Experience

 

Mr. Dettman was the law clerk to Justice William G. Callow of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1983 to 1984. Mr. Dettman was a commercial litigator at two leading Boston, Massachusetts law firms from 1984 to 1992, providing legal advice in the areas of complex commercial and business disputes, lender liability litigation and associated workouts, insurance coverage disputes, construction disputes, arbitration and litigation, products liability litigation, trademark and copyright, and appellate tax board appeals.

 

Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Boston, MA)

 

Mr. Dettman was involved with this $15B project from 1992 to 2005, advancing from Senior Counsel, to Chief Counsel, to Associate Project Director for Claims Resolution. As the project’s lead attorney, he managed all legal matters on the project, including construction claims, design claims, Owner Controlled Insurance Program, alternative dispute resolution, cost recovery, procurement, contract negotiation and administration, inter-governmental relations and agreements, conflicts of interest, ethics, regulatory oversight, labor, employment, building issues, DBE regulations, environmental and right of way litigation, civil and criminal investigations, and legislation.

 

Becoming Associate Project Director for Claims Resolution in May of 2003, Mr. Dettman managed a 110-person staff and numerous outside consultants. He was responsible for preparing and implementing a negotiation/mediation process to resolve over 5,000 open issues/claims with a claimed value of over $600M. He oversaw the teams that settled out on a global basis several major contracts with claims totaling over $460M using a combination of negotiation and mediation. The list of the contract claims he addressed are on Attachment 1.

 

Experience Post-CA/T Project

 

§  Advised Princeton University regarding a system to resolve a claims backlog on the $50M Lewis Library Project.

§  Acted as liaison between outside counsel and expert team on a City of Boston lawsuit involving settlement of a multi-million dollar claim arising out of the installation of a City high school campus fire protection system.

§  Assisted the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation and the Massachusetts Highway Department on a redesign of the construction claims process; resolving Takeover Agreements and claims with various bonding companies; and advising on the resolution of multi-million dollar claims.

§  Lead the negotiation team to complete and close out in mediation the $385M Rt. 3 North design-build project, including the resolution of $100M+ claims.

§  Currently serving as the Chairperson of Dispute Review Boards on two $45+ million bridge projects in the State of Ohio and DRB Member on a $120M+ highway project.

§  Served as a facilitator/mediator on a $220M sewer project to assist the parties in negotiating a project completion plan and resolving commercial claims on the project.

§  Served as mediator on $1B cement plant project on a claim between a subcontractor and the owner.

§  Served as a facilitator on negotiations to resolve multi-million dollar claims and counterclaims on an upgrade of a transit signals system.

§  Served as mediator on a contractor-supplier claim involving an energy upgrade project.

§  Served as member of facilitator team on stakeholder engagement processes for environmental agency.

§  Serving on arbitration panel involving claims on an airport car rental facility.

§  Various mediations and arbitrations involving court matters, construction claims and commercial claims.

 

 

ADR Qualifications And Training

 

Mr. Dettman has received training for and has been accepted on the following panels:

 

• Construction Panel of Neutrals of the American Arbitration Association (Arbitration and Mediation Panels)
• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK)
• Construction Panel of the International Institute For Conflict Prevention & Resolution
• Arbitrator Panel of the Financial Regulatory Authority (formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers)
• Arbitrator Panel of the American Dispute Resolution Center, Inc.
• Arbitrator/Mediator/DRB Panels of Construction Dispute Resolution Services, LLC
• Arbitrator Panel of the National Arbitration Forum
• Mediator and Facilitator Affiliate of the Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution and Public Collaboration (also provisionally approved as Trainer)
• Dispute Resolution Foundation Board President’s List
• Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation (40-hour Mediation Workshop for Lawyers)
• Dispute Resolution Board Foundation Member, Chairperson and International Practice training
• Caltrans Dispute Resolution Board Member and Dispute Resolution Advisor training

 

Organization Memberships

 

• American Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution (Co-chair of the Arbitration Committee) and Forum on the Construction Industry (Member of Division 1--Dispute Resolution--Steering Committee)
• Association for Conflict Resolution (Co-Chair of the Commercial Section; Co-chair of Real Estate and Construction Committee)
• Transportation Research Board (Member and Communications Coordinator, Committee on Contract Law, Legal Resources Division)
• Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (New England Regional Representative)
• Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution and Public Collaboration (Affiliate Practitioner)
• Lean Construction Institute (Member; Chairperson Finance Committee of the LCI New England Chapter)
• Massachusetts Uniform Mediation Act Working Group (Process, Legislative and Public Sector Committees) (Past)

 

Professional Activities

 

Mr. Dettman has spoken about the use of ADR in the construction industry, including:

 

§  American Bar Association Section of Public Contract Law Annual Federal Procurement Institute:  “Alternative Dispute Resolution at the Central Artery/ Tunnel Project” 

§  Construction Management Association of America Annual Conference:  “Contrasting ADR Methods”

§  Transportation Research Board Annual Legal Workshop and Annual Conference: “The Partnering and Dispute Resolution Process on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project” and “Using Dispute Review Boards To Prevent And Resolve Disputes”

§  San Francisco and London Superconferences:  “The Partnering and Dispute Resolution Process on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project”

§  American Road and Transit Builders Annual Conference:  “Alternative Dispute Resolution”

§  Connecticut Bar Association and the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers:  “The Tool Box For Effective Dispute Resolution: ‘Lessons Learned’ From Boston’s Big Dig Project”

§  Federal ADR Working Group:  “The Partnering and Dispute Resolution Process on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project”

§  Ohio Transportation and Engineering Conference: “The Ohio Department of Transportation’s Innovative Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques”

§  Construction Specifications Institute (NH Chapter):  “The Toolbox For Effective Dispute Prevention And Resolution On Construction Projects”

§  National Contract Management Association (Boston Chapter): “Managing Claims on Mega-Projects:  Lessons Learned From The ‘Big Dig’ Project” 

§  Caltrans Contract Law Workshop: “The ‘ADR Tool Box’ for Effective Dispute Avoidance and Resolution”

§  Association For Conflict Resolution Advanced Commercial Mediation Institute: “Mega-Project Mediation:  Lessons From Boston’s Big Dig Project”

§  Association For Conflict Resolution Annual Conference:  “Taking Consumer Disputes to the Next Level”; “Innovative and Unique Consumer Dispute Resolution Processes”; and “New and Emerging ADR Processes”

§  American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Annual Conference:  “The Arbitrator Disclosure Conundrum: Establishing Practical Guidelines For Meeting Disclosure Requirements Under The RUAA And Similar Standards”

§  Association For Conflict Resolution Teleseminar:  “Report From the Mediation Trenches:  Tips From Boston’s “Big Dig” Project Mediation Program” 

§  Engineering Society of Detroit ADR Conference:  “ADR Lessons From The Trenches:  Real-Time Dispute Resolution On The “Big Dig”

§  Transportation Research Board Legal Conference (Moderator):  “Protecting the Public Owner in Public Private Partnerships”

§  Dispute Resolution Board Foundation Annual Conference:  “Dispute Avoidance and Prevention, Not Just Resolution”

§  Northeast Chapter of the Energy Bar Association Conference: “Reducing Conflict and Bringing Better Decision-Making Processes to New England’s Energy Field”

§  American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Annual Conference: ‘“A New Frontier”: Using Innovative Construction ADR Techniques In Other Commercial Fields”

§  Transportation Research Board Annual Legal Workshop and Annual Conference: “Design Build—Where Are We, Where Are We Going?”

§  Energy Bar Association:  “Riding the Wave:  Exploring the Use of ADR in the New Wave of Renewable, Transmission and Nuclear Construction Projects”

Training Experience

 

§  Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio Contractors Association on the ODOT Dispute Resolution Process

§  Construction Dispute Resolution Services LLC on Arbitration and Dispute Review Board Practice

§  Idaho Transportation Department on Dispute Review Board Practice

§  Dispute Resolution Board Foundation on DRB Administration and Practice

§  Chartered Institute of Arbitrators on Dispute Review Board Practice

§  Ohio Department of Transportation on Dispute Review Board Administration and Practice