Design-Build and EPC Contracting: A Practical Legal Guide

Kenneth Rubinstein is co-chair of the Construction Law Practice Group of Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios, Chartered, LLP, and practices out of the firm’s Boston, Massachusetts, and Concord, New Hampshire, offices. For more than 20 years, Ken has represented all constituents of the construction process, including multiple ENR Top 400 Contractors, institutional owners, developers, and others in negotiating contracts and resolving disputes involving complex projects. Ken is a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Panel of Construction Arbitrators, is regularly listed in Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and similar publications, and is a member of the adjunct faculty at Boston University School of law, where he teaches construction law and litigation. Ken was one of the founding co-chairs of the Construction Law Committee of the Massachusetts Bar Association and has served as the co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Construction Law Committee and the chair of the programming committee for the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts.

Nicole Lentini is a partner in the construction group of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani in its Seattle and Denver offices. Nicole’s practice focuses on litigation and arbitration of both public and private construction matters nationally, including EPC and turnkey projects. She is personally barred in Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, Colorado, and Washington. Nicole speaks nationally and has written on a variety of topics, including but not limited to delay, insurance, contracts, sureties, and claim preservation. Nicole is the past chair of the Maryland Construction Law Division, and is currently active in the ABA Forum on Construction Laws, serving as a Steering Committee member of Division 2 (Contracts), co-chair of the 2024 Regional Meetings, and a member of the Publications Committee. She has been recognized by The Daily Records, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers.

Logan Hollobaugh is senior counsel at Bechtel. His role is allocated between negotiation of FEED, EPC, and EPCM contracts and project counseling on energy-related projects, including LNG, petrochemical, carbon capture, hydrogen, energy storage, and water/hydro. Prior to joining Bechtel, Mr. Hollobaugh was vice president of Legal, Commercial and Risk for Clough North America, an EPCC construction company specializing in LNG, refining, petrochemical, chemical, and midstream markets based in Perth, Australia. Prior to Clough, he held roles as deputy general counsel for PLH Group (n/k/a Primoris Services Corporation), senior regional counsel at Gilbane Building Company, and senior counsel of Construction Litigation and Claims at McDermott International (f/k/a CB&I), where his primary focus was management of large EPC-related construction disputes. Prior to working in-house, Mr. Hollobaugh was a member of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.’s Construction Industry Practice Group in Chicago, Illinois, where the core of his practice was the representation of contractors, design-builders, and construction managers in private and public construction related matters. Mr. Hollobaugh has been a LEED Accredited Professional since 2009. Mr. Hollobaugh received his BA degree from Iowa State University and his JD degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Paul Varela counsels clients in contract planning, administration, and complex dispute resolution matters nationally and internationally in the engineering and construction industry. His broad range of legal experience includes government and private data centers, roads, bridges, tall buildings, nuclear and conventional power facilities, environmental remediation, biomedical centers, energy and chemical projects, airports, professional sports stadiums, pharmaceutical projects, mass transit, and other heavy construction projects, as well as embassies and all types of general building design and construction.

Paul has extensive claims negotiation and prosecution experience with private as well as state and federal government entities, and his expertise includes EPC and design-build, P3, government contracts, suretyship, and international construction. Paul is an authority on federal government contracting issues spanning compliance, bid protests and claim preparation, pricing, and dispute resolution. He has represented clients nationwide in jury and bench trials, mediations, arbitrations (AAA, ICDR, ICC, and ad hoc), boards of contract appeals, dispute review boards, and state and federal court for both domestic and international disputes.  Paul has represented clients on international projects in countries as varied as Egypt, Ghana, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Dubai, Lebanon, Chile, Mexico, Honduras, Tanzania, Australia, Spain, Cuba and the United Kingdom.

Paul also frequently advises clients in key risk management issues. He has represented clients in the drafting and negotiation of complex engineering and construction contracts priced up to $8 Billion.

Wendy Kennedy Venoit is a partner in the Construction Law Group of Cozen O'Connor in Boston, MA.  Wendy's practice is concentrated on construction litigation and dispute resolution. Ms. Venoit has litigated in state and federal forums throughout the country and has mediated and arbitrated construction disputes both nationally and internationally. She also counsels clients with respect to claims that arise during the course of construction projects so as to avoid litigation and achieve optimal resolutions. She also has extensive experience in both prosecuting and defending complex insurance coverage disputes. MS. Venoit is heavily involved in the ABA Forum on Construction Law, serving as Chair (2017-2018), Membership Chair (2013-2016), Governing Committee Member (2011-2015), GC Liason to the 2014 Annual Meeting, former Chair of the International Construction Division - Division 8 (2009-2011), Co-Chair of the 2009 Midwinter Meeting, and a member of the Forum Publications Committee. She was the Treasurer of the Lawyers Collaborative on Diversity. Ms. Venoit is a past President, Treasurer, Secretary and Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the Professional Women in Construction (PWC).Ms. Venoit has lectured and authored articles on the topics of international dispute resolution, insurance coverage issues arising out of construction defects, e-discovery, ethics, and legislation and issues affecting the construction industry. Ms. Venoit was the Executive Editor of International Construction Law, and co-authored a chapter on construction manager tort liability in the Design Professional and Construction Law Handbook (2007, ABA Press). She was named by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as a 2021 Lawyer of the Year, the Hartford Business Journal as one of its 40 under Forty business professionals and by the National MS Society Connecticut Chapter as one of the 2008 Corporate Achievers, and is a past recipient of the Connecticut Law Tribune's New Leaders of the Law Award. Ms. Venoit received a B.A. in economics and Spanish from the College of the Holy Cross, and a J.D., magna cum laude, Valedictorian, from Pace University School of Law. While attending law school, Ms. Venoit was an editor on the Pace Law Review and authored multiple publications. Ms. Venoit is admitted to the state and federal bars of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as the First, Second and Third Circuit Courts of Appeals.