Holland & Hart LLP

Holland & Hart has one of the largest and most sophisticated construction practices in the western United States. Our attorneys have handled matters regionally, across much of the country, and internationally, and their broad spectrum of experience covers legal matters relating to the construction of power plants, renewable energy projects, pipelines, water systems, refineries, mines, stadiums, airports, bridges, highways, museums, processing and manufacturing plants, hospitals, hazardous waste remediation, shopping malls and office buildings.

With hands-on experience in virtually every aspect of a construction project from beginning to end, our team has handled RFP preparation and response, financing, siting, permitting, design and engineering, procurement, construction and construction management, expansion, retrofitting and privatization.

The firm is home to more than 15 full-time construction lawyers, which means we have the capability and experience to handle construction matters ranging from the routine to the highly complex, whether they involve claims, trials and arbitrations, or transactions. And since we are a full-service firm, we can call in support from key areas such as labor and employment, real estate, environmental compliance, tax, and more.

Our Claims Experience

• Delay, Interference and Disruption
• Termination and Default
• Lost Productivity
• Bidding and Award Disputes
• Cost Escalation
• Construction Failures and Warranties
• Insurance Coverage
• Mechanics' Liens and Miller Act Claims
• A/E Liability
• Change Orders

Our Transactional Experience
Holland & Hart's construction attorneys have drafted and negotiated underlying project-related contracts that include engineering, procurement and construction contracts, standard industry-form contracts, equipment supply and acquisition agreements, land acquisition and lease agreements, partnership and limited liability company agreements, commodities contracts, and operations and maintenance agreements.  We have significant experience in the financing of major construction projects, and our attorneys are experienced in structuring complex multinational financings.  We offer general business and transactional advice to clients engaged in the construction industry, including:

• Project Start-up and Commissioning
• Bid Packages, Contracts and Bonds
• Project Controls and Project Administration
• Claims Avoidance
• EPC and DBOT Projects
• Project Development and Finance
• Procurement Issues and Raw Material Supplying
• Public/Private Partnerships
• Technology acquisition
• Energy Regulation
• Design-build Projects
• LEED/Green Projects

Clients and Projects
Some significant construction litigation or transactional matters in which we have recently been involved include:

• Lead trial counsel in a complex governmental contracting case arising from the attempted construction of a state-of-the-art nuclear waste treatment facility at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The case involved hundreds of millions of dollars in claims and months of trial.
• Counsel for a large, publicly funded art museum in connection with the design and construction of a very high profile addition.  The building addition had numerous, highly technical problems and the claim amount exceeded $30 million.
• Representation of one of North America's largest gas pipeline companies.  We are reviewing and revising its design, construction, procurement, service and management operations and contracts, using a web-based system involving modules and tracking systems.
• Lead counsel for a Department of Transportation in a western U.S. state regarding claims of faulty engineering on a freeway overpass.  The claims against our client were in excess of $30 million.  There were numerous parties and highly technical issues. 
• General counsel to the owners of a very large public works water system.  The project is estimated to last until 2015, and Holland & Hart is handling all construction disputes, claims, and contract issues.  The project primarily involves the planning, design, procurement, permitting, land acquisition, and construction of waste water conveyance system, with a present budget of approximately $750M. 
• Partnering with in-house counsel for a major U.S. mining company and other U.S. and Canadian counsel to form a 50/50 partnership with a Canadian mining company.  The company will develop a $1.4 billion copper-gold-molybdenum project in southwestern Alaska and will engineer, permit, construct, and operate the project.
• Drafting and negotiation of a complex set of contracts on behalf of the owner a $400M nickel/cobalt mine to be built in Cameroon, Africa.  The project includes a unique leaching operation, power plant, ball mill and extraction facilities, and associated infrastructure such as roads, buildings and utilities.
• Claims on behalf of the owner of a high-volume cheese-processing plant in Idaho ($500M per year in sales) which contracted for a state-of-the-art waste water treatment plant to be associated with the processing facility.
• Drafting contracts for the expansion of a large food-processing plant in New Mexico ($500M per year in sales).  The contracts contain elaborate performance specifications, liquidated damage provisions and schedule incentives, along with multiple mechanical completion, testing and startup operations.
• Defense of an engineering firm against a $7M claim related to storm water drainage systems in a large residential subdivision.  The subdivision, which encompassed over 1,000 acres, was created in rangeland with no prior meaningful services such that every aspect of the subdivision and the services necessary to support it were engineered from scratch. 

Support
Holland & Hart is a full-service law firm with over 400 lawyers in Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana and Washington, D.C.

Because we are a full-service firm, Holland & Hart attorneys from other practice groups are often called upon to provide support for the Construction Group in these critical areas:

• Labor and Employment
• Corporate Ethics and Compliance
• Export Controls
• Environmental Regulation and Compliance
• Emergency Response and OSHA
• Public and Tribal Lands
• Governmental Relations
• Tax
• Real Estate

Holland & Hart's Statement of Commitment to Diversity
We are proud of our tradition of fostering and maintaining a work environment in which the diversity of each individual is valued and celebrated. We believe that the contributions of each individual are essential to our continued growth and to our ultimate goal of providing excellent quality legal services to our clients, with greater creativity and innovation. We are committed to taking full advantage of the rich backgrounds and abilities of our people and to promoting a greater diversity whenever and wherever possible.

Diversity Pledge
Holland & Hart is committed to promoting diversity by:

• Making every possible effort to recruit, hire, retain, and promote diverse persons at all levels of employment.
• Promoting greater sensitivity to the value of racial, ethnic and other forms of diversity, through diversity and sensitivity coaching or training for law firm members.
• Inviting to partnership diverse attorneys who meet the requisite criteria.

Diversity Initiatives
The following are additional examples of our commitment and efforts toward supporting and achieving diversity:

• We make a conscious effort to ensure that women and diverse attorneys are included as voting members of our committees of importance within the firm.
• We work closely with law school deans and placement directors in an effort to identify women and diverse law students who are interested in working at Holland & Hart.
• Holland & Hart offers medical and other benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees on the same terms as it does to spouses of employees.
• We created an Indian Law Practice Group and actively recruited Native American law students and lateral hires.
• Each year we contribute to such scholarship funds as the Colorado Native American Indian Scholarship Fund, the Sam Cary Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Colorado Asian American Bar Scholarship Fund, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Scholarship Fund, and the Colorado Women's Bar Association Scholarship Fund.
• In partnership with the University of Idaho School of Law, we sponsor a "Law by Day, Jazz by Night" each year for undergraduate minority students who have an interest in law.
• We took a leadership role in organizing and supporting the Colorado Pledge Group's Minority First Year Law Student Summer Clerk Program. Through this program, law firms agreed to add at least one diverse first year law student to their summer clerk program.
• We were involved in the creation of the Cross-Professional Business Networking Group, where diverse attorneys in our community can meet and network with non-attorney professionals of color. We view this as a way to help diverse attorneys increase their business development possibilities.

For more information regarding Holland & Hart's commitment to diversity, please contact Peter Houtsma at (303) 295-8259.