Construction Law Essentials: Contracts, Dispute Resolution, and Claims Management

Danielle E. Cohen | Tesser & Cohen

Danielle E. Cohen is a partner at Tesser & Cohen, where she concentrates her practice on construction litigation. She has represented a diverse range of construction clients, including owners, general contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers. She has been involved in both prosecuting and defending claims on private and public projects in New Jersey and New York, including delay claims, construction lien and mechanic’s lien foreclosure actions, defective work claims, bond claims, Prompt Payment Act claims, and trust fund issues.

Ms. Cohen is listed in the New Jersey editions of Super Lawyers, Rising Stars from 2014 through 2021 and in the New Jersey editions of Super Lawyers from 2022 through 2024 in the field of construction law. Ms. Cohen is the immediate past CoChair of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Construction Law Section.

Gina Makoujy | Tesser & Cohen

Gina A. Makoujy is Of Counsel to Tesser & Cohen, PC, in Hackensack, NJ. Ms. Makoujy practices in the areas of construction litigation, commercial and business law, architects’ and engineers’ professional liability defense, and transactional matters.

Gina has represented a variety of clients in the construction arena, including project owners, developers, design professionals, general and prime contractors, and specialty trade contractors, in all phases of construction and commercial litigation. She regularly counsels clients during the pre-construction and construction phases on issues including contract negotiations, risk management, and disputes.

Her representation extends to both public and private projects, and addresses payment claims, delay and impacts, acceleration, design issues, lien law, bond claims and surety issues, defective work, and wrongful termination. She has extensive experience in construction lien foreclosure actions involving the New Jersey Construction Lien Law and New Jersey’s Municipal Mechanics’ Lien Law.

She has been selected as a Super Lawyer 2017, 2018, 2019, 2024; and Bergen Magazine 2023 Top Lawyers.

Session I – Construction Contracts and Dispute Management | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Comparing AIA and ConsensusDocs contracts
• Essential clauses from the perspective of the owner and contractor: Scope of work, pricing, payment terms and schedules
• Dispute resolution and termination clauses

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Construction Claims, Key Strategies | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Key contract terms for successful claims
• Real-time strategies for making claims
• Avoiding inadvertent waiver of claims
• Strategies for dealing with upper-tier and lower-tier parties