Bradley Arant's International Construction and Procurement Law Practice takes our lawyers across the nation and around the globe on behalf of our clients. We count among our clients five of the top twenty-five construction companies in the United States as ranked by Engineering News Record, as well as owners, developers, construction lenders, construction managers, subcontractors, vendors, architects, engineers and sureties. We work closely with our clients during all phases of the construction process to help them accomplish their goals and objectives. Our lawyers know the construction industry, and know the many diverse legal and business issues that our clients face. Many of our construction lawyers have engineering degrees and real world construction experience, having worked in the construction industry prior to beginning the practice of law. We have lawyers who are Fellows in the American College of Construction Lawyers and who are listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Areas of Practice
Our representation of our clients extends from the beginning of projects through their conclusion, from the negotiation of contracts and preparation of bids to the resolution of construction disputes. Bradley Arant attorneys have extensive experience with all types of project delivery options and are well-versed in the major industry contract forms, including the forms prepared by AIA, EJC, AGC, EJCDC, and CMAA. We regularly assist in project administration, job close-outs and settlement, and "privatization" matters. We have extensive experience in all forms of construction litigation including arbitration, mediation, bench trials, and jury trials. We perform disaster and injury investigations. We provide a full range of services with respect to government (federal, state and local) contracts, including bid protests and board of contract appeals claims.

Clients and Projects
Bradley Arant's construction practice is built on years of experience in this industry. During the 1960s and 1970s, our construction practice grew rapidly along with our representation of Blount, one of the largest contractors in the world at that time. Our representation of Blount included contract negotiation, project administration, and claim prosecution in connection with numerous high-profile projects such as Pad 39A at Cape Kennedy, the Hannibal Lock & Dam on the Ohio River, the New Orleans Superdome, and the $2 billion King Saad University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Our practice soon expanded to include other successful Alabama construction and engineering firms such as BE&K, Brasfield & Gorrie, Bill Harbert, Caddell, Harbert, Hoar, Robins & Morton, Rust, and Vulcan Materials, as well as many out-of-state firms such as Clark (formerly Hyman), Centex, Kvaerner, J.A. Jones, Euro Disney, Bechtel, Pitt-Des Moines and Chicago Bridge & Iron. In representing these companies, our lawyers have been involved in multi-million dollar projects and disputes in Australia, France, Canada, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mexico, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, and Armenia. Our lawyers are well versed in handling disputes before international arbitration panels and tribunals.

Experience
We strive to understand the particular businesses of our clients so that we can better tailor our advice to suit each client's specific needs. With experience, a thorough understanding of the law, and an appreciation for each client's needs, we help our clients fashion practical solutions to the challenges they confront daily. Our primary goal is to assist our clients in achieving successful projects. Often, we dispatch one of our attorneys to confront and resolve a problem in the field the day it arises. We have found that a prompt, sensible response often averts protracted litigation, thereby keeping the project participants focused on the job at hand and minimizing the delays, costs, and dislocation that accompany major construction litigation.

Construction Litigation
When litigation cannot be avoided, however, we fight relentlessly on behalf of our clients. Our attorneys have successfully handled countless construction cases before state and federal courts, state and federal administrative agencies, and courts in foreign countries. We have prevailed in arbitrations throughout the world. We are an active member of the American Arbitration Association. We regularly utilize all varieties of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, dispute review boards, structured negotiations and other creative approaches to resolve complex disputes fairly and efficiently.

Some of the more significant matters we have handled have included our successful defense of Pitt-Des Moines, Inc. against an $80 million breach of contract and breach of warranty claim arising out of the construction of a nuclear containment vessel. That case, tried in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, was listed by the National Law Journal as one of the nation's biggest defense wins in 1994. More recently, Bradley Arant lawyers successfully defended a Metric-Kvaerner joint venture in an arbitration proceeding in North Carolina against claims totaling $95 million. The claims asserted in that arbitration related to the construction of a waste-to-energy facility.

Our construction and procurement attorneys have a thorough knowledge of the law and extensive experience with construction defect claims, extra work claims, delay and disruption claims, acceleration claims, and claims for lost labor and equipment productivity. We have a thorough understanding of major scheduling techniques, and we understand how to calculate extended project costs and unallocated home-office overhead so that we can assist our clients in recovering every penny they have lost on a delayed project. We have experience addressing design defects, cardinal changes, commercial impracticability, differing site conditions, access problems, over-zealous inspectors, structural failures, rejection of nonconforming work, terminations, mechanic's liens, payment and performance bonds, performance guarantees, liquidated damages, and warranties. When our clients need legal advice or practical guidance concerning any aspect of a construction project, we are prepared to help.

Full Service Firm for the Construction Industry
Bradley Arant offers much more than expertise about construction and procurement law. Indeed, one reason that we consistently fulfill our clients' needs is our ability to rely on other Bradley Arant attorneys who are experienced in handling the many diverse challenges that confront the construction industry, including taxation issues, project finance issues, environmental regulations, bankruptcy issues, intellectual property rights, real estate transactions, and governmental agency relations. Bradley Arant has a large labor and employment law practice that regularly advises our construction clients concerning unions, minority business enterprises, discrimination claims, and ERISA issues.