Thoughts on construction law from Christopher G. Hill, Virginia construction lawyer, LEED AP, mediator, and member of the Virginia Legal Elite in Construction Law
For this week’s Guest Post Friday here at Construction Law Musings, we’re doing something a bit different and plugging the Virginia State Bar Annual Meeting. As a member of the Construction Law and Public Contracts Section Board of Governors, I recommend it.
The Virginia State Bar (VSB) was created in 1938 by the General Assembly as an administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia. The creation of the agency unified Virginia’s lawyers in a mandatory State Bar. The VSB is governed by its Council and Executive Committee, whose members are elected or appointed from every judicial circuit in the Commonwealth. The mission of the Virginia State Bar, as an administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia, is to regulate the legal profession of Virginia; to advance the availability and quality of legal services provided to the people of Virginia; and to assist in improving the legal profession and the judicial system. Each year the VSB hosts the Annual Meeting for bar members across the commonwealth. This year marks the 76th annual meeting.
Wow! Another year has passed and 2012 is just about upon us! I hope all of you had a great year and I look forward to a wonderful 2012 here at Musings.
As I sit here reflecting (or “Musing”) this day after Christmas, I am amazed at how quickly the first full calendar year of my solo practice has passed. It seems like only yesterday that I was announcing the move and receiving the great response to that move. Now, with that first full year under my belt, I am more sure than ever that my move was a great one. Solo practice really suits me, and also lends itself well to my area of practice, construction law. Where having a staff of one may have its outward limitations, the flexibility and sense of piloting my own ship more than makes up for this apparent limitation. Judicious use of the cloud (through Clio, my Blackberry Playbook, my ScanSnap scanner, and other web based technology) makes this apparent lack of administrative support almost a non-factor.
Thanks to Virginia Lawyer, the magazine of the Virginia State Bar for its feature on construction law and in particular the Construction Law and Public Contracts Section. The set of features in this month’s issue (check it out through the link above) highlight construction law and attorneys through articles covering topics from ADR to bankruptcy.
Of particular note is the February 2013 Libraries Column that highlights several great construction law related blogs (that you can find in my Links) including Construction Law Musings. I am always grateful for an unsolicited mention in such a great publication and am always humbled by the fact that folks read this little corner of the world of law blogs.
As always, I welcome your comments below. Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.
After several years practicing with larger law firms, Ms. McLaughlin co-founded BrigliaMcLaughlin, PLLC, a construction law firm representing owners, general contractors and subcontractors. She is the co-author of “The Law” column in Civil Engineering magazine published monthly by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Recently, I had the opportunity to moderate and present a panel for the American Subcontractors Association of Metro Washington (ASA of MW). Our topic was Building Information Modeling (BIM), the ever-present trend in the A/E/C industry. While BIM is featured prominently now in trade magazines and legal conferences (journals have sprouted dedicated exclusively to the topic) – just what is BIM? Why is the discussion relevant? How is it different from the computer-assisted (CAD) drawings used previously? Finally, what concepts and terms of art do you need to be familiar with to raise your own BIM fluency?
In a conversation recently, I talked with someone who had been reading Construction Law Musings for almost 2 years. That prompted me to check the date of my first post here in my corner of the blawgosphere. Amazingly, that date was December 11, 2008.
Back then, I started this construction law blog on the Blogger platform and had no idea how it would grow or even if it would survive a month. I remember checking Feedburner and being excited to find out that I had even 50 consistent subscribers. Now, three years later, I have more of you that subscribe by e-mail than I had total subscribers in the first year. Since that time, Musings has taken on a life of its own, mostly due to all of the great comments, guest posts and readers. Without your input, this blog would be a much less interesting place.
