This presentation consists of a roundtable with 3 lawyers sharing lessons that can be learned from their experience defending or otherwise handling claims against engineers. In other words, this presentation is about the practices and procedures that can help an engineer avoid litigation or, at the very least, be in the best possible position to defend itself should litigation ensue. This presentation will discuss the importance of meeting the obligations committed to in the contract and the implications of not meeting those obligations as well as why the obligations should be addressed and/or met even if it appears that the client may no longer be concerned with all of them. Engineers will explore ways to properly document their site visits and/or construction observation services through the use of reports and photographs and discuss possible areas of focus that are often overlooked. Finally, the presentation explores the tools available to an engineer after a problem, dispute, or claim arises and how and whom to communicate with regarding the problem, dispute, or claim. Each lawyer will spend 15 minutes describing an example from their practice that highlights one or more of the aforementioned topics. The examples will be detailed and the audience will be invited to provide comments and ask questions during each speaker’s presentation of his/her example. There will also be 5 minutes after each example for questions from the audience.

Lawyers' Roundtable: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

The ASCE Convention is the Society's flagship membership event. It is the single annual opportunity that the entire Society is represented together and reflects the diversity of civil engineering that ASCE encompasses. The program for the Convention will be of an integrated, cross-cultural, technical, and educational nature.

The program will follow the convention topics listed and described below. These topics are intended to be used to define a recurring convention program that draws attendees back each year. They are intended to provide benefits to attendees and their employers on an educational and professional level.