This fall, SGR’s Ira Genberg chaired the hugely successful national conferences for the Associated Owners & Developers (AOD) on September 17-18 at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel, Washington, D.C., and again on October 15-16 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta. AOD is an industry forum for owners, developers, architects, engineers and academia, as well as construction lawyers, contractors, project managers and others. Ira serves as department head of SGR’s Construction Law and Litigation Practice Group, as well as general counsel for AOD.

The conferences, entitled “Building Major Projects and Resolving Disputes,” were exceptionally well attended, and consisted of nine sessions of panel discussions, including pointers from a select group of preeminent trial attorneys from around the country on how to try a complex construction case, from opening statements and direct and cross-examination to closing arguments. The conferences were approved by both the Georgia and Virginia bars for 10 continuing legal education credit hours.

Featured panelists and moderators included a number of SGR construction and environmental attorneys, including Ira Genberg, Scott Cahalan, Mark de St. Aubin, Dana Grantham and Steve O’Day.

Participants included many distinguished executives, general counsel and professors from a variety of educational institutions, some of the world’s largest national and international construction firms and consultants, and owners and developers. A few examples: Intel, New York City Transit Authority, Marriott International, Cousins Properties, City of Atlanta, Bechtel, Fluor, Skanska, Centex, Princeton University, Duke, Emory, Georgia Tech, University of California, Novare, Gleeds, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Clark Construction, Turner Construction, AECOM, Jones Lang LaSalle, and Kerzner International, among many others.

The featured speaker at the Washington, D.C. luncheon was General Charles E. Williams, Director and Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), charged with construction and management of U.S. diplomatic properties overseas. Today, OBO administers an annual operating budget of $1.9 billion with responsibility for thousands of properties in 193 countries around the world. Gen. Williams described how, under his leadership, OBO has recently completed 52 new embassy facilities and moved more than 14,700 foreign affairs agency employees out of harm’s way.

Atlanta’s attendees were entertained and challenged by Tom Bell, President and CEO of Cousins Properties, whose leadership role in the renewal and development of Atlanta and across the country has been both dynamic and inspirational. His luncheon remarks were a tremendous and exciting addition to the event.

AOD’s membership has been expanding rapidly, and its national form agreements are being used more and more frequently. AOD’s Standard Agreement Between Owner and Contractor was, for example, recently used in connection with the construction of Atlanta’s new world-class aquarium.

Visit constructionchannel.net for additional information on AOD.