Often overlooked until partners are considering retirement, ownership transition is a vital strategic planning step within a successful architecture firm. A firm owner should consider the firm’s future years in advance of making a transition to sell, merge, or close a firm as each present differing financial and taxation consequences. Firm seller and shareholders must…
Read MoreResource Type: Risk report
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Claims Defense Documentation
The compelling report, Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Claims Defense Documentation, addresses documentation by the architect, centering on the presumption, “If it’s not written down, it didn’t happen.” The paper is a guideline for managing your documentation with helpful suggestions for beneficial recordkeeping and documents retention and retrieval for an effective claims response in the event…
Read MoreIf You Build It, They Will Sue: A Report on Condominium Project Risks
Architects are increasingly exposed to potential future claims and lawsuits brought by homeowners and the homeowners’ associations years after a condominium project has been completed. This can occur even when the project developer has overruled the architect’s design decisions or has a limited role in the construction phase of the project. The AIA Trust report…
Read MoreBulletproof Contract Administration: Managing Risk during Construction
The report, Bulletproof Contract Administration: Managing Risk during Construction, addresses documentation procedures that can be advantageous in managing risk during the construction phase. Although considered cumbersome in this often complex phase of services, the suggestions put forth can serve as valuable defense documentation in the event a claims bullet is fired. Beginning with the services…
Read MoreStrangers No More? Trends in the Architect’s No Privity Defense
One of the most important defenses in any professional liability lawsuit is that an architect is not responsible for losses of a person who has no contract with the architect such as a general contractor or sub-contractor on a project. The legal term is that the architect and the third party do not share “privity…
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