Charles B. Lewis
Partner
Duane Morris LLP
190 South LaSalle Street, Suite 3700
Chicago, IL 60603-3433
USA
Phone: +1 312 499 6740
Fax: +1 312 277 6603
Email: cblewis@duanemorris.com

Charles B. Lewis concentrates his practice in the area of construction law and litigation and is a member of Duane Morris' national Construction Practice Group. Mr. Lewis represents general contractors, construction managers, owners, architects and engineers, design builders, subcontractors, and material suppliers in matters involving contract drafting, contract negotiation, breach of contract claims, claims for extras, delay, disruption, loss of productivity, excessive change orders, out-of-scope work, and claims involving mechanic's liens.

Mr. Lewis has been certified as a mediator by the International Mediation Institute. He is an arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association, having acted as a mediator in over 350 construction disputes, is an arbitrator for the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, and is a mediator for the Circuit Court of Cook County, Court Annexed Major Case Civil Mediation Program, run by the Circuit Court of Cook County. Mr. Lewis is an active member of the Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys and a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. He has written articles for Construction Executive, President & CEO Magazine, Chicago Building Congress, Edifice, Chicago Bar Journal, Construction Law News and Illinois Law Journal. Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business cites Mr. Lewis as a leader in the area of construction law.

Mr. Lewis is a 1976 graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law and a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Areas of Practice

• Construction Law and Litigation
• Alternate Dispute Resolution
• Commercial Litigation

Representative Matters

• Represented the general contractor in a $10 million claim arising out of differing site conditions encountered during the construction of a retaining wall in Worcester, MA.
• Represented the construction manager on a project involving the construction of seven pump stations on an international pipeline in the arbitration of a claim for breach of contract brought by a prime contractor against the pipeline owner.
• Acting as construction counsel to a Chicago hospital during the program management, design and construction of its new $200 million ambulatory care facility and the renovation of certain of its existing facilities.
• Representing an "at risk" construction manager on two separate projects - the first with a contract value of $8 billion, and the second with a contract value of $2 billion.
• Representing the general contractor on a $15 million claim against the owner as a result of the renovation of a landmark hotel in the city of Chicago.
• Representing two contractors on claims arising from the construction of a portion of Bagram Air Force base in Afghanistan.
• Representing the Government of Greece in responding to and defending against $200 million in claims submitted by a consortium of 23 European contractors during construction of Lines 2 and 3 of the Athens Metro Rail System.
• Representing the contractor in its claim against the owner arising out of the construction of a prominent restaurant and retail development in Moscow.
• Representing a Taiwanese owner of a luxury hotel in Guam in two separate arbitrations against the designer and contractor arising out of the need to retrofit the building because of structural deficiencies discovered shortly before the hotel was opened.
• Representing the net lessee/landlord in the demolition, remediation, and reconstruction of the interior of a landmark building located next to Ground Zero in New York City.
• Representing the surety in the default of a large general contractor with projects in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia, and the bidding and reletting of those contracts as well as the prosecution of the many claims, both affirmative and defensive, which arose as a result thereof.
• Acting as construction counsel to a Chicago hospital during the design and the construction of a $600 million new facility, including the representation of its interests in an arbitration brought by a prime contractor. Subsequent representation of the same hospital during the design and construction of a new $400 million women's hospital.
• Representing the electrical contractor in a dispute with the design builder with respect to the replacement and modernization of approximately 74,000 streetlights for the City of Kansas City.
• Representing the contractor in a dispute involving the design and construction of a luxury hotel on South Beach in Miami.

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association
• Illinois Bar Association
• Chicago Bar Association
• DuPage County Bar Association
• American Arbitration Association
• Forum on the Construction Industry
• International Mediation Institute
  - Certified Mediator
• International Centre for Dispute Resolution
• Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators
• Circuit Court of Cook County, Court Annexed Major Case Civil Mediation Program
• The Illinois Academy of Mediators and Arbitrators
• Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association, Design/Build Task Force
• Chicago Building Congress
• Associated General Contractors of America
• Trial Lawyers Club of Chicago
  - Former President
• Chicago Construction and Real Estate Council
  - Former Director
• University of Michigan Alumni Student Recruiter, 2004-2012

Admissions

• Illinois
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
• Trial Bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Education

• University of San Francisco School of Law, J.D., 1976
• University of Michigan, B.A., 1972

Experience

• Baker & McKenzie
  - Partner, 1983-2001
  - Associate - 1976-1983
• Jenkens & Gilchrist
  - Partner, 2001-2006
• Duane Morris LLP
  - Partner, 2006-present

Board Memberships

• Steering Committee, Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys
  - Chair, Membership Committee
• Board of Directors, Circle Urban Ministries, a not-for-profit corporation
  - Chair, Fund Development Committee
• Board of Directors, Hinsdale Golf Club
  - President, 2009
  - Vice President, 2008
  - Secretary, 2005-2007
• Board of Directors, Mercy Housing Lakefront, a not-for-profit corporation

Honors and Awards

• Named a Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" in Litigation - Construction, Chicago, 2013
• Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in Band 1, one of only six construction lawyers in the state of Illinois to be so honored
• Listed in Illinois Super Lawyers
• Listed in Best Lawyers in America
• Listed in Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition
• Named as a "Super Lawyer" by Chicago Magazine and Law & Politics
• Named one of the leading attorneys in the area of construction law by the American Research Corporation
• Named leading lawyer in construction law by the Chicago Law Bulletin Publishing Company and Leading Lawyer Network
• Named leading lawyer in the areas of construction law and ADR law by the Chicago Construction Advisory Council
• Listed in The International Who's Who of Construction Lawyers
• Former President of Trial's Lawyer Club of Chicago
• AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Selected Publications

• "Recovery of Attorneys' Fees, Costs and Expenses," Construction Litigation Handbook, IICLE Press, 2013
• Profiled in "Charlie Lewis: Global Construction Dispute Resolution 'Makes Life Interesting'," Leading Lawyers Network, January 2009
• "The Art of Picking an Arbitrator," CBA Record, a publication of the Chicago Bar Association, April 2008
• "The Art of Picking an Arbitrator," In The Alternative, a publication of the Illinois Bar Association, February 2008
• Co-author, "Subcontractors Dealt a Winning Hand by Nevada Legislature - Nevada's Prompt Payment Act," Construction Lawyer, Legislative Update, Spring 2007
• "Doing Business in Mexico," Construction Executive, February 2005
• "What's Wrong with Chicago's New General Contractor's Licensing Ordinance?" Chicago Building Congress, The Edifice, Chicago, February 2005
• "Ten Tips for Making Your Mediation Successful - A View from the Mediator's Chair," President & CEO Magazine, September 2004
• "Discretion the Better Part of Valor: Arbitration in Lieu of Litigation," President & CEO Magazine, August 2003
• "In Defense of Abstinence - The World Trade Center Attack Aftermath," Construction Law News, January 2002
• "The Manifest Disregard of the Law Standard of Review for Domestic Arbitration Awards," Chicago Bar Journal, May 1998
• "Restrictions on Attorney Contracts with Adversary's Former Employees," Illinois Law Journal, May 1995

Selected Speaking Engagements

• Speaker, "Ethics for Legal Counsel and Neutrals and the ADR Process," Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys, Chicago, March 19, 2013
• Speaker, "Managing Your First Arbitration" – "The Arbitration Hearing," DePaul University College of Law, Center for Dispute Resolution in conjunction with the American Arbitration Association, the College of Commercial Arbitrators, the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, Chicago, June 2011
• Speaker, "Managing Your First Arbitration — The Arbitration Hearing," DePaul University College of Law, Center for Dispute Resolution in conjunction with the American Arbitration Association, the College of Commercial Arbitrators, the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, June 2011
• Speaker, "Protocols For Expeditious, Cost Effective Commercial Arbitration," DePaul University College of Law, Center for Dispute Resolution, Chicago, November 2010
• Speaker, "To Settle or Not To Settle – Impasses in Mediation," Circuit Court of Cook County Court Annexed Mediation Program, November 2010
• Speaker, "Post Award Concerns: Who is the Prevailing Party and What Should Be Reimbursed to the Prevailing Party?" DePaul University College of Law, Center for Dispute Resolution, Chicago, September 2009
• Speaker, "What You Can Learn From Construction Mediation," Circuit Court of Cook County Court Annexed Mediation Program, Chicago, May 2009
• Speaker, "Recovery of Attorney's Fees and Application of the Prevailing Party Standard," Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys, May 19, 2008
• Speaker, "What To Do When Construction Projects Go Bad," Lorman Education Services seminar, Schaumburg, Illinois, March 11, 2008
• Speaker, "Dispute Resolution Methods Used In Construction Cases," Chicago Bar Association, February 15, 2008
• Speaker, "Construction Mediation - A View from the Mediator's Chair," Circuit Court of Cook County Court Annexed Mediation Program, Chicago, April 2006
• Speaker, "Dispute Resolution Methods Used in Construction Cases," National Society of Professional Engineers, 2005 Annual Convention, Chicago, July 2005
• Speaker, "To Engineer Is Human - But Who Pays for Engineering Design Problems on Transportation Construction Projects?" Illinois Road & Transportation Builders Association, Chicago, February 2005
• Speaker, "Dispute Resolution Methods Used In Construction Cases," Chicago Bar Association, Chicago, January 2005
• Speaker, "To Engineer Is Human - But Who Pays for Engineering Design Problems on Transportation Construction Projects?" The "A/E Issues" Construction Superconference, San Francisco, December 2004
• Speaker, "New Highways from Virginia to Utah and Beyond/The Road to Design-Build Success," Owner's Construction Superconference, San Francisco, December 2003
• Speaker, "Rescuing the Stalled Public Infrastructure Project - Lessons Learned from the Athens Metro - Drama, Pathos, Humor, Happy Ending," Forbes Magazine, Construction Superconference, London, May 2003
• Speaker, "Arbitration: A Primer for Complex Contractual Disputes," ABA Annual Meeting, Section of Litigation, Houston, April 2003
• Speaker, "Arming Your Advocates," Contractor's Construction Superconference, San Francisco, December 2002
• Speaker, "Partnership and Leadership: The Secrets of Successfully Managing and Overseeing the Privatized Project to Deal with the High Risk of Construction Failure and Capital Loss," Forbes Magazine, "Worldwide Infrastructure Partnerships Conference," New York, June 1998