Practice Areas

Maslon's Construction Law Group is an extension of the industry it represents; defined in large part by the needs of that industry's participants. We partner with our clients to achieve their goals and satisfy their expectations.  With a mission of providing construction law services and legal representation at a high professional level, the Group manifests a national practice that is recognized for its comprehensive construction related services.

Our construction practice includes all phases and types of contract formation, negotiation and drafting, project administration, payment and close-out, warranty work and defective construction issues, including remediation efforts and securing the cost of repair through applicable - and often unique - construction insurance products, as well as claims analysis, development and resolution.  Our commercial practitioners are experienced in all facets of corporate law, finance, procurement, project development, product procurement, leasing and sales of construction projects, including workout services that arise in the course of troubled projects.

We represent owners, developers, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, lenders and sureties in private and public construction projects of every type throughout the United States. We have developed concentrations in certain sub-specialties of the construction industry, including the development and formation of EPC contracts for the construction of electric power plants; the development and enforcement of construction indemnity agreements in all fifty states and the District of Columbia; the preparation and presentation of Requests for Equitable Adjustments of Executory Construction Contracts During Periods of Disruption and Delay on Commercial Construction Projects; the development of company-wide mold-loss prevention programs for owners and builders; representation and litigation involving complex building component failures or allegations of defective construction, and insurance coverage for defective construction claims.

Our lawyers dedicate a substantial percentage of their time to assisting construction related trade associations, national and local construction bar entities and related organizations in connection with their efforts to better the construction industry. Two members have been selected to serve on the National AGC's Contract Document & Risk Management Committees, where they have developed national form contracts that are used today by thousands of owners, contractors and subcontractors. One of our members assisted the National AGC in publishing what is now considered the only standard mold-loss prevention program in the United States. One of our members co-authored the AGC's new Contract Documents Handbook (Aspen 2003).  Two of our members serve in positions of responsibility in The ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, the largest organization of construction lawyers in the United States. One is presently on the Steering Committee of Division 2 of The Forum that focuses on the analysis and development of Contract Documents. The other is a former Governing Committee member of The Forum, and was just elected by the national membership to serve as Chair-Elect and Chair of The Forum.

We are also known for having developed a national indemnity program for the construction industry that is unlike any other. Developed as a product, and delivered as a service, it consists of a national indemnification template that was developed to conform with the legal requirements for indemnity in the construction industry. The template was then modified to conform to the specific statutory and decisional laws of all fifty states and the District of Columbia. For contractors and owners who seek to contractually allocate the risk of loss on a job, the Maslon National Indemnity Project is the only library of enforceable clauses in the country.

Publications:

• 2007 Maslon Property & Construction Law Client Update eNewsletter
• Did the Minnesota Supreme Court Open The Door to Uncompensated Takings? (July 2006) 
• Minnesota Legislature Overhauls Eminent Domain Laws (July 2006)
• Tax Increment Financing Still Constitutional (July 2006)
• Property & Construction Law Update - Summer 2006 - Web Version

News:

• Jim Killian Authors Lead Chapter from Most Recent Book by the ABA Forum in the Construction Industry 
• Jim O'Connor's Article Published in Journal of American College of Construction Lawyers

Events and Seminars:

• Listen to James Duffy O'Connor's audio conference on The New A201: What Every Contractor Needs to Know Associated General Contractors of America - AIA A201 Audio Conference (December 4, 2007)