Randall F. Hafer

Randall F. Hafer

Randy Hafer is head of Kilpatrick Stockton's Construction and Infrastructure Projects Group and the Chair of the firm's Executive Committee. He was born in Camden, New Jersey on March 15, 1950. He was raised in Georgia, Florida and Texas, and graduated from high school in Houston. Mr. Hafer received a congressional appointment to the United States Naval Academy in 1968, where he studied engineering and systems analysis for three years. After serving two years of sea duty, he obtained a B.S., cum laude, from Georgia State University. Between college and law school, he worked as a police officer and a criminal investigator for the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department.

Throughout his entire career Mr. Hafer has focused his practice on issues related to the construction industry. He has been involved in matters all over the United States on a wide variety of construction projects, including mass transit systems, tunnels, airports, power plants, waste water treatment plants, bridges and highways, hospitals, office buildings, sports arenas, resort condominiums, universities and schools, manufacturing and processing facilities, and military facilities. Mr. Hafer has been recognized by other practicing attorneys as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Construction Law. He was recently admitted as a Fellow of The American College of Construction Lawyers.

For the past 20 years, Mr. Hafer's practice has focused on the representation of public owners on large public works projects, including the following:

· Central Artery/Tunnel Project (the "Big Dig");

· Boston Harbor Project for Massachusetts Water Resources Authority ("MWRA");

· Deep Tunnel and Pollution Abatement Program for Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District ("MMSD");

· Logan Airport Modernization Project for Massachusetts Port Authority;

· CSO Tunnel Project for the Narragansett Bay Commission in Rhode Island; and

· The Cobb County, Georgia Water Authority Chattahoochee Tunnel Project.

In addition to the above, Mr. Hafer represents the design-build-operate-maintain contractor on the $2 billion Tren Urbano light rail, mass transit system in San Juan, Puerto Rico - a Federal Transit Administration "demonstration" project.

Much of Mr. Hafer's practice is focused on the prevention of construction related disputes through effective risk allocation and management and contract drafting. Mr. Hafer works as a member of the owner's project management team at the "front end" of projects to achieve these goals.

Mr. Hafer also works directly with construction project participants to avoid disputes and effectively and efficiently resolve, on a "real-time" basis, those disputes that cannot be avoided. He is well-versed and experienced in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, dispute review boards and other forms of construction ADR. Mr. Hafer has also helped create and has successfully implemented customized dispute resolution processes to fit the particular needs of a project when other more traditional ADR procedures are not working.

Chambers USA reports, "He impresses clients with his ability to get to the heart of the matter in seconds." Chambers also notes Mr. Hafer's "excellent presentation skills as especially effective in contentious situations."

In addition to extensive construction ADR experience, Mr. Hafer has presented construction cases to judges, juries in a number of state and federal courts across the country, and to administrative boards of federal, state and local government agencies. Mr. Hafer also has extensive appellate experience. He has argued cases before the North Carolina, Wisconsin and Florida courts of appeals, and he is a member of the federal courts of appeal for the Fourth and Eleventh Circuits.

Claims avoidance and education are an important part of Mr. Hafer's practice. He is a frequent speaker at the Construction Superconference and has spoken at the American Bar Association Forum Committee on the Construction Industry, the American Underground Construction Association, the Design Build Institute of America, and other industry related programs.

Background

· Juris Doctor with high honors, University of Tennessee

· Bachelor of Science cum laude, Georgia State University

· While in law school, Mr. Hafer served on the editorial board of the Tennessee Law Review, and was elected to the Order of the Coif and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

· AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Publications, Articles and Speeches

· "The Letter of the Law: Experts Discuss Legal Issues in Tunneling" Tunnel Business Magazine, August 2006.

· "Design-Build Risk: The Basics for First-Time Owners" Tunnel Business Magazine, October 2004.

· "Dispute Review Boards and the Avoidance of Litigation: Is There Room For Improvement?" Tunnel Business Magazine, April 2003.

· "Risk Management and Disputes Avoidance in Underground Construction - Are Owners Satisfied? A View from the Trenches" North American Tunneling 2000

· "Risk Management and Dispute Avoidance in Underground Construction," Associated Construction Publications, May 2000.

· Common Sense Construction Law, A Practical Guide for the Industry Professional, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.

· "Performance of Construction and Design Contracts," Construction Law, Mathew Bender, 1986.

· "Construction Contracts", Negotiating Real Estate Transactions, John Wiley & Sons, 1988.

· Alternative Clauses to Standard Construction Contracts, Wiley Law Publications, 1990.

· Aspen/Wiley Construction Law Update, 1992, 1993, 2000 - 2006.

· "Selecting A Third-Party Neutral,"Alternative Disputes Resolution in the Construction Industry, Wiley Law Publications, 1991.

· Construction Subcontracting: A Legal Guide for Industry Professionals, Wiley Law Publications, 1991.