Lawyer Bio : Karen Estelle Carey

Karen Carey assists real estate developers and builders engaged in large commercial, industrial and institutional construction to effectively manage the risks associated with design and construction. She works with AIA documents, ConsensusDOCs and other standard form industry contracts, as well as developing custom contracts as appropriate.

Ms. Carey advises designers, owners, contractors and their consultants on “building green”, including assisting them with applying for and obtaining sustainability incentives from federal, state and local governments. She assists clients to understand and implement the procedures required for obtaining LEED or other “green” certification (including helping to develop the LEED points to be targeted), and counsels clients on contractually managing the risks associated with incorporating green requirements into the design and construction process.

Ms. Carey helps clients understand the legal implications of building information modeling (BIM), including intellectual property rights, design responsibilities and liability issues associated with the use of BIM.

Ms Carey focuses on helping her clients control costs by correctly defining and managing scope responsibilities, from the outset of the planning process and continuing through design and construction. She addresses “scope creep” by contractually managing the change order process to minimize unnecessary changes.

Ms. Carey advises developers of senior housing facilities on the unique needs and desires of senior residents that impact design and construction in these specialty markets. She also assists developers to assess the “terror threat” associated with multi-family housing facilities and advises on performing vulnerability assessments in the planning and design stages of a project.

Ms. Carey has worked with developers, design professionals and contractors in the public, private and public-private sectors. Her experience includes:

• preparation and negotiation of construction contracts for a multi-million dollar mixed-use town center development;
• preparation and negotiation of design-build agreements for public parking facilities in a public-private town center redevelopment;
• advising clients on “green building” initiatives, economic incentives and certification of projects as green projects;
• negotiating economic incentive packages and preparation and negotiation of economic incentive agreements, design-build agreements and traditional construction contracts for large economic development projects;
• representing public and private sector clients in multi-million dollar complex construction arbitration, litigation and insurance claims involving delay damages and construction defects, including water intrusion and mold.