Notes from the Editor

• Author: By Lauren Catoe
• Pages: 3-3

THE CONSTRUCTION LAWYER 3Volume 42 Issue 1 2022

Published in

The Construction Lawyer

, Volume 41, Number 4. © 2022 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.

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

Three of the four articles in this

issue of The Construction Law-

yer are focused on management.

As construction lawyers, our

management skills are tested in

a number of ways: from manag-

ing our time to managing client

expectations. Apart from learn-

ing and sharpening our own

management skills over the course of our careers to be an

effective construction lawyer, it is helpful to understand

the management issues and challenges our construction

industry clients face in fullling their respective roles. This

allows us to provide legal advice in the context of our

clients’ business objectives and concerns and clients typi-

cally appreciate that.

In the rst article of this issue, Managing Integrated

Project Delivery, authors Jean M. Terry, E. Mitchell

Swann, and Carmella Mastrianni discuss the potential

benets and drawbacks of integrated project delivery

methods versus more traditional project delivery methods.

They note that integrated project delivery is “an organic

solution to a longstanding problem” that “seeks to elimi-

nate inefciencies and utilize group cohesion for the good

of the project.” However, it will take some more time and

experience for construction industry participants to dene

project roles, risk/reward allocations, and contract pro-

visions in a manner that moves further away from those

that have come to be known in more traditional project

delivery methods, such that a truly integrated approach

to project delivery is better achieved.

In Managing Design Professional Consultants: Meth-

ods, Challenges, and Potential Liabilities, Barry J. Miller,

Jonathon Korinko, and Robynne Thaxton provide an

overview of “lean construction” and its impacts on project

design development and the role of the design profes-

sional. Among other things, one of the primary goals of

lean construction is the reduction of time and cost inef-

ciencies that result from distinguishing between a project’s

design and construction phases, without a corresponding

reduction to quality. To realize the sought-after benets

of lean construction, a collaborative risk model should

be adopted by project participants, but, as noted by the

article’s authors, implementation of a shared approach to

risk raises some issues regarding the design professional’s

standard of care and liability that should be considered

by design professionals and their legal counsel.

John P. Ahlers, Cameron Sheldon, and Hanna Lee

Blake write about an important topic in the third article

of this issue, Management of Contract Terminations from

Multiple Perspectives. This article summarizes the status

of the law on terminations for cause. It also includes prac-

tical suggestions for terminating parties and terminated

parties, as well as a discussion of the surety’s role in a

termination for cause and tips for performance bond

obligees. Although terminations for cause almost always

result in headaches for construction lawyers and our cli-

ents, following the applicable recommendations in this

article may help alleviate the pain.

Our fourth article is truly a “bonus.” Taking the Road

Less Traveled: Highway Construction and the Carbon

Credit Bonus, by Tyler Mlakar, is the winning article

from the Forum’s 2021 Student Writing Competition.

In his article, Tyler proposes a “Carbon Credit Bonus”

as a means for state and local transportation agencies to

“incentivize highway contractors to adopt more climate-

friendly construction methods and materials, invest in

greener technologies, and ultimately reduce the highway

construction industry’s massive carbon footprint.” This

article is a great read and excites me about the future

of our profession (to which Tyler will be a wonderful

addition). Tyler is a recent graduate of the University of

Arkansas School of Law. His immediate plans include

clerking for the Honorable Bobby Shepherd of the Eighth

Circuit Court of Appeals in El Dorado, Arkansas, for a

year before joining the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock,

Arkansas, as an associate, where he intends to practice

construction law. Congratulations to Tyler!

Lauren Catoe, based out of Tampa, Florida, is editor of The Construction

Lawyer and assistant general counsel of AECOM Hunt.

Lauren Catoe

By Lauren Catoe

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