Press Release

New Orleans, February 1, 2016 – Jones Walker LLP announced today the expansion of its national construction practice with the addition of six new attorneys. Partners Joseph P. Henner, Neal J. Sweeney, and Chad V. Theriot together with Special Counsel attorneys Karen E. Bain, Jennifer S. Lowndes, and Tyler P. Scarbrough join the firm's Atlanta office as members of the Construction Practice Team.

The six new attorneys formerly comprised a significant portion of the construction practice at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, and they bring broad international, national, and local construction experience. The attorneys represent owners, commercial and government contractors, major subcontractors, and original equipment manufacturers. They have experience providing both construction litigation and construction claims avoidance services to both domestic and international clients in the construction industry and in government contracts. 

"Jones Walker's national growth strategy, along with its established footprint in major growth markets, like Louisiana and Texas, as well as in the energy and industrial sectors, are very exciting for us," said Mr. Theriot. “We see tremendous opportunity with the firm and are eager to grow with a team of attorneys that we admire and respect." 

"This team is very well-known in the construction industry," said Bill Hines, Managing Partner of Jones Walker. "We are pleased to have them join our talented group to broaden our reach and offering to our clients."

Joe Henner, Partner
Mr. Henner has more than two decades of experience representing clients in the construction industry. He works closely with public and private owners, developers, large general contractors, specialty government subcontractors, and sureties. His cases have included a wide variety of construction projects throughout many industries around the country. Mr. Henner partners with his clients to avoid claims through in-house education seminars and day-to-day review of projects, contracts, issues, and project correspondence. He has been actively involved in many high-rise, mixed-use, and condominium projects. Mr. Henner has also handled various alternative dispute resolution procedures including mediations and arbitrations. 

Neal Sweeney, Partner
Mr. Sweeney has been serving the construction industry for 30 years, focusing exclusively on construction law and government contracts for major infrastructure projects such as transit, airports, highways, wastewater treatment, and tunnels. He is also involved in energy and industrial projects involving clean technology such as hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, integrated gasification combined cycle, and landfill gas. Throughout his career, Mr. Sweeney has successfully negotiated contracts for engineering, design-build, O&M, and equipment totaling billions of dollars. Some of his most noteworthy litigation efforts have been his participation in the trials of various large and complex construction disputes in court and in arbitration, and before federal boards of contract appeals involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, GSA, the VA, and other federal agencies. He also provides legal support throughout the life of a project, focusing on risk mitigation and real-time dispute resolution, representing contractors, designers, and public and private owners. 

Chad Theriot, Partner
Mr. Theriot focuses his practice on major public and commercial construction and infrastructure projects representing both domestic and international clients across a broad spectrum of construction, contracting, and procurement activities. Mr. Theriot has successfully litigated more than $2.5 billion in disputes. His typical range of projects includes representing owners and contractors in the construction and design of power plants, environmental and closure projects, cogeneration plants, oil refineries, hospitals, high-rises, offshore platforms, hotels, resorts, and a variety of other commercial and industrial construction projects. Mr. Theriot also has extensive experience in the aircraft, locomotive, and shipbuilding industries.

Karen Bain, Special Counsel 
Ms. Bain focuses her practice on construction and infrastructure projects and construction litigation. 

Jennifer Lowndes, Special Counsel 
Ms. Lowndes focuses her practice on complex commercial construction projects in various industries, working closely with construction managers, general contractors, subcontractors, developers, as well as owners in the public and private sectors. She has significant experience handling high profile and sensitive disputes involving political considerations and parties. Ms. Lowndes routinely handles claims such as extra work, disruption, delay, acceleration, differing site conditions, loss of productivity, wrongful termination, negligence, gross negligence, and punitive damages in both traditional and alternative dispute resolution forums, including state and federal court, mediation, and international arbitration.

Tyler Scarbrough, Special Counsel 
Mr. Scarbrough focuses on construction and infrastructure projects, construction litigation, government contracting, and alternative dispute resolution. He represents a wide variety of clients in the construction industry, including private and public owners, general contractors, engineers, EPC contractors, design-build contractors, and subcontractors in an array of construction trades. Mr. Scarbrough represents domestic and international clients in various industries, including power, rail, transportation, and high-rise condominium projects.

About the Construction Practice
From project conception to completion, Jones Walker LLP delivers comprehensive legal services to clients throughout the construction industry. Our global footprint, the depth and breadth of our team, and the scale of the projects on which we have worked enable us to provide effective counsel on virtually every issue our clients may face, at every step in the process. Members of our construction team regularly represent clients across the United States, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa, and excel at handling large-scale construction and infrastructure projects across industries such as energy, natural resources, retail, and education. 

About Jones Walker
Jones Walker LLP (www.joneswalker.com) is among the largest 120 law firms in the United States serving local, regional, national, and international business interests with offices in Alabama, Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, and Texas. The firm is committed to providing a comprehensive range of legal services to major multinational, public and private corporations, Fortune® 500 companies, money center banks, worldwide insurers, and emerging companies doing business in the United States and abroad. 

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