Leonard Goodman focuses his practice in the area of construction transactions and litigation. He has extensive experience developing and implementing strategies to manage and minimize construction-related risk and claims from a contractual, insurance, bond, and operations perspective, and negotiating all manner of development-related contracts. He has assisted clients with national and international hotel, condominium, commercial building, transportation and energy projects valued at more than $1 billion.

For more than twenty years, Mr. Goodman also has provided overall legal direction, strategy and tactics for the defense and prosecution of complex commercial contract, construction and product defect matters in cases across the country.

By drilling down to each project’s specific risks and each party’s particular interests, Mr. Goodman is able to negotiate from strength, work through disagreements, develop alternative approaches and "close the deal" on as favorable terms as possible for his clients.  He has worked with all of the major professional and industry firms, including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Associated General Contractors (AGC), Design-Build Institute (DBIA), the Engineers Joint Contracts Documents Committee (EJCDC) and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC). 

In March, 2009, Mr. Goodman earned certification as a LEED®-Accredited Professional from the United States Green Building Council—one of less than 200 legal professionals at the time to have earned this distinction.  Using his in-depth knowledge of sustainable building practices and laws, Mr. Goodman is adept at negotiating unique "green" provisions into his clients’ design and construction contracts.

Representative Matters

For five years, Mr. Goodman led a nationwide team of attorneys in prosecuting a multi-state construction defect and product defect litigation on behalf of a prominent national hotel chain with 250 properties at issue. As lead trial attorney, Mr. Goodman won a significant jury verdict in Massachusetts state court in the first of these cases to go to trial. During a second trial in Federal Court in Pennsylvania, Mr. Goodman’s client achieved an extremely favorable, eight-figure global settlement of all pending cases.

As primary outside counsel for design and construction matters for a prominent private equity company’s hotel division and for one of the country’s fastest growing hotel developers, Mr. Goodman has designed construction risk management strategies and negotiated agreements for procuring architecture, engineering, construction, construction management, and interior design services, and equipment, including over 100 contracts for new hotel construction and renovation; a GMP contract to construct a luxury beachfront condominium; a design-build contract for construction of a multi-million water park at a resort in Puerto Rico; an EPC contract to install a mountainside funicular and an escalator system designed to ferry the resort guests from the hotel to the beach; and national elevator modernization program. Mr. Goodman also regularly advises and represents these companies on issues of contract interpretation, claim and dispute resolution and litigation.

Mr. Goodman represented Amtrak in developing its risk management strategy, drafting its requests for proposals and negotiating contracts for the procurement of program management and design build services to complete more than 400 capital improvement projects across the country valued at more than $550 million utilizing funds from and in accordance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Mr. Goodman represented the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in developing its approach and drafting of contracts for the design, commissioning, construction management and construction of a $100+ million building renovation in accordance with LEED® requirements.

Mr. Goodman represented the developer of a $400 million ethanol and cogeneration plant in the Caribbean in negotiating the construction management and insurance brokerage agreements and preparing the proposed EPC contract with its Brazilian EPC contractor.

Representative Clients

National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Sallie Mae, Inc., Time Warner Cable, Inc., LaSalle Investment Management, Inc., LXR Luxury Resorts, and OTO Development, LLC.

Activities

Mr. Goodman is a member of the ABA's Forum on the Construction Industry and Torts and Insurance Practice section.