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John Hawkins represents businesses in a wide variety of complex commercial disputes in federal and state court litigation and in arbitration. His experience includes, generally:
- general commercial litigation
- defense of design professionals in malpractice litigation
- patent and copyright infringement litigation
- construction defect and cost overrun litigation
- defense of design professionals in disciplinary proceedings
- counseling of owners, designers and contractors in litigation avoidance
Mr. Hawkins also has extensive experience in the preparation, review, and negotiation of contracts and other documents for design and construction projects representing owners, designers and contractors.
Mr. Hawkins was a law intern to The Honorable John R. Brown, Circuit Judge for the United States Fifth Circuit. Mr. Hawkins joined Porter & Hedges in 1995. From 1992 to 1995, he practiced in the commercial and tort litigation sections of Butler & Binion.
Mr. Hawkins was a practicing architect for ten years before attending law school. As an architect, his work encompassed a broad range of commercial and institutional projects, including (at 3D/International, Inc.) high-rise office, laboratory, museum and hospital projects. Representative Experience
- Lead counsel for international architecture firm against malpractice claim for healthcare building defects (on-going).
- Lead counsel for national project management and design firm in dispute concerning new office/retail facility (on-going).
- Lead counsel for international architecture firm and seller of real estate for luxury high-rise project obtaining multimillion dollar settlement.
- Lead counsel for national health-care architecture firm in $15 million delay, disruption and malpractice claim obtaining settlement and payment of attorneys' fees within limits of $1 million E&O policy and recovery of most of deductible from consultants.
- Lead counsel for national engineering firm in delay, disruption and malpractice claim by design-builder from a new $300 million Federal Agency facility obtaining a five-figure settlement.
- Lead counsel in two wrongful death and survivor lawsuits in Jefferson County, Texas for national engineering firm obtaining settlement dismissal of each for four-figure sums.
- Lead counsel for leading corrections facility architecture firm obtaining an arbitration award for all damages requested and a finding of no malpractice in counterclaim on county jail project.
- Lead counsel for national project management and design firm obtaining dismissal of federal court lawsuit concerning construction errors in a high-rise building.
- Co-counsel for international architecture and interior design firm in employment and business tort lawsuit obtaining favorable settlement after 2-week trial.
- Co-counsel for international plastics manufacturer in multiple trials and appeals of delay and disruption lawsuits arising from a $1.8 billion dollar manufacturing plant expansion.
- Lead counsel for major concrete supplier in payment dispute concerning terminated highway project.
- Lead counsel for architects and engineers in disciplinary actions before state licensing boards.
- Represented real estate development firm in preparing design and design/build construction contracts for office/warehouse project.
- Represented architecture and engineering firms in preparing families of agreements for the use of design and construction documents and 3D-models on the Internet by the owner, designers, and contractors.
- Represented architecture and engineering firms in preparing agreements for participation in building information modeling (BIM) processes.
- Represented residence owner in preparing design and construction contracts for improvements costing over $15 million.
Professional / Civic Affiliations
- Martindale Hubbell AV Rated Attorney
- Member of the Texas State Bar, as well as the Houston and American Bar Associations, and is a member of the litigation and intellectual property sections and construction law forums of each.
- Member of the Texas Bar Foundation
- Member of the American Institute of Architects and Texas Society of Architects.
- Member of The Rice Building Institute Research Board.
- Member of Legal Counsels Forum of American Counsel of Engineering Companies.
- Served the Houston Chapter of AIA as the Director for Professional Practice in 2001 and 2002.
News
Publications
Events
- "BIM Processes," Annual Texas Construction Law Conference (2/29/2008)
- "Ending Consternation About Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation," Houston Business Roundtable (12/19/2007)
- "A Primer on Delivery Systems and Corresponding Contract Forms," University of Texas Construction Law Conference (10/11/2007)
- "Public and Private Legal Obligations for Professional Engineers," Houston Business Roundtable (3/1/2007)
- "Selected Topics in Construction Law," Houston Business Roundtable (10/18/2006)
- "Understanding the Professional Standard of Care," American Society of Civil Engineers Annual Convention (5/17/2006)
- "Texas Construction Law for Professional Engineers," Half Moon Seminar (1/19/2006)
- “Causes of Action Against Design Professionals,” Lorman Education Seminar (4/1/2005)
- “Negotiating Key Terms in Contracts,” Texas Society of Architects Annual Convention (1/1/2004)
- “Performance-Based Codes – Fact and Fiction,” AIA Houston Chapter (1/1/2002)
- “Construction Phase Services under A-201,” AIA Houston Chapter (1/1/2002)
- “Construction Phase Services under A-201,” Texas Society of Architects Annual Convention (1/1/2001)
- “Construction Phase Services under A-201,” AIA Houston Chapter (1/1/2001)
- “Construction Phase Services under A-201,” Texas Society of Architects Annual Convention (1/1/2000)
- “Construction Phase Services – in the Office – under B-141,” Texas Society of Architects Annual Convention (1/1/1999)
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