Discover the Benefits of the Construction Law Section

The Construction Law Section of the Tarrant County Bar Association is a newer section, formed in 2012, and it continues to grow as focus on construction law as a distinct specialty and practice area increases. The goal of the Section is to bring construction attorneys and experts together in a forum to facilitate discussion of construction and construction law, which not only creates a legal community in construction, but also informs non-Section members of potential topics of interest. The Section pursues its goal by putting on seminars and CLEs, as well as hosting social events. In this article, the Section briefly highlights some of this past year’s events and discussion topics, and encourages all attorneys, students, and experts interested in construction to join future events, no matter their current area of focus.

Typically, the Section hosts luncheons on the third Thursday of each month at the Tarrant County Bar Center. These luncheons cover a variety of topics that frequently illustrate both construction law’s overlap with other areas of practice and its uniqueness from all other areas. As a few examples, recent luncheon topics included: “Texas Sales Tax for the Construction Industry,” presented by Danielle Ahlrich of Reed Smith LLP; “Selected Issues in Commercial Construction Bankruptcies,” presented by Jason Kennedy of Laperouse Law; “Freedom of Contract v. Equity – Compliance with Conditions Precedent after James Construction v. Westlake Chemical ,” presented by Luke McMahan of Harrison Steck, PC; and “Anatomy of Delay Claims,” presented by Matt Nichols and Brian Stigler of Delta Consulting Group. Each of these topics touch on non-construction matters and identify the nuanced technicalities and requisite industry knowledge involved in the practice of construction law.

In addition to luncheons and other seminars, the Section hosts social events. Most recently, the Section hosted light bites and happy hour on the top-floor bar of the Kimpton Harper Hotel, located off Main Street in Downtown Fort Worth. This event was an opportunity for Tarrant construction practitioners to relax, trade war stories, learn about the particularities of each other’s practices, and identify potential referrals for when a client comes with a matter just outside a specific practice. After that success, the Section is eager to mix and mingle further and intends to host additional social events, including those coordinated with the State Bar’s Young Construction Lawyers group, whose Fort Worth representative is Bryan Kelly of Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton LLP. As all construction lawyers know, construction practitioners are proud of their expertise, professionalism, and congeniality state-wide, and the Construction Law Section of the Tarrant

County Bar is proud to facilitate the same here, out of Fort Worth, Texas. Future socials will support the Tarrant County construction group in remaining tightknit and keep it connected with the State Bar group. The Section will post events through the Tarrant County Bar, and the Section’s officers can answer any specific questions. Current officers’ information is listed at the end of this article.

We look forward to continuing to learn and grow in the practice of construction law together. If you have not joined us before, please do, whether it is just for a beer or out of an uncontrolled interest in critical path method scheduling; engineering, procurement, and construction contracting; or lien-law deciphering. g

Michael Jackson (President; Harrison Steck, PC); Bryan M. Kelly, (Vice President; Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton LLP); Christopher A. Brown (Duane Morris LLP).