Laura is a trusted advisor on construction project planning, contract negotiation, contract administration and dispute resolution.
Laura knows construction – first as the “boots on the ground”, she trained in civil engineering and was an on-site consultant on various energy, transit, mining, municipal, commercial and residential infrastructure projects. She learned the importance of receiving practical legal advice real time as issues arise on construction projects, which remains front of mind as she works with clients to move their projects forward.
As counsel, Laura provides practical, strategic advice to clients to navigate changing market trends and challenges facing their projects. She works with clients to proactively avoid disputes and to resolve disputes if they arise. She has represented clients in disputes before independent certifiers, referees, mediators, arbitrators, dispute boards and courts.
Her clients include owners, consultants, engineers, contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, sureties and financial institutions. She has advised on procurement, contracts and disputes in a range of sectors: energy (oil and gas, hydro, solar, steam, cogeneration, electric vehicle), mining, transit, health, education, defence, manufacturing, aggregates, commercial and residential. Laura works with an interdisciplinary group of specialists in municipal, real estate, energy, corporate and tax law, and more, to provide full-service legal advice.
Laura is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). She serves on the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) Trade Contractors National Advisory Council and is an appointed Member-at-Large of the Canadian Bar Association’s Construction and Infrastructure Law Executive. She is in the Surety Association of Canada (SAC) Board of Directors Internship Program, and she co-instructs the Surety and Construction Law course for the SAC Associateship of Canadian Surety Bonding Designation Program.
Experience
- Advising project sponsors on more than 15 multi-million dollar and multi-billion-dollar construction and infrastructure public-private partnership (P3) projects.
- Advising Ontario Ministry of Attorney General on the overhaul of Ontario’s Construction Lien Act to create the Construction Act.
- Advising international corporation on the development of lands and engineering, procurement and construction of a $1.7 billion manufacturing facility to produce lithium-ion battery separators, a key component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
- Advising international contractor on procurement and contracts in connection with multi-billion-dollar energy infrastructure project.
- Representing a public energy utility in a $240 million arbitration with an international contractor over the design, supply, and installation of seven turbine & generator units in a remote hydro electric project, resulting in a favourable award of tens of millions of dollars.
- Representing an international joint venture in a $280 million dollar ICC arbitration over the construction of a mine in Central America, resulting in a favourable settlement.
- Representing hospital in a multi-million-dollar arbitration over the retrofit of the hospital’s energy systems, resulting in a favourable settlement.
- Representing transit authority in connection with dispute on $300 million procurement of light rail vehicles, resulting in a favourable settlement.
- Representing transit authorities, designers, and subcontractors on procurement, contract administration, and construction and operations disputes on several multi-billion-dollar public transit projects.
- Representing financial institutions in connection with construction lien priority claims.
- Advising clients on the selection of appropriate project delivery models and public and private procurement.
- Advising clients on negotiation of various types of contracts (e.g. P3; engineering, design and procurement (EPC); design-build; construction management; stipulated price; cost plus) and various forms of contracts (e.g. FIDIC, CCDC, OAA, COAA, custom contracts).
- Advising project sponsors on more than 15 multi-million dollar and multi-billion-dollar construction and infrastructure public-private partnership (P3) projects.
- Advising Ontario Ministry of Attorney General on the overhaul of Ontario’s Construction Lien Act to create the Construction Act.
- Advising international corporation on the development of lands and engineering, procurement and construction of a $1.7 billion manufacturing facility to produce lithium-ion battery separators, a key component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
- Advising international contractor on procurement and contracts in connection with multi-billion-dollar energy infrastructure project.
- Representing a public energy utility in a $240 million arbitration with an international contractor over the design, supply, and installation of seven turbine & generator units in a remote hydro electric project, resulting in a favourable award of tens of millions of dollars.
- Representing an international joint venture in a $280 million dollar ICC arbitration over the construction of a mine in Central America, resulting in a favourable settlement.
- Representing hospital in a multi-million-dollar arbitration over the retrofit of the hospital’s energy systems, resulting in a favourable settlement.
- Representing transit authority in connection with dispute on $300 million procurement of light rail vehicles, resulting in a favourable settlement.
- Representing transit authorities, designers, and subcontractors on procurement, contract administration, and construction and operations disputes on several multi-billion-dollar public transit projects.
- Representing financial institutions in connection with construction lien priority claims.
- Advising clients on the selection of appropriate project delivery models and public and private procurement.
- Advising clients on negotiation of various types of contracts (e.g. P3; engineering, design and procurement (EPC); design-build; construction management; stipulated price; cost plus) and various forms of contracts (e.g. FIDIC, CCDC, OAA, COAA, custom contracts).
