HOW TO CHOOSE A CONSTRUCTION LAWYER

HOW TO CHOOSE A CONSTRUCTION LAWYER

All too often, many construction cases are brought before the courts, which simply should not have been as they could have settled, or the parties were not presented with alternative ways of resolving the matter without court intervention. Failing to do so means that you waste your money, the courts time, incur significant amounts of stress and face the real risk that you could be ordered to pay the other sides legal costs if you lose...

Of course, any lawyer will tell you your prospects of success, based on the evidence and their experience. Litigation certainly has its place. But, how can you be confident in your lawyers abilities, particularly in the construction and infrastructure space to avoid unnecessary litigation and to present all legal options to resolve seemingly difficult/ complex disputes?

How do I choose a good construction lawyer?

This is actually very difficult for several reasons, firstly the Queensland Law Society has not yet recognised “Construction Law” as a specialist accreditation area. However, it is one of the most complex areas of law and it is very wide ranging as no two construction lawyers will be the same in terms of experience. The quote, “you are only as good as the work you are exposed to” is on point. 

 Our tips for choosing a construction lawyer that matches what you need is as follows:

1.                   Review their online content

Construction/ infrastructure companies are familiar with the work they do, so review articles published by various self-proclaimed construction lawyers and try and align your companies interests with lawyers that write about the issues your company is likely to face.

2.                   Word of Mouth;

The construction industry is ripe with litigation, adjudication and insolvency disputes. In fact, not getting paid on time is the leading cause of litigation in our experience for the construction industry. Ask your accountant, engineers, architects etc if they are aware of any construction lawyers. Chances are, they have used one in the past and can point you in the right direction.

3.                   Build Relationships / Approachable Lawyers

Just like in the construction industry, having a great commercial relationship with your referral network saves you money and allows you to readily resolve issues on commercial terms. If you are interested in meeting a lawyer that you think might help your business, ask to meet up, have a coffee, discuss your business interests and ask how the constructions lawyers’ skills will compliment your business.  If the construction lawyers experience doesn’t appear to align with what you are looking for, that fine, at least you know before you engage them…

4.                   Value for Money / Shop Around

Its standard practice for lawyers to issue disclosure notices and cost agreements. In these documents, your rights are set out but also the fees you are likely to be charged; or at least how they are calculated.

If you find that you are being charged $400 an hour for a law graduate at firm “A”, whilst firm “B” is charging you $400 for a senior associate you need to ask yourself, does price always mean better…?

It may also be worth asking, do you offer fixed fee work, particularly in the front-end space (contract drafting/ negotiation and receiving written advice)?

5.                   Do they offer “Front End” or “Back End” law services?

Front end construction lawyers can provide valuable advice at the time of setting up a new project or looking at tendering for one. They offer practical ways to avoid disputes and decrease areas of risk that you may not have thought about.

Are they a litigation focused firm (Back End)? If they are, that can be very valuable as the construction industry is riddled with disputes and insolvency issues.  Having a team in your corner that can navigate litigation issues in a timely and familiar matter is advantageous.

However, we recommend that you engage a construction law firm that does both front and back-end work. This means that the firm can be across your matter from start to finish and they will be able to work out where things have gone wrong and help you avoid making those mistakes in future.  Also, you want to avoid being litigation focused. This can result in burnt commercial relationships and unnecessary litigation. Proceeding to court should only be done when there is no other choice in our experience.

6.                  The Retainer

Before jumping into a retainer with your construction lawyer, there are a few things you need to ask your yourself:

(i)                  In the last financial year, how much did we spend on legal fees?

(ii)                What legal services did we require (commercial (front-end)/ litigation (back-end))?

(iii)               How many matters did we require assistance with?

If you can answer the above questions, you may wish to discuss with any prospective construction lawyer what retainer options they can provide and see if they can tailor one to suit your business needs. It will also give you an insight into what their capacity is likely.

Further, this can allow your business can budget for legal work based on passed past expenditure. If your company requires legal services regularly, having a construction law firm on retainer that can readily deal with your legal issue at a cost you are happy with may be invaluable.  

However, if you cannot answer the above questions, being on a retainer may not be best for your business.

We trust this article was insightful. If you would like to talk to our experienced construction law team, please do so by contacting chelsey@wallaceweir.com.au or catherine@wallaceweir.com.au of Wallace Law Group.

Please note that this article is written as an informative piece and that you must not take the contents of this article as legal advice. Wallace Law Group accepts no liability from your reliance on this article.