John Mark Goodman and Joe Mack Curry II | BuildSmart Most legally enforceable contracts are formed the old-fashioned way: offer and acceptance. Courts will sometimes enforce promises without traditional offer and acceptance where one party has justifiably relied on the other party’s promise. This alternative route to contract formation is called promissory estoppel. While the law varies from… Continue reading Holding Subcontractors to Their Bid: The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel
Month: March 2026
AI Chats May Be Discoverable, Even Those Regarding Legal Strategy
Kaitlyn E. Stone and William M. Carlucci | Barnes & Thornburg Highlights As some have argued that the use of artificial intelligence technologies shall ultimately become ubiquitous in the practice of law, questions regarding the discoverability of prompts and outputs have been omnipresent in the minds of litigators and sophisticated litigants. A U.S. court has… Continue reading AI Chats May Be Discoverable, Even Those Regarding Legal Strategy
Leaders in Dispute Resolution Need to Make Unbiased Decisions for Mediation to Succeed
Richard Erickson | Snell & Wilmer As a mediator helping to settle construction disputes and as an arbitrator deciding outcomes of these disputes, I found certain lessons to be especially helpful after graduating last summer from the Executive Education program at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). The exceptional HKS curriculum included courses focused on negotiation strategies… Continue reading Leaders in Dispute Resolution Need to Make Unbiased Decisions for Mediation to Succeed
Walking In Your Client’s Shoes: How Client Empathy Makes You a Better Lawyer
Sally J. Schmidt | Attorney At Work I heard a lawyer tell a joke once that went something like this: “If you’re having trouble with a client, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, you will have a one-mile head start and he won’t have any shoes.” It’s a funny line. And I know… Continue reading Walking In Your Client’s Shoes: How Client Empathy Makes You a Better Lawyer
Protect Your Projects By Identifying and Controlling Hidden Contract Risks
Daniel Lund III and Larry Borda | Phelps In a recent webinar entitled “Spreading the Risk and Avoiding Killer Contract Clauses,” Phelps lawyers Daniel Lund and Larry Borda examined contractual provisions that most often expose construction professionals to unexpected financial and legal risk. While construction contracts may appear routine, each contract serves as the primary… Continue reading Protect Your Projects By Identifying and Controlling Hidden Contract Risks