David J. Hatem
Partner
617-406-4800 Direct Telephone
617-406-4501 Facsimile
David Hatem is a Founding Partner of the Boston-based law firm, Donovan Hatem LLP. He leads the firm's Professional Practices Group, which represents engineers, architects and construction management professionals. David is nationally recognized for his expertise in law related to the design and construction industry. He is regularly called upon by this country's leading architect-engineering firms to provide procurement advice to public owners contemplating major projects and to propose risk management strategies, and solutions, especially on major subsurface projects.
Throughout his career, David has dominated the representation of consulting engineers and construction managers, providing services to major Boston-area construction projects, including: the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's Boston Harbor Cleanup Project, and its Metrowest Tunnel Project; the Massachusetts Highway Department's Route 3 Design-Build Project; the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's Greenbush Project; and, most prominently, the Massachusetts Transit Authority's Central Artery/Tunnel Project. In addition, David has been retained by professional liability insurers under Owner-Controlled Insurance Programs to represent engineering consultants and construction program management professionals on major underground projects throughout the United States, including New York City's East Side Access Project and Second Avenue Subway Project, L.A. Metro's Red Line and East Side Extension Projects, Seattle's Sound Transit Project, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District's Deep Tunnel Project, Dallas' DART Light Rail Transit Project and Houston's Rapid Transit Project. David is presently providing risk management/insurance advice regarding a proposed professional liability OCIP Program for the Second Avenue Subway Project in New York.
David frequently lectures on issues of professional liability for design and construction management professionals, risk management and Design-Build procurement issues, and he has authored numerous related articles. Attorney Hatem also teaches a course at Tufts University, "Legal Aspects of the Engineering Process."
Recent Honors & Awards
- 2008 American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts Distinguished Service Award. ACEC/Massachusetts presents this award only in years in which a candidate distinguishes him or herself through the extraordinary support of the engineering profession.
- Recently selected by his peers, for the 5th year running, for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2008 in the fields of Construction Law and Professional Malpractice. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 25,000 leading attorneys cast almost two million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their specialties, . inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.*
*The Best Lawyers in America® 2008. Copyright 2007 by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC
Admitted To Bar
1977, Massachusetts; 1978, United States District Court and U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit; 1982, U.S. Court Of Appeals, Seventh Circuit; 1983, U.S. Claims Court.
Education
Boston University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1974; J.D., 1977); Editor, Boston University Law Review, 1976.
Author
"Appealability of Transfer Orders in Controversies in Bankruptcy," 57 Boston University Law Review, 906, 1977; "Impact of Professional Practice Standards on Liability of Engineers, " Volume V, Journal of Management in Engineering, 249 (July 1989); "Administrative Regulatory and Registration Proceedings Involving Design Professionals," Construction Law Update, Wiley Law, 1991; "Differing Site Conditions: Liability Precautions for Design Professionals," Defense Counsel Journal, 1994; "Geotechnical Baselines: Professional Liability Implications," Tunneling and Underground Space Technology, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1998); Subsurface Conditions: Risk Management for Design and Construction Management Professionals, Wiley, January 1998; "Removal of Subsurface Obstructions – An Alternative Contractual Approach," Geo-Engineering for Underground Facilities (1999); Co-author: In-House Attorney/Client and Work Product Privilege: Selected Issues, The Construction Lawyer, Vol. 19, No. 4, October 1999; "Risk Allocation for Subsurface Conditions: Design-Build Projects," Proceedings of the North American Tunneling 2000 (2000); Editor: "Design-Build Subsurface Projects," Zeni House,(2002); "The Pendulum Begins to Swing Back: Recent Judicial Limitations on the Negligent Misrepresentation Exception to the Economic Loss and the Spearin Implied Warranty Doctrines" (December 2007); "Design Responsibility in Integrated Project Delivery: Looking Back and Moving Forward" (January 2008); "Public-Private Partnerships: Opportunities and Risks for Engineers and Constructors Involved in Subsurface Projects" (April 2008).
Instructor
Legal Aspects of the Engineering Process, Tufts University, 1994 – present.
Affiliations
Professional Practice Committee, Boston Society of Architects, 1984.
Legal Counsel: American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts, 1988-present. General Counsel for Design Build Institute of New England, Inc., 2000-present.
Member
Massachusetts and American Bar Associations; American Society of Civil Engineers (Affiliated Member).
© 2008 Donovan Hatem LLP. All rights reserved.
| Disclaimers
| 
