Notes from the Editor

• Pages: 4-5
• Date: 01 July 2025
• Published date: 01 July 2025
• Author: Christopher M. Burke
• Subject Matter: Administrative & Public Law

Published in The Construction Lawyer Volume 44, Number 3, ©2025 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with

permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any

means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

Forum on Construction Law The Construction Lawyer Summer 2025

4

By Christopher M. Burke

Christopher M. Burke is a senior partner at Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino, LLP, in Tysons Corner, Virginia

Welcome to the summer 2025 issue of The Construction Lawyer! Over the past year (the rst of my two-

year stint as Editor of The Construction Lawyer), I have had the good fortune to be able to present to

the readership some fantastic and well-researched works from Forum members, many of whom (prior to

publication) presented on their article topics at one of the Forum’s three annual meetings. Many of these

articles come to us already in excellent shape because they have already served as the backbone to an

educational speaking session.

But in this column, I invite our vast readership (and especially you young lawyers out there) to think

about publishing an article on a “from-the-ground-up topic.” Having done this several times myself, I can

assure you it is a worthwhile and rewarding venture. And the best part is that the topic does not need to

be something that is so cutting edge so as to never have been the subject of prior review. Think of your

case load over the past year or two: What issues were at the heart of some of your most challenging

motions? What evidentiary conundrums did you have to wrestle with at trial? Taking a topic/subject

matter from your day-to-day practice and transforming it into an article is easier than you think and I

know that our readership is decidedly interested in current state of the law and/or trends on the topics

that you are—as you read this very column—unpacking in another quadrant of your brain.

Is there a time commitment to putting together a cohesive, complete analysis of an issue worthy of

scholarly treatment? Of course. But there is plenty of time to get working on something and tee it up

for publication later this year or even in 2026. And again, for all the young lawyers out there, the depth

that is necessary for The Construction Lawyer articles will make you a mini-expert on your issue and I

promise that you will be able to parlay that knowledge into other opportunities for promotion and/or

education (a lunch-and-learn at your law firm, speaking at a CLE seminar, etc.).

I hope that this bit of encouragement has inspired even one or two budding authors out there, and I look

forward to hearing from those who are interested!

Turning to this issue of The Construction Lawyer, we feature three articles, each of which comes to us

from sessions at the Forum’s 2025 Midwinter Meeting in Tampa, Florida, where the program theme was

“Maximizing Returns: Proven Strategies for Project Owners and Developers.” The first article, “Dispute

Review Boards and Other Instruments in the Owner’s Dispute Avoidance Toolkit” by Bill Franczek,

Deborah Mastin, and Marissa Downs, details how project participants (and especially owners) can make

best use of Dispute Review Boards to navigate disputes that arise during project performance. The second

article is “Condominium Regulations in the Wake of the Champlain Towers South Collapse” by Evan

McKenzie, PhD, and Kristi Stotts; this article takes a deep dive into the tragic collapse of the Champlain

Tower South condominium building in 2021 and the impact that the collapse has had on legislation

surrounding condominium development and construction in both Florida and other states. This issue’s

third article is “Attorney-Client Privilege & Interactions with Third-Party Consultants,” by J. Paul Allen,

Jessica Knox, and Harper Heckman, which tackles the often-sticky wicket of attorney-client privilege and

work product protection for owners (and other project players) who interact with third-party consultants.

As always, our contributing editors have Hard Hat Case Notes and Construction Bills columns for your

reading pleasure.

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR