Richard J. Davies, Hon. AIA

Rich’s practice is focused on the representation of engineers, architects, and other design professionals, as well as scientists and designers/manufacturers of complex products. He regularly acts as their consultant and advocate, particularly in respect to risk management, by negotiating their contracts, addressing potential claims on projects, and regularly defending them in actions and proceedings initiated against them. Rich regularly handles cases involving errors and omissions affecting façade, structural, mechanical, plumbing, and fire protection systems, as well as accessibility (claimed violations of ADA, FHA, state or local accessibility requirements) in industrial, commercial, and residential buildings. He also handles schedule impact (such as delay, acceleration, and inefficiency) and extras claims, licensing prosecutions, and serious personal injury/wrongful death claims arising from construction projects. Rich is a frequent lecturer on professional liability issues for engineers and architects and other design professionals addressing issues relating to licensing, contract negotiations, code requirements and design standards, copyright, and litigation avoidance, and serves as a Lecturer on Contracts at the Thomas Jefferson University College of Architecture and The Built Environment. Rich and his partners in Pennsylvania are the Contributing Authors of the Pennsylvania section of the Cumulative Supplement of the State-By-State Guide to Design and Construction Contracts and Claims (Second Edition) published by Wolters Kluwer.

He serves as Counsel to the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (“AIA”) and as Counsel to The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia and is a Member of the Board of The Philadelphia Center for Architecture & Design (having served as its chairman for 5 years). He also serves as a member of the Legal Reform Task Force for the Government Affairs Committee of AIA’s Pennsylvania Chapter working on legislative changes to positively affect the design community. He is also a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies (“ACEC”) Legal Counsel Forum, a member of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (“CLM”), and a Charter Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America (“CLSA”).