Safeguarding Your Privileged Construction Information With a Clawback Agreement
June 08, 2026 —
Laura Fraher - Construction ExecutiveFor contractors and construction executives, a
dispute that escalates to litigation brings risks that go well beyond the jobsite. When a dispute escalates to litigation, the attorney-client privilege is a critical protection to safeguard your interests. Disclosing privileged material can undermine your litigation position and, in some cases, negatively impact your business. In the construction context, this often includes sensitive communications about project delays, defect investigations, safety incidents or payment disputes—materials that can significantly impact both liability and reputation.
During litigation, the discovery process requires the exchange of documents and data with your adversary. If privileged materials are disclosed to your adversary during discovery you risk the waiver of your privilege, which in plain terms means you lose the protection of the privilege and make the privileged information, and in some cases all other information related to the same subject matter, available to your adversary. It is critical that your attorney take steps to protect against the unintentional disclosure of privileged materials during discovery to avoid a waiver.
Reprinted courtesy of
Laura Fraher, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
Read the full story...Ms. Fraher may be contacted at
lfraher@barclaydamon.com
Los Angeles Times Ranks Lewis Brisbois Third Largest Firm in LA County, Largest for Litigation
June 08, 2026 —
Lewis BrisboisThe Los Angeles Times has ranked Lewis Brisbois the third largest firm in LA County by attorney headcount, and first for number of litigation attorneys.
Lewis Brisbois, whose Los Angeles office is led by Co-Managing Partners Jana I. Lubert and Kathleen Walker, has 273 attorneys working in LA County, including 167 partners.
The firm ranked No. 1 for Litigation in the county, with 206 attorneys under the leadership of Partner Craig Holden.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Lewis Brisbois
Can Anything Supersede Excel in AEC?
April 27, 2026 —
Aarni Heiskanen - AEC BusinessIf there’s one piece of software that dominates the business world across industries, it’s Microsoft Excel. Can AI finally dethrone the mighty spreadsheet?
Memorable Spreadsheet Moments
Everyone has memorable spreadsheet moments. I have a few. For example, my then-architecture firm was involved in more than a dozen housing developments abroad. I developed an Excel workbook that took the required number of households as input and automatically generated a breakdown of buildings and their apartment types for AutoCAD. This was urban planning and architectural design done with a spreadsheet.
I also developed business software using Excel for project portfolio management. The prototype was later scaled into a commercial SaaS that is now used globally.
Another memorable moment was when a property owner told me their Excel file grew so large that it ran out of rows and columns. That must have been before 2007, when the maximum number of columns on a sheet was still just 256 and the maximum number of rows was 65,536. The current limits are 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns, which I hope no one will exceed.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Aarni Heiskanen, AEC BusinessMr. Heiskanen may be contacted at
aec-business@aepartners.fi
Nationwide Preliminary Injunction Ordering Department of Defense to Resume Review of Wind Energy Projects
September 21, 2026 —
Victor J. Roehm III, Christopher P. Colyer & Sara M. Ajeti - Snell & WilmerOn August 6, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon granted a preliminary injunction in Renewable Northwest v. Hegseth, Case No. 3:26-cv-01092-IM, ordering the Department of Defense (DoD) to resume processing wind energy project applications under the existing statutory and regulatory framework and staying DoD’s review freeze pending final adjudication on the merits.
Background
In 2011, Congress created the Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse) within DoD to review wind energy projects that might affect military operations. When a wind project developer files an application with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the FAA refers it to DoD to determine whether the project poses an “unacceptable risk to the national security.”
Reprinted courtesy of
Victor J. Roehm III, Snell & Wilmer,
Christopher P. Colyer, Snell & Wilmer and
Sara M. Ajeti, Snell & Wilmer
Mr. Roehm may be contacted at vroehm@swlaw.com
Mr. Colyer may be contacted at ccolyer@swlaw.com
Ms. Ajeti may be contacted at sajeti@swlaw.com
Read the full story...
NJ Public Works Contractors Beware – Pay Special Attention When Submitting Your Public Works Contractor Registration
May 26, 2026 —
Levi W. Barrett & Aaron C. Schlesinger - Peckar & Abramson, P.C.While it is always important to be careful when making submissions to government agencies, recent activity by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (“NJDOL”) reveals considerably increased scrutiny in connection with contractors renewing their New Jersey Public Works Registration. Extra care when completing the registration renewal process is warranted, because the consequences of a misstep can be significant and disruptive.
The New Jersey Public Works Contractor Registration Act requires all contractors bidding on or engaging in construction-related public works projects to register with the NJDOL. This registration, which must be resubmitted every 1-2 years, requires contractors to make a number of detailed disclosures relating to, among other things, the entity’s ownership structure, prior state and federal labor law violations, details regarding interests in other businesses, unlawful acts by owners/officers, and participation in apprenticeship programs.
Reprinted courtesy of
Levi W. Barrett, Peckar & Abramson, P.C. and
Aaron C. Schlesinger, Peckar & Abramson, P.C.
Mr. Barrett may be contacted at lbarrett@pecklaw.com
Mr. Schlesinger may be contacted at aschlesinger@pecklaw.com
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Arizona Supreme Court Clarifies Parties’ Post-Default Conduct Cannot Validate Void Default Orders
August 24, 2026 —
Joseph Kanefield, Ryan P. Hogan & Lilly M. Geiler - Snell & WilmerAfter filing a lawsuit, the first step is always serving process on the opposing party. While that preliminary step sounds basic enough, in McMahan v. Grasshopper, the Arizona Supreme Court recently provided a helpful refresher on the nuances of the service requirement and its importance in litigation for plaintiffs and defendants alike.1
Background
McMahan arose from a hit-and-run where a tractor-trailer collided with safety barricades and injured a construction worker. The construction worker sued the tractor-trailer company, and he attempted to serve the company by leaving a copy of the complaint with the assistant to the company’s statutory agent who forwarded the complaint to the company. The assistant, however, was not authorized to accept service on the company’s behalf. Before the company appeared in the action, the construction worker successfully obtained an entry of default.
Reprinted courtesy of
Joseph Kanefield, Snell & Wilmer,
Ryan P. Hogan, Snell & Wilmer and
Lilly M. Geiler, Snell & Wilmer
Mr. Kanefield may be contacted at jkanefield@swlaw.com
Mr. Hogan may be contacted at rhogan@swlaw.com
Ms. Geiler may be contacted at lgeiler@swlaw.com
Read the full story...
New York Team Secures Dismissal of Premises Liability Action Against Client
May 26, 2026 —
Lewis BrisboisNew York Associate Nicole Koch and Partner Jennine Gerrard recently secured a complete dismissal of a plaintiff’s claims for injuries following a fall in front of a client’s business at an outdoor mall.
The plaintiff alleged that she was walking on the sidewalk outside of the client's hair care supply store in the Bronx in May 2024 when she tripped and fell on a broken/defective portion of the sidewalk. As a result of the accident, the plaintiff suffered injuries to her spine, hip, wrist, and both knees. She proceeded to file suit in New York County Supreme Court against Lewis Brisbois’ client and the landlord for the property.
Read the full story...Reprinted courtesy of
Lewis Brisbois
Construction Liens: Liening for Amounts Not Yet Technically Due Does Not Mean Lien Is Fraudulent
August 11, 2026 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesA 2024 bankruptcy ruling, In re Edgewater Construction Group, Inc., 657 B.R. 668 (S.D.Fla. 2024), touched upon an interesting issue when it comes to construction liens. Is a construction lien fraudulent simply because the lien includes amounts not yet due? Not necessarily.
In this bankruptcy dispute, the subcontractor debtor (that filed for bankruptcy) recorded two construction liens on projects. The general contractor argued in the bankruptcy court that the subcontractor debtor’s liens were fraudulent.
As to the first lien, the general contractor argued that the lien was fraudulent because it included amounts that the debtor knew the general contractor had already paid to the debtor’s subcontractors/suppliers. The bankruptcy court disagreed: “The Court finds that, although the Debtor had been told that [the general contractor] had paid these subcontractors, in light of the ongoing dispute between Debtor and [the general contractor], it was reasonable for the Debtor to demand proof. Debtor’s subsequent filing of a partial satisfaction of lien once the Debtor received the requested proof of payment from [the general contractor] counters any claim of willful exaggeration.” In re Edgewater Construction Group, supra, at 672-673.
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