Architects are often faced with unreasonable contractual provisions generated by prospective clients or their attorneys. Onerous contract language can challenge an architect’s ability to protect public health and safety and threaten the very viability of the architect’s firm. This 90-minute webinar looks at the importance of clear, reasonable and coordinated contractual provisions and analyze non-standard…
Read MoreTopic: Contracts
Protecting Your Practice from Others’ Negligence
When a design professional agrees to provide services for a client, that design professional assumes the same level of responsibility for those services whether they are performed directly by the design professional or by a consultant. Design professionals often must rely on the services of consultants who are not a part of the design team…
Read MoreWalking the Thin Line on Indemnification
With increasing frequency, architects and other design professionals are being asked (and in some cases, even required) to sign agreements in which they undertake to indemnify their clients against any loss that the clients may suffer in connection with projects for which the design professionals have provided services. In some cases, the indemnification clause is…
Read MoreThe Perils of Substitutions
Substitutions are ingrained in the project delivery process. Potential cost savings lead others to assume the architect’s role and change the project scope–without needed proof of product performance. Unfortunately, resistance is not an endearing client service strategy, so developing a viable approach to handle these requests is needed. While an architect may have a reliable…
Read MoreQuick Reference: Risk Resource Review
As a risk management resource for AIA Members, the AIA Trust develops risk reports on topics of critical and evolving risks for architects. Some of these risks you may be aware of—and some may never have crossed your mind. Either way, it’s important to be able to recognize them so you can at best avoid…
Read MoreYou’ve Got the Wrong Idea About Our Relationship
The typical complaint against an architect starts with the plaintiff laying out his story of what happened, and then listing the laws that the conduct allegedly violated. Architects are familiar with many of them–malpractice, negligence, breach of contract, and the like. But sometimes the complaint alleges that the architect is a “fiduciary” and has breached…
Read MoreBeat the Rap! Exonerate Yourself with Effective Documentation
The compelling risk 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…
Read MoreDon’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Architect
The risk 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…
Read MoreLive Long and Prosper
The risk report, BIM Me Up, Scotty: Navigating Risk in Digital Practice, is your chance to get the inside on preemptive risk management for your digital travels. It is an opportunity to gain insight for managing your practice so that you can put up your deflector shields to guard against incursions from the litigious Borgs…
Read MoreI’m Responsible for Them?
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…
Read MoreI’m Responsible for Them?
