PRACTICE

Construction & Design Professional

Overview

Pierson Ferdinand’s Construction & Design Professional team assists construction professionals and stakeholders through all phases of a construction project. We provide guidance through the complex regulatory and legal framework governing the construction industry. While we aim to assist in amicably resolving all disputes to avoid delays in project completion, we stand ready to represent our clients through construction arbitration, mediation, and litigation.

  • Trial-Tested Litigation Prowess

    Our Litigation team excels in discerning the critical aspects of a case and collaborates closely with our clients to ensure that litigation is managed in a manner that advances their ultimate objectives.  We work diligently to resolve immediate issues and help our clients avoid similar challenges in the future, while at the same time striving to provide value-add to our clients in an effective representation.

  • Bench Strength and Industry Experienced

    PierFerd Litigation partners provide clients across various industries globally with comprehensive commercial litigation and dispute resolution services. From coast to coast, in state and federal courts, our experience spans from appellate to high-stakes commercial and corporate fraud litigation, to IP and Insurance related disputes, with the ability to scale up for our clients as and when necessary. 

  • Client-Focused Approach to Disputes

    We view our seasoned litigators as an extension of our clients' in-house legal teams, working collaboratively to achieve optimal outcomes through strategic partnership, early intervention, and a comprehensive approach to dispute resolution.

  • Team-Orientated, Comprehensive Strategies

    We seamlessly collaborate with other PierFerd practice groups to leverage and bring to bear the appropriate industry experience wherever necessary, ensuring litigation strategies are comprehensively addressed, including matters related to banking and financial services, cyber-risk, healthcare, insurance, intellectual property, employment and labor, real estate, among others.

Capabilities

We also represent architects, engineers, geotechnical engineers, surveyors, and other design professionals, from the contract review end through claims and litigation. We understand that design professionals face different risks than contractors, owners, or others involved in construction.  

Professional liability insurance policies, and what they can cover, also differ from other insurance policies. These risks must be managed to avoid a given project unknowingly becoming a “bet the company” proposition. Far too often, design professionals are asked to sign a contract agreeing to significant risks they cannot control, much less insure. We have extensive experience drafting contracts to avoid taking on such risks in the first place and in providing real-time advice to avoid assuming such risks during construction contract administration. We defend design professionals in all manner of claims alleging design defects and errors, delay claims, scope gaps and creep, construction contract administration oversights, and payment disputes.