Construction Law Foundational Principles

Neal J. Sweeney | Jones Walker LLP

Neal Sweeney is a partner on the Construction Team. He focuses exclusively on construction law and government contracts.

Drawing on his more than 30 years of experience with the construction industry, Neal counsels clients on major infrastructure and P3 projects such as transit, airports, highways, wastewater treatment, and tunnels. He is also involved in energy and industrial projects linked to clean technology and renewable sources, including hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, integrated gasification combined cycle, and landfill gas.

Throughout his career, Neal has successfully negotiated contracts for engineering, design-build, O&M, and equipment totaling billions of dollars. He provides legal support throughout the life of a project, focusing on risk mitigation and real-time dispute resolution. He regularly represents contractors, designers, and public and private owners.

Neal has participated in the trials of various large and complex construction disputes in court as well as in arbitration and before federal boards of contract appeals involving the US Army Corps of Engineers, General Services Administration (GSA), Veterans Administration (VA), and other federal agencies.

Before joining Jones Walker, Neal practiced at the Atlanta office of an Am Law 100 firm, where he was a partner in the construction and infrastructure and the water and wastewater teams.

In addition to his direct client work, Neal has edited or coauthored more than 25 books on construction law and regularly contributes to industry publications. He lectures frequently for various construction industry organizations and educational institutions, including AGC, ACEC, ARTBA, NACWA, DBIA, Georgia Tech, Stanford University, and the University of Florida.

Bill J. Shaughnessy | Jones Walker LLP

Bill Shaughnessy is a partner on the Construction Team. He focuses exclusively on helping clients in all stages of construction projects, including contract review and negotiation, dispute avoidance and resolution, and litigation and arbitration.

Bill represents a variety of clients in the construction industry, including owners, general contractors, design-build contractors, suppliers, and subcontractors. His experience ranges from representing a design-builder on a $400 million highway and bridge design-build project in the Pacific Northwest (involving complex geotechnical and design issues), to representing a design-build contractor on a $125 million dispute on a major Texas transportation construction project (encompassing claims for lost productivity, disruption, differing site conditions, and cumulative impact), and representing a global manufacturing company in a AAA arbitration dispute with more than 10 parties related to the construction of a $1.5 billion design-build government project in Utah. More recent representation includes that of a general contractor in an arbitration involving the construction of a $60 million windfarm project located in the Great Plains with issues involving delay, acceleration, and defective work, as well as an electrical contractor in a state court dispute involving issues of delay with the construction of the Atlanta Braves SunTrust Park.

As lead counsel, Bill successfully represented a commercial roofing subcontractor in a federal court trial involving the construction of a government facility in connection with claims of breach of contract, wrongful termination, and bad faith.

In addition to his construction practice, Bill has experience representing clients in state and federal courts in all aspects of a wide variety of litigation matters, such as contract disputes, lender liability, fraudulent conveyances, and commercial asset recovery.

In 2008 and prior to beginning his career in law, Bill played professional baseball with the San Diego Padres. He currently is active in the greater-Atlanta community coaching youth baseball.

I. Construction Contract: Equitable Risk Allocations and Procedural Traps for the Unwary | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Break | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

II. Risk Allocation and Transfer through Insurance, Indemnities, and Bonding | 1:10pm – 1:40pm

III. Effective Communication and Documentation During Project Performance | 1:40pm – 2:10pm

Break | 2:10pm – 2:20pm

IV. Avoiding and Efficiently Resolving Disputes | 2:20pm – 2:50pm