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. Rich is also a lecturer on contracts and risk management for: Thomas Jefferson University’s College of Architecture and the Built Environment; Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture; and Drexel University’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. Rich and his partners in Pennsylvania are the Contributing Authors of the Pennsylvania section of the State-By-State Guide to Design and Construction Contracts and Claims published by Wolters Kluwer.

Rich also serves the professional design community as a member of the Boards of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (“AIA”), where he is also its Secretary,  the Community Design Collaborative, and Design Philadelphia (formerly the Philadelphia Center for Architecture and Design). He also represents the community’s interests on the Legal Reform Task Force for the Government Affairs Committee of AIA’s Pennsylvania Chapter working on legislative changes to positively affect that community. Rich also donates his time and advice as Pro Bono Counsel to The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia. 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”). Finally, Rich sits on the Board of Advisors of the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, supporting the latest generation of Penn students.