April Breakfast Session - Claims Avoidance & Dispute Resolution

Join us for a moderated panel discussion on claims avoidance and dispute resolution on Thursday, April 18th, at the Vancouver Club. In this breakfast seminar, we will hear from legal counsel representing all players in the contracting chain, from owners to contractors and subcontractors, including on some of BC's and Canada's largest infrastructure projects. They will share their insights on how to avoid claims arising in the first place and how to manage and resolve them when they arise.

Panelists:

Ryan Chalmers is a Partner at Aird & Berlis, specializing in procurement, construction and P3 projects.  Ryan represents private developers, contractors, public entities and all levels of government in construction projects.  He has acted on all projects, from large-scale residential construction to industrial complexes, community centres, hospitals, and hydroelectric dams. Before moving to private practice, Ryan served as in-house legal counsel to SNC-Lavalin. Ryan represented the Transportation, Environment and Power Divisions in connection with numerous construction projects across Canada.

Fergus McDonnell is a commercial lawyer focusing on procurement, construction and infrastructure projects. Fergus advises clients through all phases of projects, including procurement, design, contract development and contract management. He works with client teams to tailor procurement processes to respond to market conditions, design requirements and permitting parameters. This often involves early contractor involvement or multi-staged procurements. Fergus has experience with claims and dispute resolution processes, particularly during project execution. Fergus acts for mining and energy companies, participants in the transportation sector (including marine, rail and road), real estate developers and others (including lenders and investors) involved in private and public infrastructure and building projects. 

Claudia Poon is Senior Corporate Counsel with Flatiron, specializing in contract drafting and negotiation and providing practical, real-time advice to project teams engaged in a variety of project delivery methods, including bid-build, construction management, design-build, progressive design-build and P3. Flatiron is a subsidiary of German-based HOCHTIEF, one of the world’s largest international construction service providers.

Moderator

Peter Blahnik is a Partner in the Capital Projects & Infrastructure practice in Vancouver. He specializes in capital project governance, construction readiness, and performance management for complex capital projects. His practice also includes advising clients on commercial strategies, claims avoidance strategies, and claims & disputes. Peter has worked on recent Canadian megaprojects in the following sectors: utilities, infrastructure, industrial, mining, real estate, and energy. Before joining PwC, Peter worked for an engineering consulting firm. He holds an MSc. in International Project Leadership from SKEMA Business School and a BComm in Finance from Toronto Metropolitan University. He has completed the Program on Negotiations for Senior Executives at Harvard University.

Please take five minutes to complete the questionnaire linked below to let us know what topics stand out for you as the most important to include in the conversations and what you would be most interested in hearing about from our guest speakers. 

Thank you, Charter PDI, for sponsoring this event.