Cox Smith has an extensive construction counseling and litigation practice in South Texas, but our industry focus extends well beyond representing contractors, developers or owners in contracts and dispute resolution. We also assist general contractors with operational issues (such as labor relations) and personal financial planning, help developers secure land use approvals, and advise project owners that range from financial services firms to municipalities.

Client focus

• General contractors
• Developers
• Owners

Services to general contractors
Contracts and Dispute Resolution. Cox Smith counsels and represents general contractors in drafting and negotiating contracts, as well as in controversies that involve bid protests and mistakes, cost disputes, design error, defective installation and contract disputes. These disputes typically involve multiple parties and are highly fact-intensive, and we use our industry knowledge to resolve the problem in ways that minimize expense and time for our clients – often through alternative means such as mediation and arbitration.

Labor and Employment. General contractors rely on our lawyers to identify the problems that can become employment disputes, and work effectively to prevent or resolve them. We can handle virtually any problem that construction industry employers face, including controversies that involve hiring and termination issues, wage and hour matters, discrimination claims and jobsite disputes with employees.

Bankruptcy. We represent contractors when a construction project is suddenly subject to a bankruptcy filing by the owner or developer. Our lawyers regularly file actions under Chapter 162 of the Texas Property Code to help our clients get paid. We also represent contractors who wish to expand their operations by purchasing assets and operations from a company in a bankruptcy proceeding.

Business and Personal Finance. For many general contractor clients we fill the role of counselor, advising them on everything from financing and tax concerns in running their companies to personal business succession and estate planning.

Services to developers
Transactional Representation. We represent developers of commercial and multi-family projects in every real estate aspect of projects through their complete transactional lifecycle: land use approvals, title and survey work, groundbreaking, construction, leasing, management and sale. Our lawyers work to maximize tax advantages for the project structure and to anticipate and resolve due diligence issues, environmental liability, title, deed and other problems during negotiation.

Land Use Approvals. Our lawyers assist our clients in securing land use rights without costly disputes, thanks to our knowledge of administrative condemnation proceedings and our working relationships with the appointed commissioners in many Texas counties.

Contractual Arrangements. Our lawyers carefully negotiate and draft architectural agreements, construction contracts, construction management agreements, and loan documentation right from the start of a project. Often we are able to take standard AIA contract terms and customize them to particular projects. Whenever necessary we can draw upon colleagues in our firm to resolve tax, finance, real estate, and environmental issues essential for project completion.

Dispute Resolution. Our lawyers understand the negative impact of delays and quality issues on a project, and focus on promptly resolving developers’ claims. That includes controversies over work orders, warranties and defective construction or installation.

Services to owners
When project owners serve as their own developer, we offer them the full range of transactional, land use, contractual and dispute resolution services that developers require. A particular strength of our practice is representing municipalities as developers/owners of major real estate and construction projects in tandem with private parties. In such public-private undertakings we advise on public law issues associated with funding, governmental immunity, procurement and competition laws, economic development incentives and constitutional debt limitations.