Construction law builds upon general legal principles and methodologies and incorporates the regulatory framework (including security of payment, planning, environmental and building regulations); contract methodologies and selection (including traditional and alternative forms of contracting); subcontract issues; causes of action, and liability, arising in contract, negligence and on other grounds; insurance and performance security; dispute resolution and avoidance.
Construction law has evolved into a practice discipline in its own right, distinct from its traditional locations as a subpractice of project finance, real estate or corporate law. There are often strong links between construction law and energy law and oil and gas law.
Some of the major areas a construction lawyer covers are:
- Alternative Dispute Resolutions
- Arbitration
- Dispute Review Boards (or other third party reviews)
- Mediation
- Structured negotiations
- Bankruptcy issues for contractors, owners, suppliers, etc.
- Bidding (tendering) disputes
- Building and other permits
- Building information modeling
- Contract law
- Change Orders (Variations)
- Construction claims
- Construction liens
- Wage requirements (Davis-Bacon Act, etc.)
- Payment and Prompt payments acts
- Extensions of time
- Drafting construction contracts
- Industry-standard construction contracts
- Negotiating construction contracts
- Negotiating a termination claim, whether for convenience or for default
- Defective design or construction
- Delays and acceleration
- Employment Law including Immigration
- Environmental matters in construction
- False Claims Act(s)
- Fire codes and regulations
- Fulfilling regulations for non-discrimination or other social impact legislation
- Insurances issues
- Damage, liability
- Indemnification
- Surety Law (Payment and Performance Bonds)
- Labor issues and strikes
- Licensing construction professionals
- OSHA, and other federal agencies
- Overinspection
- Project delivery systems, such as design-bid-build, Design-Build, Construction Manager (CM) at Risk or Agency CM
- Provide defense to businesses facing administrative actions such as delisting (loss of bid listing)
- Provide legal counsel
- Public construction
- Federal construction under FAR or other regulated procurements
- State contracting procedures
- State and local building codes
- Sustainable construction, e.g. LEED
- Litigation: trying construction cases in court
- Violations, safety or other regulatory