MORE Sticks and Bricks: A Lawyer's Guide to Advanced Construction Systems and Techniques

Understand how a building is built, from the foundation to the roof. This updated guide to practical construction technology explains:

• Building materials and systems
• Construction means and methods
• Construction terminology

Includes many photographs, drawings and figures - plus glossaries and bibliographies.

MORE Sticks and Bricks brings together in one volume the expertise of nationally recognized engineers, architects and contractors who explain in clear language their areas of building technology. No matter what your level of expertise, this guide pulls together the basics of constructing a building and presents it in a practical format.

Belinda Bacon, as counsel to Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L., in Coral Gables, Florida, received her law degree from William & Mary and represents owners, engineers, architects, developers, contractors, subcontractors and design professionals in complex construction contract, project administration, claims management, arbitration and litigation matters. She has been a member of the ABA Forum on Construction Law since graduating from law school in1993.  She has served on the steering committees of divisions within the Forum for both owners and lenders and international construction.  With a practice in both state and federal courts, she has represented clients in matters involving ADA Title III claims, payment disputes, delays and disruptions, construction and design defects, and construction liens. Belinda is also board certified by The Florida Bar in Construction Law. After graduating from Duke University with an engineering degree, Belinda commenced her career working in Kenya on water projects as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer.  Belinda continued her work in the public and private engineering sectors in the Washington, DC area and then, after law school, obtained her professional engineering license in Florida.  She currently serves on the Board of the Miami Chapter of The Florida Engineering Society and on the Board of Epworth Village, a retirement community.

Levi W. Barrett is an attorney in Peckar & Abramson’s New York office, where he focuses his practice on construction law. Mr. Barrett counsels clients on all aspects of domestic and international construction contracts. He works with general contractors and owners to effectively assess and mitigate risk and to evaluate and negotiate construction contracts. He regularly advises clients on a wide array of projects, including commercial and residential buildings, institutional developments, and data centers, as well as industrial and infrastructure projects. Mr. Barrett also has extensive experience representing general contractors and subcontractors in complex disputes involving construction inefficiencies, delays, differing site conditions, changes, extra work, and default claims. He regularly counsels clients regarding dispute resolution and dispute avoidance strategies.

Mr. Barrett is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the State of New Jersey, and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He received his Bachelor of Arts in economics from San Francisco State University and his law degree from Syracuse University College of Law.

Mr. Barrett has lectured on strategies for drafting and negotiating construction contract provisions and is the co-author of a book on the American Institute of Architects’ A201 General Conditions. He is also an active member of the Associated General Contractors of America, where he participates in the preparation and revision of Consensus Docs contract forms.

Sue concentrates her practice in complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution, counseling clients in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, construction, insurance and health care industries, with a particular emphasis on construction matters. In addition, she has extensive experience drafting and negotiating contracts and has years of experience as a neutral as a mediator or an arbitrator. Sue also has represented lawyers in connection withethics-related issues for more than 20 years. This has included providing advice regarding attorney ethics issues to those seeking to provide non-traditional funding of and for litigated matters.

She has represented owners (hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, research universities, real estate developers and homeowners), contractors and suppliers in litigation and other dispute resolution proceedings and processes in connection with every type of construction-related claim including defect claims, liens, and delay and interference claims.

Sue also devotes a substantial part of her practice to representing parties, especially owners, in negotiating and drafting agreements of all types relating to construction projects. She is familiar with the Consensus DOCS and the form agreements published by the AIA and the EJCDC and has provided many clients (owners and contractors) with advice concerning modification of form agreements to satisfy the client’s particular needs.

In addition, Sue has significant experience preparing project-specific agreements. She has assisted multiple owner clients (including hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies and regional banks) in developing master agreements with preferred construction and design professionals for design, construction and design build services. She also has substantial experience negotiating and drafting project-specific manuscript agreements for the design and construction of many types of projects including pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, hospitals, research laboratories, educational facilities and warehousing and distributions facilities, and for the procurement of equipment and manufactured modules of such facilities.

Since 1997, Sue has served as a mediation neutral in assisting parties in hundreds of matters to resolve disputes outside of the litigation process; she is also an arbitrator on the commercial and construction industry panels of arbitrators maintained by the American Arbitration Association. She has received certificates from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Center for Mediation in Law. She is also a charter member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, an invitation-only professional association for mediators and arbitrators who are well established as trusted neutrals in the legal community.

Sue received the 2021 Richard Jeydel Award for Excellence in ADR conferred by the Justice Marie L. Garibaldi American Inn of Court and the 2005 James B. Boskey ADR Practitioner of the Year Award conferred by the New Jersey State Bar Association for her contributions to advance the cause of mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution in New Jersey. In addition, in 2007 she was named a “Legend of ADR,” also by the New Jersey State Bar Association. As published in New Jersey Monthly magazine, Sue has been recognized as a New Jersey Super Lawyer by being selected by her peers as among the top 5 percent of lawyers in the state.

In recognition of her work in support of the wider community, the Mercer County Commission on Abused, Neglected and Missing Children conferred its Cherish the Children Award on Sue in 2000 for efforts that created and promoted peer mediation and dispute resolution programs in public schools in the county. In 2019, the Legal Service of New Jersey conferred its prestigious William J. Brennan Citation for Justice Award on her for her significant contributions to the cause of equal justice.

Finally, Sue has represented and counseled attorneys in connection with legal ethics questions and proceedings. She has served on both the New Jersey Supreme Court Ethics Committee (District VII) and on the New Jersey Supreme Court Fee Arbitration Committee (District VII).

Sue started her career as a law clerk to the Honorable Warren W. Eginton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.