Tamara M. McNulty, LEED AP, practices in the area of complex commercial litigation with a particular focus on construction, government contracts and surety law. She is an experienced trial attorney and has tried numerous construction claims in both state and federal courts. In the government contracting arena, she has asserted claims to various boards of contract appeals, as well as asserted and defended bid protests at both the state and federal level. Ms. McNulty is also experienced in mediations, arbitrations and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. She assists construction industry clients in drafting and negotiating complex construction contracts and assists clients in managing projects during construction from a legal perspective to help to avoid claims and disputes from the outset. Ms. McNulty is the author of numerous articles and chapters of books on construction law and government contracting and has written two books on construction law. Ms. McNulty's clients include owners/developers, contractors, subcontractors, architects and sureties.

Admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland and Wisconsin, Ms. McNulty is a 1995 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.

Areas Of Practice

Commercial Litigation
Construction, Government Contracts, Surety and Contract Law

Representative Matters

Representing energy saving performance contractor in preparing and negotiating REA for owner caused delay damages at nuclear facility in Texas.
Successfully represented landscaping contractor in defending GAO protest by unsuccessful bidder for landscaping contract at Arlington Cemetery.
Successful protest of GSA award of janitorial services contract. Argued that the source selection official failed to document rationale for source selection consistent with differential weighting of technical evaluation factors.
Counsel for international building systems manufacturer and contractor in successful defense against bid protest of award of multimillion-dollar energy savings performance contract.
Counsel for a contractor and its surety in the resolution of numerous payment and performance disputes arising out of seven construction projects, and resolving over twenty separate matters and resulting in a net savings to both clients of millions of dollars.
Counsel for a prime contractor on the Kennedy Center Site work renovation and Lead in authoring the prime contractor's Request for Equitable adjustment in the range of $10 million.
Counsel for a first-tier subcontractor on the Kennedy Center Opera House renovation and Lead in authoring the subcontractor's REA, resulting in successful settlement of claim after mediation.
Counsel for a major Canadian surety sued by an owner for in excess of a $1 million related to a defaulted curtain wall contractor, resulting in a dismissal and summary judgment of all claims against the surety.
Counsel in a jury trial against a developer charged with racial discrimination resulting in the jury returning a verdict for the developer in less than half an hour and was upheld on subsequent appeals.
Lead counsel for a surety in the defense and resolution of numerous payment and performance disputes arising out of a construction project at the University of Virginia, resolving several disputes by negotiated settlement and resolving one claim via settlement after trial of the matter.
Lead counsel in representing a surety and its principal/contractor in successfully asserting the no-damage-for-delay clause of its principal and defending the victories in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Lead counsel in successfully arguing a creditor's motion for summary judgment in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court resulting in a $6.7 million non-dischargeable judgment against the debtor.

Professional Activities

American Bar Association
- Litigation Section
- Forum on the Construction Industry, the Torts, Trial and Insurance Practice Section
- Fidelity and Surety Law Committee
District of Columbia Bar Association
Virginia State Bar Association
- Construction Law Section
Wisconsin Bar Association
- Non-Resident Lawyer's Division
The Barristers
National Bond Claims Association
National Institute of Trial Advocacy
Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity

Admissions

Maryland
District of Columbia
Virginia
Wisconsin
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin

Education

University of Wisconsin Law School, J.D., 1995
University of Wisconsin, B.A., 1991

Experience

Duane Morris LLP
- 2007-present
Venable LLP
- Partner, 2002-2007
Thompson Hine LLP
- Associate, 2000-2002
Henrichsen Siegel, P.L.L.C.
- Associate, 1998-2000
Becker, Hicks, Irving and Hadeed, P.C.
- Associate, 1997-1998
Katz & Stone
- Contract Attorney, 1995-1996

Board Memberships

Washington Building Congress

Civic and Charitable Activities

Represents Habitat for Humanity of Carroll County, Maryland
Gamma Phi Beta Sorority

Selected Publications

Author, "Supreme Court Clarifies the Extent to Which the False Claims Act Applies," Duane Morris Alert, June 27, 2008
Maryland Construction Law, HLK Communications, January 2007
Virginia Construction Law, HLK Communications, October 2005
Co-Author, "Virginia," Chapter 49, State-By-State Analysis of Legal Issues Contracting and Claims Perspective, Aspen Publishing, October 2005
"Key Provisions in Subcontracts," Lorman Education Services - The Fundamentals of Construction Contracts in Maryland, March 2004 and March 2005
"The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Design-Build Method," Lorman Educations Services - Construction Management/Design Building in Virginia, December 2002 and 2003
Co-Author, "Surety Bonds," Chapter 23, Federal Government Construction Contracts, ABA Forum on Construction, Bastianelli Ed., March 2003
Co-Author, "Sarbanes-Oxley: How It Will Affect Contractors and Sureties," The Construction Lawyer, January 2003
Co-Author, "Sarbanes-Oxley: It Will Affect Sureties Too!" National Bond Claims Association Annual Meeting, October 2002
Co-Author, "The Surety Manual - A Basic Users Guide for Obligees and Payment Bond Claimants," The Construction Law, January 2002
"Surety and Insurance: Performance Bond Sureties and Their Role," Lorman Education Services - Construction Law: Can This Job Be Saved? June 2000

Selected Speaking Engagements

Panelist, "Proving and Defending Complex Claims: Cumulative Impacts, Acceleration, Inefficiencies, and the Like," Associated Owners & Developers 2008 National Conference East, Atlanta, Georgia, September 22-23, 2008
Speaker, "Killer Contract Clauses," Professional Women in Construction's (PWC) Capital Region Chapter seminar, Washington, D.C., July 10, 2008
Speaker, NORESCO LLC annual training meeting, on topics that include communications do's and don'ts, attorney-client privilege in the corporate setting, construction scheduling issues and recent changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations as well as recent False Claims Act cases affecting federal contractors, Framingham, Massachusetts, June 2008
Panelist, "Creating and Managing the Schedule," Associated Owners and Developers Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, October 15-16, 2007
Panelist, "Creating and Managing the Schedule," Associated Owners and Developers Conference, Washington DC, September 2007
Speaker, "Subcontract Clauses: Tricks and Traps," Insulation Contractor's Association of America Meeting, June 2007
Panel Moderator, "Do You Want the World to See Your Dirty Laundry (Electronic Communications and Document Retention Policies," National Bond Claims Association Annual Meeting, October 2005
Speaker, "Key Provisions in Subcontracts," Lorman Education Services - The Fundamentals of Construction Contracts in Maryland, March 2004, scheduled again for March 2005
Speaker, "The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Design-Build Method," Lorman Education Services - Construction Management/Design Build in Virginia, December 2002 and December 2003
Speaker, "Surety and Insurance: Performance Bond Sureties and Their Role," Lorman Education Services - Construction Law: Can This Job Be Saved? June 2002
Speaker, "Cinderella's Shoes Are Too Small: The Surety's Limited Right to Assert the Pay-When-Paid Clause Defense of Its Principal," National Bond Claims Association Annual Meeting, October 2000