Stoel Rives Again Named Among Top 50 Construction Law Firms by Construction Executive Magazine

Stoel Rives recently was named among the Top 50 law firms in the United States by Construction Executive Magazine, which reaches more than 55,000 commercial, industrial and institutional contractors and construction-related business owners nationwide in print and online.

Stoel Rives partner Eric Grasberger offered advice for construction industry members in an article entitled “The Top 50 Construction Law Firms: Navigating the Industry Through a Pandemic,” which accompanied the announcement of the top firms.

In the article, Grasberger “cautions businesses against focusing exclusively on damages being incurred today.”

The article continues, “As leader of the construction and design practice at Stoel Rives LLP, he warns that if construction business owners are overly consumed with ‘shuttered projects, slow supply chains, reduced labor availability and impacted site productivity, they may forget that when projects reopen, they’ll face a similar back-end crisis comprised of inadequate sub-trade availability, potential refinancing or supplemental financing challenges, and a construction market where everyone wants to catch up simultaneously.’”

Construction Executive announced the annual list of top firms during the coronavirus pandemic, noting that “having the counsel of an experienced legal ally has never been more crucial to business survival than right now.”

“In just the first four months of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc in every sector of the construction industry,” the article said. “Activity at thousands of jobsites came to a virtual standstill as one state after another enacted shelter-in-place orders. Multitudes of new projects were delayed or canceled in response to market uncertainty. While industry groups, including Associated Builders and Contractors, lobbied federal, state and local government officials to declare construction an essential business, Congress raced to enact historic stimulus legislation. But by the end of April, the industry had already shed nearly one million jobs, the steepest plunge in construction payrolls since the Great Depression.”

The article continues, “While legions of general contractors and subcontractors were scrambling to review contract documents with their trusted advisors for delay, default and force majeure clauses, CE’s editorial team was reaching out to dozens of attorneys at the nation’s top construction law firms to learn how they were advising their clients in the wake of the novel coronavirus.”

To read the full article, visit https://www.constructionexec.com/article/the-2020-top-50-construction-law-firms.