Construction Dispute Resolution

Tahmidur Remura Dewey LeBoeuf has one of the world’s pre-eminent arbitration and international litigation practices. The group comprises leading international arbitration and litigation practitioners with extensive knowledge of and experience in the construction, energy, utilities, telecommunications, insurance and financial services sectors.

We are experienced in construction dispute resolution for all nature of clients, ranging from owners and contractors to governments, multinationals, financiers, and high net worth individuals. Our experience covers construction disputes arising from projects in virtually all areas of the world. We have a large team of multilingual international arbitration practitioners spread across our worldwide network of offices, including several former high-ranking international arbitration officials.

We regularly handle significant construction disputes under both common law and civil law systems, and our lawyers regularly appear before arbitration tribunals made up in whole or in part of arbitrators from civil law jurisdictions. Members of our team are admitted in various states of the US as well as in England, France and Germany, among others. In addition, we draw on the experience of our construction dispute resolution lawyers in places such as Milan, Moscow and Warsaw.

Our lawyers have conducted arbitrations in all of the world’s principal arbitration venues (London, Paris, New York, Washington DC, Zurich, Stockholm, Hong Kong, etc.) under all of the major sets of international arbitration rules (including the ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, AAA, Stockholm, Swiss, Dubai, ICSID, AISCC, HKIAC and CIETAC rules) as well as numerous ad hoc arbitrations.

Our dispute resolution team is also experienced in conducting construction litigation in various jurisdictions around the world, including in specialist construction courts such as the Technology and Construction Court in England. We also handle adjudications under various statutory schemes and otherwise, as well as mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

We have extensive experience working closely with forensic engineers, quantity surveyors and other experts in the construction dispute litigation context and on the use of specialized software packages relevant to construction issues, such as critical path.

Our experience representing clients in connection with construction dispute resolution includes advising:

  • One of the largest US engineering and project management companies in a series of arbitrations against a UK government entity arising from a major communications and infrastructure project in the UK worth over £1 billion.
  • A major Japanese company in a series of disputes arising out of a natural disaster that severely damaged a power plant in South America.
  • The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the public entity formed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to rebuild lower Manhattan, in several high-profile construction disputes against one of the world’s largest construction companies, with more than US$200 million at issue.
  • The Moscow city government in a dispute with a large Italian company regarding a contract sponsored by the World Bank for the rehabilitation of two bridges in the City of Moscow.
  • Hudson Guild, a community-based organization, in a multi-million dollar dispute against one of New York’s largest construction companies. The matter involved a New York City construction project, and we obtained a favorable award for our client after just four days of hearings.
  • A major US contractor in a series of disputes, against both owner and subcontractor, arising out of a complicated set of contracts for the upgrade and replacement of the London metro system.
  • A major national petroleum corporation in defending a multi-million dollar delay and disruption claim arising from the construction of a large pipeline and depot complex in Nigeria.
  • A major US construction company in a high value arbitration concerning the construction of an oil terminal in the Baltic States.
  • A major French contractor in a dispute over pricing and delay and disruption regarding a new generation nuclear plant in Scandinavia. The amount in dispute totalled around €400 million.
  • The Ethiopian Roads Authority, defending claims in an ICC arbitration relating to a road project in Ethiopia.
  • The British Memorial Garden in multi-million dollar disputes against several contractors in connection with the construction of a park in New York City.
  • A client in a substantial dispute in relation to a high profile retail/leisure complex in the Middle East.
  • A food producer on claims against a European contractor and designer arising out of the collapse of a large automated warehouse in Russia. This involved settlement of the claims as well as the drafting of new contract documentation for re-building of the warehouse.
  • An international contractor on claims for variations, delay and other matters arising out of a government-sponsored infrastructure project in Qatar.