Construction law: a specialty practice in today's complex legal environment.

AuthorDavis, Paul E.
PositionLAW JOURNAL 2017

Many lawyers a generation ago practiced "threshold law!' They took any case that crossed the threshold of their office s door. Most lawyers in today's competitive legal market focus on a specialty practice area. Although construction law has evolved over the years into a specialty practice, there is still no universally accepted definition of the practice. In 2007, for example, construction law practitioners began the process to petition the North Carolina State Bar to approve construction law as an area of law for which a lawyer could become certified as a "specialist." Currently, the State Bar recognizes only 16 areas of law with such classifications. Without such a certification, a lawyer cannot call himself or herself a "specialist" in a particular area of the law. Attempts to add construction law as a specialty in North Carolina stalled partly because practitioners were unable to a reach consensus on its definition.

The 16 recognized specialty practice areas run the gamut, from appellate practice to workers' compensation law, and include bankruptcy law, criminal law, family law, immigration law and trademark law. Interestingly, there are parts of each of these practice areas that often must be addressed by the construction-law practitioner. Today's construction lawyer must be well-versed in more than just contract drafting and interpretation, licensing and regulatory requirements, mechanic's liens and bonds, and the various forms of dispute resolution--mediation, arbitration and litigation.

As construction lawyers, we cater to the needs of the construction industry. Over the last several years, our clients' needs have broadened to include areas of the law that one might not necessarily associate with construction law, including aviation, employment and immigration, e-discovery (storage, production and forensic investigation of digital data) and insurance.

By way of example of a critical, but often overlooked, aspect of construction law, we will discuss the importance of understanding and properly addressing the last category: insurance. A large part of our practice is assisting clients in recognizing, evaluating and addressing the risks they may be assuming when they are contemplating signing a contract to participate on a construction project.

A key component of a comprehensive analysis is having the right insurance for the parties and for the project. The use of a contractor-controlled insurance program or an owner-controlled...

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