Anaheim California Construction Expert Witness Directory

Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (3/11/25) – An AI Inflection Point for Hotels, Investor Pivot in Build-to-Rent and Looming Legislation for Single-Family Investors

March 24, 2026 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, lodging demand for World Cup brings growth, commercial property management firms use of AI becomes firmer, construction industry shows slow start to the year, and more!

The hotel industry has reached an inflection point, where owners and developers are embracing artificial intelligence more, but are also increasingly in need of greater guidance on how to convert early adoption into long-term returns. (Jenna Graber, Hotel Dive)
While the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to bring notable RevPAR gains to U.S. host cities, the overall domestic impact will be negligible. (Noor Adatia, Hotel Dive)
Company leaders’ often vague predictions of how AI will be adopted are giving way to more fully formed strategies in the commercial real estate industry. (Joe Burns, Facilities Dive)

Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

Jenny Michel Named Top Lawyer by Acadiana Profile Magazine

June 29, 2026 — Lewis Brisbois
Lafayette Managing Partner Jenny Michel has been named to Acadiana Profile magazine’s 2026 Top Lawyers list for Insurance Law. The annual list honors excellence across several practice areas. To select attorneys for its Top Lawyers list, Acadiana Profile works with a research firm that conducts a peer-review survey of attorneys in the Acadiana, Louisiana region. The attorneys nominate fellow professionals who they consider the best in their field of practice. Ms. Michel is co-chair of the London Market Group, the Pollution Legal Liability/Environmental Impairment Liability (PLL/EIL) practice, and the Energy, Marine & Power practice. She has worked with London insurers her entire career. Licensed in both Louisiana and Texas, she leads a team of experienced attorneys focused on marine, both traditional and alternate energy, onshore and offshore property, trucking and environmental insurance coverage and bad faith claims, excess monitoring, advice and litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lewis Brisbois

Can Anything Supersede Excel in AEC?

April 27, 2026 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
If there’s one piece of software that dominates the business world across industries, it’s Microsoft Excel. Can AI finally dethrone the mighty spreadsheet? Memorable Spreadsheet Moments Everyone has memorable spreadsheet moments. I have a few. For example, my then-architecture firm was involved in more than a dozen housing developments abroad. I developed an Excel workbook that took the required number of households as input and automatically generated a breakdown of buildings and their apartment types for AutoCAD. This was urban planning and architectural design done with a spreadsheet. I also developed business software using Excel for project portfolio management. The prototype was later scaled into a commercial SaaS that is now used globally. Another memorable moment was when a property owner told me their Excel file grew so large that it ran out of rows and columns. That must have been before 2007, when the maximum number of columns on a sheet was still just 256 and the maximum number of rows was 65,536. The current limits are 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns, which I hope no one will exceed. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

Five Payne & Fears Attorneys Named 2026 Southern California Super Lawyers

March 10, 2026 — Payne & Fears LLP
Five Payne & Fears attorneys have been named to the 2026 Southern California Super Lawyers list in recognition of their work across a range of practice areas. This honor reflects their dedication to their clients, depth of experience, and the high standard of service they bring to every matter. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Payne & Fears LLP

Civil Megaprojects: The Evolving Use of Dispute Prevention and Collaborative Delivery Methods in Public Contracting

January 13, 2026 — Lisa D. Love - The Dispute Resolver
Civil megaprojects are large, complex ventures in civil engineering and construction that typically cost over $1 billion to construct. These projects generally have significant and long-lasting impacts on the economy, environment and society, and involve multiple public and private stakeholders. Typical civil megaprojects include infrastructure projects, such as highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, dams, power plants and public buildings, which require extensive planning, design, coordination and construction over an extended period of time. In the United States, there is over $500 billion worth of civil megaprojects in the pipeline, with an average of four megaprojects per month in 2024 and a total monthly value of $9.2 billion.[i] Here are some recent examples of civil megaprojects: The Hudson Tunnel Project (a portion of the Gateway Program), under construction in the states of New York and New Jersey, involves the construction of two new tunnels and the renovation of aging rail tunnels used by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit that were damaged by Superstorm Sandy along the Northeast Corridor. This has been deemed one of the most important infrastructure projects in the country. It is projected to be completed in 2027 at a cost of over $16 billion.[ii] Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Lisa D. Love, JAMS

A Permitting Base Checklist for Data Centers and Power Plants

June 02, 2026 — Michael S. McDonough, Stephen J. Humes & Stacey C. Wright - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
There is a lot of talk these days about “license to operate” for data centers, meaning management of the relationships with stakeholders and broader communities concerning both the benefits and adverse consequences of locating a facility in a particular locale. Here, we are speaking of “license to operate” more literally—namely, the legal and regulatory permitting and approval requirements for a privately owned data center whether by itself or colocated with a power generating plant. Our Base Checklist includes generally and potentially applicable permitting requirements for development and operation, using California as an example. (Taking legal authority Frank Sinatra out of context, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”) The actual requirements for a given facility would depend, in part, on local law, including planning and zoning laws and plans, and the environment of the site. Just as examples, additional permitting and mitigation requirements might apply if sensitive receptors are located nearby (e.g., noise mitigation for residential dwellings), if sensitive and protected biological resources (e.g., jurisdictional waters and/or protected species) would be impacted, or if the present or former land uses require additional measures (e.g., hazardous materials remediation, mitigation for conversion of prime farmland, or protection of cultural resources). The scope of permit requirements would ultimately be determined by the applicable regulatory agencies and by the lead and responsible agencies under the applicable state environmental land use regime—in our reference case here, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Reprinted courtesy of Michael S. McDonough, Pillsbury, Stephen J. Humes, Pillsbury and Stacey C. Wright, Pillsbury Mr. McDonough may be contacted at michael.mcdonough@pillsburylaw.com Mr. Humes may be contacted at stephen.humes@pillsburylaw.com Ms. Wright may be contacted at stephen.humes@pillsburylaw.com Read the full story...

Additional Insureds Owed a Defense in Underlying Personal Injury Suit

March 03, 2026 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The court granted partial summary judgment on the duty to defend to two additional insureds who were named as defendants in the underlying personal injury suit. In re Third St. Equity, LLC, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 234909 (E.D. N. Y. Dec. 2, 2025). Third Street Equity LLD hired Developing NY State, LLC as the contractor for a construction project. Developing NY entered a subcontract agreement with Capital Source Concrete NY LLC for concrete work as well as labor and services for a construction project. The subcontract required that Capital Concrete keep the construction site free of debris, waste material or rubbish. Further, Capital Concrete was responsible for compliance with OSHA safety regulations. It was also agreed that Capital Concrete would obtain liability and workers compensation insurance naming Third Street and Developing NY as additional insureds. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

White and Williams LLP Ranked in the Chambers USA 2026 Guide

June 15, 2026 — White and Williams LLP
White and Williams LLP is proud to celebrate the Chambers USA 2026 Guide which has ranked several of the Firm's attorneys and practice groups, underscoring the Firm's overall commitment to providing client service excellence. The Chambers USA 2026 Guide recognized attorneys Tim Davis, Managing Partner, and Nancy Frantz, Chair of the Real Estate Group, for Real Estate: Finance in the state of Pennsylvania. Randy Maniloff, Partner, Patricia Santelle, Chair Emeritus/Former Managing Partner, and Robert Walsh, Partner were ranked for Insurance in Pennsylvania, and Thomas Pinney, Partner, was ranked in Pennsylvania for Bankruptcy/Restructuring. In the state of Maryland, Partners David Gilliss and Eric Korphage were recognized for their work in Construction. Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of White and Williams LLP

ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTION EXPERT WITNESS DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES