Professionals

“’The most responsive legal counsel I have ever dealt with.’” - Direct client quote from “The Legal 500 - 2010 U.S. Edition”

John Hawkins is a partner in the litigation practice group for Porter Hedges. He represents businesses in complex commercial disputes in federal and state court litigation, arbitration, litigation avoidance and non-litigation matters. His experience includes, generally:

• general commercial litigation
• defense of design professionals in malpractice litigation
• defense of lenders and developers in distressed real estate litigation
• patent and copyright infringement litigation
• construction defect and cost overrun litigation
• defense of design professionals in disciplinary proceedings
• representation of homeowners association in drafting restriction documents and in enforcement actions
• counseling of owners, designers and contractors in litigation avoidance
• preparation, review, and negotiation of contracts for design and construction projects

In 2010, he was selected as one of eight Leading Lawyers in the Central U.S. Region for inclusion in the Construction and Real Estate sections of The Legal 500 - U.S. Edition, a series of publications that provides comprehensive worldwide coverage on legal services providers in over 100 countries.

Mr. Hawkins was a law intern to The Honorable John R. Brown, Circuit Judge for the United States Fifth Circuit. Prior to joining Porter Hedges, he practiced in the commercial and tort litigation sections of Butler & Binion.

Mr. Hawkins practiced architecture for ten years before attending law school. As an architect, his experience encompassed a broad range of commercial and institutional projects, including (at 3D/International, Inc.) high-rise office, laboratory, museum and hospital projects.

Litigation and Arbitration

• Lead counsel for ENR Top-10 (Pure Design & General Building) international architecture firm in defense of $19 million multi-party design defect arbitration claim on $200 million high-rise hotel and condominium project obtaining favorable settlement of all issues within eight months.
• Lead counsel for ENR Top-10 (Pure Design & General Building) international architecture firm in multi-million dollar building defect litigation, acting as lead among twelve design and construction parties in structuring and completing building remediation.
• Lead counsel for property owner in declaratory judgment and interpleader lawsuit related to forged lien releases.
• Lead counsel for private lender in injunction/foreclosure and declaratory judgment lawsuit concerning commercial property financing.
• Lead Counsel for home owners association in injunction lawsuit compelling home owners to comply with deed restrictions.
• Lead counsel for commercial bank in injunction proceedings to block foreclosures.
• Lead counsel in obtaining recovery exceeding $7 million for seller of real estate and international architecture firm on luxury high-rise condominium project in settlement of lawsuit for injunction, foreclosure and damages.
• Lead counsel in obtaining dismissal of national civil engineering firm from two wrongful death flooding-related lawsuits in Jefferson County, Texas each for four-figure settlement sums.
• Lead counsel in obtaining arbitration recovery of all damages sought by, and a finding of no malpractice on counterclaim against, leading corrections facility architecture firm on replacement jail project.
• Lead counsel in obtaining Rule 12b dismissal for international program management and design firm in lawsuit concerning foundation errors in high-rise building.
• Co-counsel for international plastics manufacturer in two multi-month jury trials and appeals of delay and disruption lawsuits arising from a $1.8 billion dollar manufacturing plant expansion.
• Co-counsel for international architecture firm in employment and business tort lawsuit obtaining favorable settlement after 2-week jury trial.

Litigation Avoidance

• Lead counsel representing ENR Top-50 (Pure Design & International) engineering firm in multi-million dollar fee dispute.
• Lead counsel representing national health-care architecture firm in obtaining pre-arbitration settlement for approximately 5% of $15 million delay, disruption and malpractice claim and in subsequently recovering most of insurance deductible from architect's consultants.
• Lead counsel representing international project management and design firm in reaching pre-arbitration settlement for less than 10% of multi-million dollar claim in dispute concerning new multi-story office/retail building.
• Lead counsel representing national engineering firm in reaching 5-figure settlement before formal delay, disruption and malpractice claim by design-builder of new $300 million Federal Agency headquarters.
• Providing legal counseling to architecture and engineering firms in consultation with professional liability insurance carriers to aid in satisfactory resolution of disputes without litigation or arbitration.

Administrative Proceedings and Investigations

• Represented architects and engineers in disciplinary proceedings before the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners and the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.
• Represented architecture and engineering firms in investigations by the US Department of Justice, the FBI and by the Office of Inspector General for the GSA.
• Represented international architecture firm in defeating intrusive request under Texas Public Information Act.

Consultation

• Represented architecture and engineering firms in drafting, reviewing and negotiating multi-million dollar design and construction contracts and in preparing agreements for participation in building information modeling (BIM) processes.
• Prepared families of office standard contracts.
• Prepared extensive deed restriction policies and procedures and architectural review and approval process based upon revised deed restrictions and extensive historical research of 85 year old subdivision.
• Provided professional practice and liability counseling in connection with corporate and employment transactions by architecture and engineering firms, including entity creation and modification.
• Represented real estate development firm in preparing design and construction contracts for new office/warehouse design/build project.
• Represented architecture and engineering firms in preserving intellectual property rights.
• Represented architecture and engineering firms in perfecting lien rights and in other debt collection activities.
• Represented residence owner in preparing design and construction contracts for improvements costing over $15 million.

• Martindale Hubbell AV Rated Attorney
• State Bar of Texas, Member of Litigation and Intellectual Property Sections and Construction Law Forums
• Houston Bar Association, Member of Litigation and Intellectual Property Sections and Construction Law Forums
• American Bar Association, Member of Litigation and Intellectual Property Sections and Construction Law Forums
• Texas Bar Foundation, Sustaining Life Fellow
• Transportation and Budget and Finance Committees of Central Houston, Inc., Member
• American Institute of Architects and Texas Society of Architects, Member
• The Rice Building Institute, Former Advisory Board Member
• Legal Counsel Forum of American Counsel of Engineering Companies, Member
• Houston Chapter of AIA, Director for Professional Practice (2001 and 2002)