region school district with its massive, innovative and first-of-its-kind fast track $800 million finance, design and build school construction project - the largest public works project in history.
• Provided ongoing advice and assistance to City of Atlanta staff and management associated with construction delays and disputes on the R.M. Clayton Water Resources Center improvements and East Area CSO projects that risked consent decree violations.
• Currently represent the turn-key operator on the $1 billion light rail mass transit system for San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Represented a suburb of Dallas on more than $30 million of claims against designers and contractors on a failed advanced waste water treatment facility.
• Prosecuted claims by a general contractor for delay, disruption, and extra work at Cincinnati International Airport.
• Represented major airline in connection with construction of a new terminal at Cincinnati International Airport.
• Represented the design-builder contractor on construction of new TWA concourse at St.Louis Lambert Field and defended $10 million in subcontractor claims.
• Handled several matters involving contractor claims on an elevated taxiway and a major earthmoving operation in connection with site preparation for a new terminal at Orlando airport.
• Represented the owner of a power plant in Massachusetts. Defended more than $40 million in contractor claims, while also developing and pursuing a multi-million claim against the plant designer.
• Represented major telecommunications company in connection with the construction of its South Carolina Headquarters Project. In this matter we successfully obtained a multi-million dollar recovery from the structural engineer and project architect as a result of failures and additional design problems.
• Represented the contractor in connection with the successful recovery of a multi-million settlement arising from construction of the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse.
• Obtained Tren Urbano project. Tren Urbano is a 1702 km light rail system. Project watched closely by the Federal Transit Administration to determine whether design-build offers viable alternative to traditional procurement.