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San Francisco partner and LEED AP Jonathan Rodriguez lends his green construction experience to a review of the green building movement. Read more

 


Marilyn Klinger, a partner in our Los Angeles office, distills the impact of the current financial crises on the construction industry in her article Despite Unprecedented Construction Slump, Contractors Remain Cautiously Optimistic. Read more

For more than a quarter century, Sedgwick's Construction Practices Group, comprised of nationally recognized lawyers, has represented the entire spectrum of participants in construction projects and has handled construction matters of every type, large and small.  Today, clients of the Construction Practices Group benefit from that experience in all aspects of the construction process.

For more than a quarter century, Sedgwick's Construction Practices Group, comprised of nationally recognized lawyers, has represented the entire spectrum of participants in construction projects and has handled construction matters of every type, large and small.  Today, clients of the Construction Practices Group benefit from that experience in all aspects of the construction process.

Sedgwick's construction attorneys represent all levels of participants in the construction industry.  Our clients include public and private owners; developers of commercial properties; design professionals; general contractors and subcontractors; sureties; equipment and material suppliers; and developers of residential projects, including single and multifamily construction. 

Document Preparation and Construction Counsel

Sedgwick's attorneys work with our clientele to negotiate and draft customized documents based on each client's specifications and unique requirements.  Our construction contract experience includes design-build agreements; traditional lump-sum and guaranteed maximum contracts; construction management contracts, including at-risk contracts; and agreements between owners, contractors, architects and engineers.  Our attorneys routinely work with commonly utilized industry forms and have negotiated and documented construction contracts using forms published by the American Institute of Architects, Associated General Contractors, Engineers Joint Contracts Documents Committee and the Construction Management Association of America. 

Sedgwick's construction and surety attorneys sit at the table with our clients, counseling them throughout the construction process, which includes advice on the preparation and drafting of change orders and construction change directives, and documentation specifically designed to preserve the rights of our clients while construction proceeds and when construction is complete and close-out commences.

Construction Claims and Dispute Resolution

When construction projects hit the inevitable bumps, our attorneys do not wait for matters to reach the courtroom.  Rather, we work with our clients to take charge at the earliest stages of negotiations, Dispute Resolution Board hearings, or workout meetings, fashioning cost-effective, real world solutions to the problems facing the parties to the dispute. 

Sedgwick's construction attorneys pioneered document exchanges and mediated settlements long before "alternative dispute resolution" became a popular phrase, much less a requisite step during litigation or arbitration.  Avoiding protracted litigation and discovery is often in our clients' best interests, and we are adept at effecting early remedies and sparing our clients the high costs of discovery and pretrial litigation, as well as the even greater expense and uncertainties of trial or arbitration. 

Of course, when necessary, Sedgwick is prepared to take matters to trial, arbitration, and beyond.  Members of the Construction Practices Group have significant courtroom experience with a multitude of construction disputes, including defects of structural and cosmetic elements, terminations for default and convenience, defective equipment and improper installation of materials, mechanic's liens, stop notices, claims for extra work, delay, impact and acceleration claims, and warranty issues following completion.  We work with industry leaders in the fields of scheduling, cost control, and calculation of extended project costs and overhead, providing a comprehensive approach to our pursuit of any claim or defense.  Our attorneys also represent architects, engineers, and other design professionals in the defense and prosecution of claims. 

OSHA Emergency Response

Certain Sedgwick attorneys are experts in industrial health and safety needs. Those attorneys represent clients nationwide on health and safety issues. Their collective experience ranges from assisting clients with general OSHA preparedness to assisting clients with state and federal administrative investigations. They have assisted clients through an array of issues including recordkeeping, auditing existing systems, and investigations after fatalities and catastrophic incidents. Our health and safety experts also have the unique ability to not only facilitate an OSHA investigation, but to handle informal conferences, and if necessary, litigate any administrative citations. To further assist our clients, Sedgwick attorneys have relationships with a wide range of industry specific safety experts available to assist in achieving our clients’ health and safety goals. 

Surety

As a recognized national and international leader in managing the complex issues facing bonding companies, Sedgwick's surety attorneys counsel and defend sureties in negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, and litigation in local, state, and federal jurisdictions (including bankruptcy courts).  Sedgwick represents large and small sureties on a national, regional and local basis. 

Sedgwick's lawyers have negotiated and drafted countless completion contracts, takeover agreements and other documents specific to the surety industry.  Additionally, Sedgwick's construction expertise allows us to represent sureties in the negotiation of default terminations and aggressively pursue affirmative claims, obtaining substantial victories and recoveries for sureties.  When called upon, we defend and litigate payment bond claims in federal and state venues across the country. 

Bankruptcies do not stop Sedgwick or terminate our surety clients' interests.  Our attorneys have substantial experience in protecting our surety clients' interests as creditors, which gives us an advantage in any bankruptcy negotiation.  Moreover, with Sedgwick's extraordinary bench strength in the insurance industry, we offer our clients cross-practice expertise when confronting bad faith and other extracontractual claims. 

Sedgwick's surety law experience extends beyond performance, payment, bid, release, and license bonds in construction to commercial, subdivision, license, probate, judicial, fiduciary, and miscellaneous bonds.  Our attorneys also draw on Sedgwick experts in E&O and CGL policies and other insurance resources to find ways to shift risks from our surety clients to others.

In support of the frequent in-house claims handling seminars presented by our attorneys, Sedgwick has published the California Fair Claims Settlement Practices Handbook, as well as the Texas Surety Law Deskbook. 

Construction Industry Leadership

Attorneys in Sedgwick's Construction Practices Group are active and have held and continue to hold leadership positions in several surety and construction industry organizations, including the American Bar Association's Fidelity and Surety Law Committee, American Bar Association's Forum on the Construction Industry, American Bar Association's Public Contract Law Section, and local chapters of the Associated General Contractors of America.  Sedgwick attorneys are frequently asked to write and present on topics of interest to the construction industry. 

For more than a quarter century, Sedgwick's Construction Practices Group, comprised of nationally recognized lawyers, has represented the entire spectrum of participants in construction projects and has handled construction matters of every type, large and small.  Today, clients of the Construction Practices Group benefit from that experience in all aspects of the construction process.

Sedgwick's construction attorneys represent all levels of participants in the construction industry.  Our clients include public and private owners; developers of commercial properties; design professionals; general contractors and subcontractors; sureties; equipment and material suppliers; and developers of residential projects, including single and multifamily construction. 

Document Preparation and Construction Counsel

Sedgwick's attorneys work with our clientele to negotiate and draft customized documents based on each client's specifications and unique requirements.  Our construction contract experience includes design-build agreements; traditional lump-sum and guaranteed maximum contracts; construction management contracts, including at-risk contracts; and agreements between owners, contractors, architects and engineers.  Our attorneys routinely work with commonly utilized industry forms and have negotiated and documented construction contracts using forms published by the American Institute of Architects, Associated General Contractors, Engineers Joint Contracts Documents Committee and the Construction Management Association of America. 

Sedgwick's construction and surety attorneys sit at the table with our clients, counseling them throughout the construction process, which includes advice on the preparation and drafting of change orders and construction change directives, and documentation specifically designed to preserve the rights of our clients while construction proceeds and when construction is complete and close-out commences.

Construction Claims and Dispute Resolution

When construction projects hit the inevitable bumps, our attorneys do not wait for matters to reach the courtroom.  Rather, we work with our clients to take charge at the earliest stages of negotiations, Dispute Resolution Board hearings, or workout meetings, fashioning cost-effective, real world solutions to the problems facing the parties to the dispute. 

Sedgwick's construction attorneys pioneered document exchanges and mediated settlements long before "alternative dispute resolution" became a popular phrase, much less a requisite step during litigation or arbitration.  Avoiding protracted litigation and discovery is often in our clients' best interests, and we are adept at effecting early remedies and sparing our clients the high costs of discovery and pretrial litigation, as well as the even greater expense and uncertainties of trial or arbitration. 

Of course, when necessary, Sedgwick is prepared to take matters to trial, arbitration, and beyond.  Members of the Construction Practices Group have significant courtroom experience with a multitude of construction disputes, including defects of structural and cosmetic elements, terminations for default and convenience, defective equipment and improper installation of materials, mechanic's liens, stop notices, claims for extra work, delay, impact and acceleration claims, and warranty issues following completion.  We work with industry leaders in the fields of scheduling, cost control, and calculation of extended project costs and overhead, providing a comprehensive approach to our pursuit of any claim or defense.  Our attorneys also represent architects, engineers, and other design professionals in the defense and prosecution of claims. 

OSHA Emergency Response

Certain Sedgwick attorneys are experts in industrial health and safety needs. Those attorneys represent clients nationwide on health and safety issues. Their collective experience ranges from assisting clients with general OSHA preparedness to assisting clients with state and federal administrative investigations. They have assisted clients through an array of issues including recordkeeping, auditing existing systems, and investigations after fatalities and catastrophic incidents. Our health and safety experts also have the unique ability to not only facilitate an OSHA investigation, but to handle informal conferences, and if necessary, litigate any administrative citations. To further assist our clients, Sedgwick attorneys have relationships with a wide range of industry specific safety experts available to assist in achieving our clients’ health and safety goals. 

Surety

As a recognized national and international leader in managing the complex issues facing bonding companies, Sedgwick's surety attorneys counsel and defend sureties in negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, and litigation in local, state, and federal jurisdictions (including bankruptcy courts).  Sedgwick represents large and small sureties on a national, regional and local basis. 

Sedgwick's lawyers have negotiated and drafted countless completion contracts, takeover agreements and other documents specific to the surety industry.  Additionally, Sedgwick's construction expertise allows us to represent sureties in the negotiation of default terminations and aggressively pursue affirmative claims, obtaining substantial victories and recoveries for sureties.  When called upon, we defend and litigate payment bond claims in federal and state venues across the country. 

Bankruptcies do not stop Sedgwick or terminate our surety clients' interests.  Our attorneys have substantial experience in protecting our surety clients' interests as creditors, which gives us an advantage in any bankruptcy negotiation.  Moreover, with Sedgwick's extraordinary bench strength in the insurance industry, we offer our clients cross-practice expertise when confronting bad faith and other extracontractual claims. 

Sedgwick's surety law experience extends beyond performance, payment, bid, release, and license bonds in construction to commercial, subdivision, license, probate, judicial, fiduciary, and miscellaneous bonds.  Our attorneys also draw on Sedgwick experts in E&O and CGL policies and other insurance resources to find ways to shift risks from our surety clients to others.

In support of the frequent in-house claims handling seminars presented by our attorneys, Sedgwick has published the California Fair Claims Settlement Practices Handbook, as well as the Texas Surety Law Deskbook. 

Construction Industry Leadership

Attorneys in Sedgwick's Construction Practices Group are active and have held and continue to hold leadership positions in several surety and construction industry organizations, including the American Bar Association's Fidelity and Surety Law Committee, American Bar Association's Forum on the Construction Industry, American Bar Association's Public Contract Law Section, and local chapters of the Associated General Contractors of America.  Sedgwick attorneys are frequently asked to write and present on topics of interest to the construction industry.