ArentFox Schiff advises companies and individuals planning, designing, and building construction projects in their transactions and disputes across a wide range of legal, business, and strategic matters. Projects are shaped by evolving delivery models, complex team structures, and regulatory considerations that can carry significant financial and operational implications.
Within this environment, legal issues often intersect with project execution, financing, and long-term asset management, requiring careful coordination at each stage of development.
Construction projects typically involve multiple parties, layered contractual relationships, and changing regulatory and commercial pressures. Legal considerations extend beyond discrete transactions or disputes and frequently influence how projects are structured, implemented, and managed over time.
Working with clients on a wide range of project types—including commercial buildings, residential and mixed-use developments, energy, industrial and manufacturing facilities, infrastructure and transportation, cultural institutions, healthcare and senior living, and sports and entertainment venues—the team provides counsel aligned with project-specific risks and operational considerations.
An integrated, industry-focused approach allows the firm to advise on matters that involve transactions, project formation, risk allocation, and/or dispute resolution, with the benefit of the firm’s broad industry knowledge across multiple business sectors.
What Do We Do?
- Serve as construction counsel in connection with new construction, renovation, and modernization projects, including large-scale commercial, residential, and industrial developments.
- Advise on the negotiation and drafting of design, project management and construction agreements in a broad range of project types.
- Represent clients in negotiations, mediation, arbitration and litigation involving construction project disputes, such as cost overruns, delays, mechanic’s liens, and design and construction defects.
- Provide guidance on construction-related aspects of public-private partnership (P3) projects, including front-end contract structures.
- Counsel clients on construction access agreements and coordination with adjacent property owners.
- Assist with public procurement processes, including bid packages and construction contract documentation.
- Draft and negotiate master services agreements for architecture, engineering, and project management services.
- Advise on design-build, EPC, and other project delivery models.
- Provide counsel on construction contract structures for specialized facilities, including healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, and energy-related projects.
- Analyze and address issues related to compensation structures, including guaranteed maximum price, cost-plus and lump sum arrangements, as applicable.
- Review and advise on project insurance program considerations.
Who Do We Help?
- Owners and developers
- Architects, professional engineers, and interior designers
- Project managers
- Construction managers and general contractors
- Trade contractors
How Can We Help?
Legal support may become necessary at key points in a project lifecycle, including:
- Structuring projects and allocating risk among stakeholders.
- Negotiating and documenting design, project management, and construction agreements.
- Navigating public and P3 procurement or regulatory requirements.
- Addressing pricing, cost, or performance issues during project execution.
- Managing ground-up construction of new projects, and renovations, expansions, or modernization efforts for existing assets.
The firm has advised on a wide range of construction matters involving commercial, residential, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, industrial, sports and entertainment, infrastructure, and institutional projects.
Representative transactional matters include:
- Serving as construction counsel to a major financial institution in connection with new construction and renovation projects for corporate facilities.
- Acting as construction counsel to an ecommerce company in connection with nationwide development of warehouses and distribution centers, including renovation and modernization of existing facilities.
- Representing a developer in connection with the design and construction of industrial warehouses and concrete tilt-up buildings.
- Advising developers on multifamily residential and mixed-use projects, including preparation and negotiation of design and construction agreements.
- Counseling developers on construction access license agreements with adjacent property owners.
- Acting for nonprofits in connection with headquarters buildouts and negotiations with architects, engineers, and contractors.
- Representing the private-sector developer in connection with the modernization and expansion of a major transportation facility structured as a public-private partnership.
- Advising an owner of senior living facilities on post-acquisition capital improvements across its portfolio.
- Counseling professional sports teams and project stakeholders in connection with project considerations for sports and entertainment venue development.
- Advising owners of theaters on renovation and expansion projects.
- Representing a consumer food manufacturer in connection with design and construction agreements for a large-scale manufacturing facility.
- Drafting and negotiating master services agreements for architecture, engineering, and project management services on behalf of a public finance authority
- Representing an owner/developer in connection with construction of transportation-related facilities in a metropolitan area.
- Representing hospital systems in connection with construction agreements for expansion and modernization of healthcare facilities.
- Advising on public procurement processes and contract preparation for hospital renovation projects.
- Representing an automobile dealer group in connection with development and construction of real estate holdings.
- Counseling a provider of geothermal systems on construction contracts for residential installations.
Representative dispute matters include:
- Defending the City of New York against claims exceeding $1 billion arising from the collapse of 7 World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
- Representing a cultural institution in connection with litigation and mediation against the construction manager of a project involving the modernization of a state-of-the-art building, and in project close-out issues.
- Representing a professional sports team in mediation with the design-builder of the team’s new stadium.
- Representing a hospital in disputes with the design-builder of a project involving substantial renovations and upgrades to the hospital’s facilities.
- Representing building owners in litigation and mediation against their construction and design teams due to significant defective conditions they left in a historic building.
- Representing a museum in connection with mediation against the construction manager of a project involving the construction of a new multi-building complex.
- Representing the owners/developers of senior living facilities in disputes with the construction manager of a new housing complex.
- Representation of a developer in litigation against adjacent property owners involving construction access license agreements.
- Representing a major contractor in connection with claims arising out substantial upgrades to subway lines in the City of New York.
- Representing a private school in litigation with the general contractor for its renovation and modernization of its campus buildings.
- Representing design professionals in cases that involve copyright infringement of their design drawings.
- Representing the owner and operator of a new ethanol plant in its dispute with the design-build contractor over design defects, defective workmanship, and cost overruns.
- Representing the owner of a food products company in litigation against the general contractor of its new headquarters.
- Advising clients in disputes concerning mechanic’s liens, lien law trust funds, and lien priorities.
- Representing a major owner/developer, who was building a $60 million multi-tenant mall in the New York metropolitan area, against the general contractor and its surety.
- Advising one of the largest mall developers in the Northeast in construction and design defects litigation against the design-build contractor and its surety.
