Since joining Reed Smith, Jim has developed a diverse practice involving a broad range of commercial, industrial and energy-related litigation and transactional matters. His practice regularly involves all aspects of project counsel work for private and public commercial and industrial construction projects.
He regularly drafts and negotiates commercial owner-contractor, owner-construction manager and/or owner-architect agreement documents for his clients. His drafting role has included both custom-drafted agreements and adapted or modified versions of industry-standard construction contract forms, including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), ConsensusDOCs and the Engineer Joint Contract Documents Committee (EJCDC) templates. His most recent large-scale transactional project counsel experience has involved a central role in the planning, drafting and negotiation of the program management, design-build construction and equipment supply agreements for a major new “greenfield” automotive manufacturing facility in the Southeastern United States for a European automotive manufacturer.
Jim has also been a presenter on the subject of public-private partnerships (P3) in Pennsylvania under its newly-enacted P3 transportation law and on public procurement compliance issues.
Representative litigation cases in the construction sector have involved construction payment, defect and/or delay claims regarding power plants, steel mills, pharmaceutical plants, wastewater treatment facilities, schools, courthouses and commercial office buildings.