Ruby Virginia Construction Expert Witness Directory

GRSM Partner Debra Ellwood Meppen Recognized as 2026 Legal Visionary by Los Angeles Times

June 02, 2026 — Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani proudly congratulates Partner Debra Ellwood Meppen on being named a 2026 Legal Visionary by the Los Angeles Times. The LA Times Studios 2026 Legal Visionaries List recognizes lawyers in Southern California who “exemplify a forward-thinking approach to the law, elevating both their profession and the people who depend on it.” Meppen is recognized for helping shape the future of the legal profession through her leadership, professionalism, and integrity. Published as part of the May 2026 issue highlighting Southern California’s leading law firms and attorneys, the Legal Visionaries section honors attorneys making a significant impact on the legal industry and the broader business community. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

How to Fireproof a Neighborhood

March 17, 2026 — Linda Poon - Bloomberg
As builders in fire-prone areas like California race to reimagine homes for a more fiery future, one developer is zooming out to build entire fire-resilient neighborhoods. KB Home’s developments tackle an issue that’s hard for any individual homeowner to overcome: “You can do your home perfectly, but if your neighbor didn’t, you still have a fire risk,” said Roy Wright, chief executive officer of the research nonprofit Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. In other words, to slow the spread of urban fires it takes a village. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Linda Poon, Bloomberg

High-Rise Design and Construction: Then, Now, and Next

March 16, 2026 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
The Empire State Building was built in 14 months. Since 2010, the average completion time for a 200-meter-plus building has increased from 4.3 to 5.8 years. Buildings have become more complex, and there's more regulation than in the 1930s. Still, there are ways to make high-rise construction more efficient. An Unlikely Benchmark From 1930 When construction began on the Empire State Building on March 17, 1930, the world was in the midst of the Great Depression. That turned out to be an advantage. Contractors Starrett Brothers & Eken had access to a vast, motivated workforce, peaking at 3,439 workers on a single day in August 1930. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

How AI Turns Construction Documents Into Procurement Intelligence

May 05, 2026 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
MEP equipment accounts for up to 40% of costs on data center or hospital projects, has lead times ranging from 20 weeks to over a year, and has historically been the most underserved area in construction software. In this episode, I speak with Victor Muchiri from BuildVision about what it actually takes to make AI useful in construction procurement, not as a pilot, but in production. We dig into why you cannot simply upload a set of construction drawings to ChatGPT and trust the output. Construction documents are complex, cross-referenced, and consequential. Without deep domain context, such as manufacturer ontologies, equipment taxonomies, and engineering expertise, AI produces plausible results, not reliable ones. BuildVision’s approach is to act as a harness around AI models, wrapping them in construction-specific knowledge so the output can be trusted for real procurement decisions. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

New Executive Order on AI Innovation and Security: Key Takeaways for the Construction Industry

June 15, 2026 — Richard R. Volack & Denis Serkin - Peckar & Abramson, PC
On June 2, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security.” At its core, the Order is a cybersecurity and national-security measure rather than a broad regulation of how private companies develop or use AI. It directs federal agencies to harden government systems against AI-enabled cyber threats, establishes voluntary frameworks for collaboration between the federal government and the AI and critical-infrastructure sectors, and strengthens criminal enforcement against the malicious use of AI. Notably, the Order expressly disclaims any intent to create a “mandatory governmental licensing, preclearance, or permitting” regime for the “development, publication, release, or distribution of new AI models.” Instead, the Executive Order seeks to “promote AI innovation and security” by working with the private sector to modernize government and private-sector information systems and harden them against external threats, protect intellectual property from exploitation or theft, and cultivate American AI capabilities. Reprinted courtesy of Richard R. Volack, Peckar & Abramson, PC and Denis Serkin, Peckar & Abramson, PC Mr. Volack may be contacted at rvolack@pecklaw.com Mr. Serkin may be contacted at dserkin@pecklaw.com Read the full story...

Standing When It Comes to Real Property Owned by a Trust

February 23, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
It is not uncommon for property to be owned in the name of the trust as part of an estate planning agenda. In construction, improvements are made all the time to real property owned in the name of a trust or later transferred to a trust for estate planning purposes. In a recent case, the question became that if the property is owned by the trust does only the trust have standing to file the lawsuit. In this case, homeowners, in their individual capacities, sued a flooring contractor for defective work; however, prior to the lawsuit, the homeowners deeded the home (which would include the flooring in the home) to a revocable trust. The plaintiffs, though, were the trustees of the revocable trust and the settlors of the trust. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

Chambers USA Recognizes Hunton’s Insurance Coverage Practice in 2026 Guide

June 29, 2026 — Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog
Hunton is pleased to announce that its insurance coverage practice was recognized nationally for Insurance: Dispute Resolution – Policyholder in the recently released 2026 Chambers USA guide. The team also received state rankings in Florida (Insurance: Dispute Resolution), Georgia (Insurance), the District of Columbia (Insurance: Policyholder), and Massachusetts (Insurance). In addition to the insurance team’s group recognition across multiple states, the 2026 guide included individual rankings for Lorelie “Lorie” S. Masters (USA Nationwide and District of Columbia), Latosha M. Ellis (District of Columbia), Michael S. Levine (District of Columbia), Koorosh “KT” Talieh (District of Columbia), Walter J. Andrews (Florida), Andrea DeField (Florida), Cary D. Steklof (Florida), Lawrence J. Bracken II (Georgia), and Geoffrey B. Fehling (Massachusetts). Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP

Arbitration Provision Must Be Incorporated into a Bond for Surety to Elect Arbitration

March 03, 2026 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
“Sureties cannot exercise unilateral election rights that are reserved for the principal of the underlying contract.” Anderson Service Corp. v. Old Republic Surety Company, 2026 WL 61436, *2 (Fla. 4th DCA 2026). This was the holding in a recent case dealing with arbitration. In this case, a subcontractor entered into a contract with a contractor that gave the contractor the right to elect arbitration in Pennsylvania. A dispute arose and the subcontractor recorded a construction lien. The contractor transferred the lien to a lien transfer bond under Florida law. (The contractor was the principal of the lien transfer bond.) The lien transfer bond surety then moved to compel the subcontractor to arbitration based on the underlying subcontract. The trial court agreed to compel arbitration but this was reversed on appeal. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

RUBY VIRGINIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES