Tamara M. McNulty, LEED AP

Tamara M. McNulty, LEED AP

Tamara M. McNulty, LEED AP, practices in the area of complex commercial litigation with a particular focus on construction, government contracts and surety law. She is an experienced trial attorney and has tried numerous construction claims in both state and federal courts. In the government contracting arena, she has extensive experience in Federal Government procurement and contracting, and has asserted claims to various boards of contract appeals and the Court of Federal Claims, as well as asserted and defended bid protests at both the state and federal level. Ms. McNulty is also experienced in mediations, arbitrations and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. She assists construction industry clients in drafting and negotiating complex construction contracts and assists clients in managing projects during construction from a legal perspective to help to avoid claims and disputes from the outset. Ms. McNulty is the author of numerous articles and chapters of books on construction law and government contracting and has written two books on construction law. Ms. McNulty's clients include owners/developers, contractors, subcontractors, architects and sureties.

Admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland and Wisconsin, Ms. McNulty is a 1995 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.

Areas of Practice

· Construction

· Government Contracts Law

· Commercial Litigation

· Surety Law

· Contract Law

Representative Matters

· Representing energy savings performance contractor in the legal management of a $95,000,000+ U.S. Navy project in Yokosuka, Japan, drafting and negotiation of changes and REAs.

· Representing owner on a multimillion-dollar, multi-prime construction project in Prince George's County, Maryland, initially drafting contract. Assisted owner in the default termination of a contractor and the re-letting of that contractor's work. Defending claims of contractors, asserting claims against contractors in court and in mediation.

· Representing owner on a multimillion-dollar construction project of a senior living facility in Montgomery County, Maryland, drafting and negotiating contract, assisting with insurance claims under the builders risk policy and delay issues with construction manager.

· Representing MBE subcontractor on its wrongful termination claims against the general contractor and payment bond claims against its surety.

· Representing energy saving performance contractor in preparing and negotiating REA for owner-caused delay damages at federal nuclear facility in Texas.

· Successfully defended, on behalf of a large staffing services client, a GAO bid protest by an unsuccessful bidder on a twenty-two million dollar, multi-year services contract for the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.

· Successfully represented contractor in defending GAO protest by unsuccessful bidder for landscaping contract at Arlington Cemetery.

· Successful protest of GSA award of janitorial services contract. Argued that the source selection official failed to document rationale for source selection consistent with differential weighting of technical evaluation factors.

· Representing an international building systems manufacturer and contractor in successful defense against bid protest of award of multimillion-dollar energy savings performance contract in Massachusetts.

· Representing a major surety company defending against claims of $1.7 million in completion costs by Fortune 500 energy savings performance prime contractor on federal project that defaulted its mechanical subcontractor, resulting in an arbitrator's determination that default was wrongful and that prime contractor had violated covenant of good faith and fair dealing against both subcontractor and surety. The arbitrator awarded 93% of the requested costs and attorney fees to surety and subcontractor, in excess of $1.2 million.

· Representing a contractor and its surety in the resolution of numerous payment and performance disputes arising out of seven construction projects, and resolving over twenty separate matters and resulting in a net savings to both clients of millions of dollars.

· Counsel for a prime contractor on the Kennedy Center Site work renovation and Lead in authoring the prime contractor's Request for Equitable adjustment in the range of $10 million, resulting in settlement that client found favorable.

· Counsel for a first-tier subcontractor on the Kennedy Center Opera House renovation and Lead in authoring the subcontractor's REA, resulting in successful settlement of claim after mediation.

· Counsel for a major Canadian surety sued by an owner for in excess of a $1 million related to a defaulted curtain wall contractor, resulting in a dismissal and summary judgment of all claims against the surety.

· Counsel in a jury trial against a developer charged with racial discrimination resulting in the jury returning a verdict for the developer in less than half an hour and was upheld on subsequent appeals.

· Counsel for a surety in the defense and resolution of numerous payment and performance disputes arising out of a construction project at the University of Virginia, resolving several disputes by negotiated settlement and resolving one claim via settlement after trial of the matter.

· Counsel in representing a surety and its principal/contractor in successfully asserting the no-damage-for-delay clause of its principal and defending the victories in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

· Counsel in successfully arguing a creditor's motion for summary judgment in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court resulting in a $6.7 million non-dischargeable judgment against the debtor.

Professional Activities

· American Bar Association
- Litigation Section
- Forum on the Construction Industry
-- Division 4 - Project Delivery Systems, Working Committee
-- Division 12 - Owners and Lenders
- Public Contracts Law Section
- Torts, Trial and Insurance Practice Section
-- Fidelity and Surety Law Committee

· District of Columbia Bar Association

· Virginia State Bar Association
- Construction Law Section

· Wisconsin Bar Association
- Non-Resident Lawyer's Division

· National Bond Claims Association

· National Institute of Trial Advocacy
- Teacher, Advanced Trial Skills Program

· Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity

Experience

· Duane Morris LLP
- 2007-present

· Venable LLP
- Partner, 2002-2007

· Thompson Hine LLP
- Associate, 2000-2002

· Henrichsen Siegel, P.L.L.C.
- Associate, 1998-2000

· Becker, Hicks, Irving and Hadeed, P.C.
- Associate, 1997-1998

· Katz & Stone
- Contract Attorney, 1995-1996

Board Memberships

· Washington Building Congress

Civic and Charitable Activities

· Represents Habitat for Humanity of Carroll County, Maryland

· Gamma Phi Beta Sorority

Selected Publications

· Author, "President Obama Signs into Law the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act," Duane Morris Alert, May 27, 2009

· Author, "Congress Continues Its Efforts to Stem Perceived Fraudulent Activity in Federal Procurement," Duane Morris Alert, April 2, 2009

· Author, "President Obama Issues Memorandum Directing Federal Procurement Reform," Duane Morris Alert, March 4, 2009

· Author, "Supreme Court Clarifies the Extent to Which the False Claims Act Applies," Duane Morris Alert, June 27, 2008

· Maryland Construction Law, HLK Communications, January 2007

· Virginia Construction Law, HLK Communications, October 2005

· Co-Author, "Virginia," Chapter 49, State-By-State Guide to Construction Contracts and Claims, Aspen Publishing, October 2005 (update to be published in 2009)

· "Key Provisions in Subcontracts," Lorman Education Services - The Fundamentals of Construction Contracts in Maryland, March 2004 and March 2005

· "The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Design-Build Method," Lorman Educations Services - Construction Management/Design Building in Virginia, December 2002 and 2003

· Co-Author, "Surety Bonds," Chapter 23, Federal Government Construction Contracts, ABA Forum on Construction, Bastianelli Ed., March 2003 (update to be published in 2009)

· Co-Author, "Sarbanes-Oxley: How It Will Affect Contractors and Sureties," The Construction Lawyer, January 2003

· Co-Author, "Sarbanes-Oxley: It Will Affect Sureties Too!" National Bond Claims Association Annual Meeting, October 2002

· Co-Author, "The Surety Manual - A Basic Users Guide for Obligees and Payment Bond Claimants," The Construction Lawyer, January 2002

· "Surety and Insurance: Performance Bond Sureties and Their Role," Lorman Education Services - Construction Law: Can This Job Be Saved? June 2000

Selected Speaking Engagements

· Speaker, "Recent Changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations, the False Claims Act, and Recent Case Law Impacting Government Contractors," Duane Morris Conference, "Government Contracting in the Age of Stimulus: Are You Ready for Transparency?" New York, New York, June 23, 2009

· Moderator, "Energy Savings Performance Contracting: Panacea or Pandora's Box?" Construction SuperConference 2008, San Francisco, December 11, 2008

· Panelist, "Proving and Defending Complex Claims: Cumulative Impacts, Acceleration, Inefficiencies, and the Like," Associated Owners & Developers 2008 National Conference East, Atlanta, Georgia, September 22-23, 2008

· Speaker, "Killer Contract Clauses," Professional Women in Construction's (PWC) Capital Region Chapter seminar, Washington, D.C., July 10, 2008

· Speaker, NORESCO LLC annual training meeting, on topics that include communications do's and don'ts, attorney-client privilege in the corporate setting, construction scheduling issues and recent changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations as well as recent False Claims Act cases affecting federal contractors, Framingham, Massachusetts, June 2008

· Panelist, "Creating and Managing the Schedule," Associated Owners and Developers Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, October 15-16, 2007

· Panelist, "Creating and Managing the Schedule," Associated Owners and Developers Conference, Washington DC, September 2007

· Speaker, "Subcontract Clauses: Tricks and Traps," Insulation Contractor's Association of America Meeting, June 2007

· Panel Moderator, "Do You Want the World to See Your Dirty Laundry (Electronic Communications and Document Retention Policies," National Bond Claims Association Annual Meeting, October 2005

· Speaker, "Key Provisions in Subcontracts," Lorman Education Services - The Fundamentals of Construction Contracts in Maryland, March 2004, scheduled again for March 2005

· Speaker, "The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Design-Build Method," Lorman Education Services - Construction Management/Design Build in Virginia, December 2002 and December 2003

· Speaker, "Surety and Insurance: Performance Bond Sureties and Their Role," Lorman Education Services - Construction Law: Can This Job Be Saved? June 2002

· Speaker, "Cinderella's Shoes Are Too Small: The Surety's Limited Right to Assert the Pay-When-Paid Clause Defense of Its Principal," National Bond Claims Association Annual Meeting, October 2000

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