Public infrastructure construction is a major component of Federal, Provincial and Municipal expenditures. Construction Adjudication is fast becoming the mechanism of choice for resolving costly and time-consuming disputes between all the parties in the construction chain.
Four adjudicators will present their perspectives of the construction adjudication process, each with a different point of view:
- Moderator: Dr. John Fletcher, Global Director of RICS Dispute Resolution Service
- Robert Bales, P.Eng., LL.B., from Ontario, where its statutory adjudication regime has been underway for just 18 months, and a very similar contractual process for provincial highways and bridges has been in place for over five years.
- Rosanna Eugeni, P.Eng., from Quebec where a pilot project for public infrastructure projects has been operating for almost three years;
- Matt Molloy, FRICS, FCIOB, C.Arb, from the UK where construction adjudication began 25 years ago;
- Jim Paul, J.D., Certified Adjudicator, Ontario, formerly with the Federal government as CEO at Defence Construction Canada which was responsible for over 1,500 infrastructure projects a year;
The parties must first choose the best adjudicator, or rely on the adjudicator nominating authority to make that choice, from a panel of qualified, highly-trained and experienced adjudicators with knowledge of the subject matter in dispute. Then, with a one-month time limit from start to finish, the parties must present their best case, submitting clear, concise documents to support their position, and then follow through the procedure until the adjudicator makes a determination. Time is extremely tight.
This free presentation will address the adjudication process in each of the jurisdictions and illustrate what each party can do to present their best case to the adjudicator. We will have time for questions, and will speak to the risks, pitfalls and strategic errors sometimes made in construction adjudications.
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Professional Development Accreditation:
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John Fletcher, LL.B, Ph.D
Head of the RICS Dispute Resolution Service with RICS
John Fletcher was born in South Africa took his B Com LLB from Rhodes University and his M Phil and PhD in administrative law from Cambridge.
John is the ADR Products Group Director of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and is responsible for RICS’s global Dispute Resolution Services (DRS) including arbitration, adjudication, dispute boards, mediation and expert witnesses.
Prior to working for RICS, John was the Projects Director for ADR Group. He developed their international joint ventures in South Africa, Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean and other developing countries; their UK workplace mediation service; and their mediation training in UK universities.
At RICS John has overseen the extensive development of DRS services both in the UK and internationally. |
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Robert Bales, P. Eng., LL.B.
Robert Bales is an engineer with thirty years of hands-on residential, commercial and civil construction experience combined with a 20-year solo legal practice (now retired) restricted to real estate and property development in Ottawa, and twenty years as an arbitrator and now as a construction adjudicator. He has developed and built about 700 residential units, together with commercial and residential refits and renovations. His experience as an arbitrator and adjudicator extend from very modest Tarion claims to high value, complex civil claims under the Ontario MTO Referee Process. With diverse backgrounds in both construction and legal matters, his present activities are focused on the implementation and development of construction adjudication across Canada, while serving as an adjudicator over the full spectrum of claims. |
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Rosanna Eugeni, P.Eng
Rosanna Eugeni is a member of the Order of Engineers of Québec since 1983, and a member of IMAQ (Institut d’arbitrage et de médiation du Québec) and of ADRIC since 2008. She worked as a project manager and estimator in the construction industry and later for Cogerec Consultants, a firm specialized in construction project management and resolution of construction disputes. Since 2000, she has been working independently in these same fields, assisting numerous contractors, subcontractors, engineering firms and owners in resolving their disputes. Ms. Eugeni is certified as an arbitrator and mediator, and a qualified adjudicator by IMAQ. She was president of IMAQ’s construction committee from 2014 to 2018 and is currently IMAQ’s Project manager for the Quebec Treasury Board construction adjudication Pilot Project. |
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Matthew Molloy, FRICS, FCIOB, C.Arb
Matthew is an experienced dispute resolver and has been appointed in over 800 construction and engineering disputes as either adjudicator, arbitrator, mediator, expert determiner, Conflict or Dispute Avoidance Panel/Board member. These disputes have concerned a number of high profile projects both within the UK and overseas, and have involved complex technical and legal issues in a variety of sectors, including education, private and public housing, offices, hotels and leisure, sports stadia, roads and infrastructure, utilities, energy and process engineering. |
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James Paul, J.D., Certified Adjudicator, Ontario
James (Jim) Paul has 35 years broad construction experience as an owner, general contractor, project manager and lawyer – from working as a labourer on high-rise construction in his early years, building custom homes, developing special-purpose tech facilities in Canada and internationally, advising on construction law matters, running a billion dollar public infrastructure organization, and as a certified ODACC Adjudicator today.
As CEO, Defence Construction Canada, delivering 1,500+ defence infrastructure projects annually, he had final approval authority for procurements, contract awards and claims management for all project sizes, and understands how different perspectives can lead to disputes needing resolution in a fair and timely manner. DCC was co-lead with PSPC on the federal Prompt Payment legislation initiative. |