Daniel T. Brailsford

Robinson, McFadden & Moore, P.C., Columbia, USA

Mr. Brailsford's practice comprises three related specialty areas: (1) all aspects of construction law including construction related insurance coverage litigation; (2) procurement litigation under the state (ABA model) Procurement Code and its progeny of local ordinances; and (3) alternative dispute resolution. The fusion of these specialties into an integrated law practice has been an evolving process.

Mr. Brailsford began his legal career prosecuting court martial cases in Vietnam and Germany. After six years in Army JAGC, he started general civil practice in a small litigation firm. Within a couple of years, he became interested in the construction industry and decided to build a practice specialty in construction law.

Mr. Brailsford became general counsel to the American Subcontractors Association of the Carolinas and the Mechanical Contractors Association of South Carolina. Throughout the '80s and '90s, he served as a lobbyist for a consortium of construction specialty trade association and wrote a great deal of legislation affecting the payment rights of subcontractors and suppliers. As a result of his work with subcontractors Mr. Brailsford become very proficient in the handling of payment litigation cases-mechanic's liens, payment bond claims, and recovery under special statutes. Payment litigation plays a dominant role in his current practice.

In the preventive law vein, Mr. Brailsford often assists subcontractor clients in preparing addenda to horrendous subcontract forms presented to them by general contractors who own the work and most of the bargaining power. He has developed a forms system using a database of over a hundred standard paragraph revisions.

Because of his orientation to the subcontracting industry, Mr. Brailsford generally refrains from representing general contractors. He does represent however, a large number of excellent design firms. Mr. Brailsford has defended architects and engineers in cases alleging surveying errors, product failures, deaths and injuries from job site accidents, drafting errors, negligent contract administration, deficient performance specifications, mapping errors, and copyright infringement. He also represent many construction owners and developers, public and private..

Within Mr. Brailsford's construction law practice he has often had the opportunity to counsel and litigate in the area of insurance coverage. He finds coverage issues to be extremely technical and complex and believes that most construction lawyers are deficient in this arena. Mr. Brailsford has thus made construction related insurance law a sort of sub-specialty in order to provide full service legal support to his construction clients.

In the early '80s Mr. Brailsford was involved on behalf of the subcontracting industry in developing and promoting the passage of the South Carolina Consolidated Procurement Code, which is based upon the ABA model. After this rather intensive experience, he soon became active representing vendors and contractors in procurement litigation on the state and local level. He also advises governmental and quasi-governmental entities regarding the drafting and application of procurement ordinances. Procurement litigation has been an important parallel specialty of Mr. Brailsford because of the interface between procurement law and construction law. Mr. Brailsford often advises design professional clients, for example, how to handle bid controversies on projects where they are performing bidding-phase services.

In addition to the two related practice areas of construction law and procurement, Mr. Brailsford is also active in alternative dispute resolution. After having served as an AAA arbitration panelist for fifteen years, he attended mediation training at the Duke University Private Adjudication Center in 1995. Mr. Brailsford has since been active as a mediator in civil cases, including many construction disputes, in connection with which his construction litigation background often proves very helpful. He founded and serves as president of Construction Resolution Affiliates, (CRA) an informal association of construction law neutrals in South Carolina.

• "Risks and Remedies of the Construction Supplier" (Robert F. Kushmen and James J. Myers), Construction Law Handbook, "Aspen Law and Business", 1999
• "The Subcontractors Right to Stop Work", Construction Week, October, 1992
• "Mechanic''s Liens on Leased Property", Construction Week, June, 1992
• "Alarm System Licensing Law", The Palmetto Piper, November, 1992
• "Time Limitations on Construction Payment Claims", Construction Week, July, 1992
• "Court Case Decisions Affecting Subcontractors and Suppliers", Construction Week, January, 1994
• "Suing the Material Supplier" (Robert F. Kushmen and Kenneth M. Kushmen), Construction Litigation: Representing the Owner, John Riley and Sons, 1984
• "Subcontracting on State and Local Government Construction", Construction Week, July, 1993
• "Supplier and Contractor Warranties", The Palmetto Piper, March, 1994
• "Owner''s Right to Sue Supplier for Breach of Warranty", Construction Week, June, 1993