Design Professional Representation

Advice you can build on.

My design professional representation practice is a new model, designed from the ground up to meet the needs of architects, engineers and other design professionals in today's market.

Contact Andrew@AndrewLynnLaw.com to get started.

"Part-Time In-House": a better model for legal services.

Many design firms never call their lawyers until they are already in trouble. Legal problems - disputes and misunderstandings over contracts, regulatory surprises, conflicts over service provision and employees, missed code changes - are distractions from your work and wastes of time and money. Where smaller companies respond to these problems by calling in their lawyer, larger companies avoid them by employing in-house counsel to stay on top of their contracts, relevant regulations and other legal matters.

By using my "part-time in-house" service, you will receive many of the same benefits that corporations get from their legal departments, at an affordable flat monthly fee that will cover most of your routine legal needs. For my regular monthly clients, additional services are billed at reduced rates that likely come out to less than your IT consultant charges.

A sample of the services I provide:

Dispute Prevention

• Legal surprises mean delays and loss of time and money. With clear, consistent contracts, advice on best procedures and practices and current information on regulatory issues, you will reduce your exposure to risks and anticipate more problems before they happen.

Contract Formation and Execution

• Clear and understandable contracts that detail the rights and obligations of each party are key to managing expectations and avoiding conflicts.
• Standard forms are like catalog sheds. They'll get the job done in some circumstances, but they're usually not the best solution to a design problem. Used correctly, standard forms like the AIA contracts provide a familiar framework and can be a good starting point, but they must be edited and additions must be made for the working style of each firm and the needs of each project.
• I will work with you to:
• Develop standard contract terms that meet your firm's preferred way of working. Like an architecture firm's library of details, these contract terms will function across multiple projects and will be regularly reviewed and updated to stay current with best practices.
• Implement contracts, either from scratch or based on the AIA framework, that apply those standard terms to the project at hand.
• Monitor performance and identify potential failure points to correct issues before they become problems.

BIM and Intellectual Property

• Copyright licensing: Your BIM models, like your CAD files and paper or plotted drawings, are your intellectual property. Contracts defining the permitted uses of those models, files and drawings are copyright licenses. To avoid unnecessary liability due to use of your BIM files by owners, contractors or consultants for purposes you did not intend, those contracts must be carefully written. I understand both BIM and copyright licenses and I can work with you to craft the ideal BIM copyright license for your project's needs.
• Standard of care: The reasonable standard of care defines what the law expects that you will do, and it is constantly evolving based on what new technology allows you to do. I can work with you to keep you aware of developments affecting standard of care, whether of not you are using a BIM workflow, and to manage expectations and reduce surprises.

Dispute Support

• If you do get into a legal dispute, for simple matters I can represent you without needing outside legal help. But for more complex matters, where a litigation specialist is needed, I can work on your end in the in-house counsel role to support litigation by pulling together and organizing documents, responding to requests and keeping you advised of your rights, so that you are not distracted from your work any more than necessary.

Public Bid Counseling

• The design team's responsibilities in government public work vary by state and city and by project size and scope. I can help you navigate the regulations and conform your contracts to the scope of work required throughout the process, from design through prequalification, bid and construction.

Sustainable Design

• I understand sustainable design because I've worked in the field throughout my career in architecture, and I am ready to apply my experience to advice you on regulations and incentives for sustainable design.