Abstract:
Boston’s Big Dig broke ground in the mid-1980s, and ten years later broke records as the most expensive highway project in U.S. history, costing more than $12 billion more than its $3 billion budget. This is only the most visible example of an increasingly common trend. Across the nation, construction projects large and small are spiraling out of control with delays and cost overruns.

In this presentation, Barry LePatner builds a powerful case for transforming America’s sole remaining “mom and pop” industry—an industry that consumed $1.17 trillion last year but wastes at least ten percent of that—$117 billion—each year. He examines the issues and the rippling effects currently plaguing the construction industry along with the players involved and their role in effecting change or perpetuating the status quo.

Mr. LePatner builds a powerful case for change in America’s construction industry. This informative session will highlight:

1. The importance of construction – what it means to our economy.
2. How an inefficient industry operates.
3. Regaining control of the process.
4. The challenge ahead - rebalancing the industry.

About the Presenter
Barry B. LePatner, Esq., Hon. AIA
has been prominent as an advisor on business and legal issues affecting the real estate, design, and construction industries. He is head of the law firm that has grown to become widely recognized as one of the nation's leading advisors to corporate and institutional clients, real estate owners, and design professionals.

Mr. LePatner is widely recognized as a thought leader in the construction industry. His new book, Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America’s Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry (The University of Chicago Press), which was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, has created a national debate among owners, designers, and other key stakeholders. Mr. LePatner has been featured in BusinessWeek, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and other prestigious publications. His articles and speeches on the perilous state of our nation’s infrastructure have garnered him widespread attention. He has appeared on many television and radio broadcasts, including a CNBC appearance and several National Public Radio segments. A November 2007 Governing Magazine article stated, “If there’s a guru of construction industry reform, it’s LePatner.” Mr. LePatner is a widely sought speaker at construction industry conferences around the nation. He also routinely presents CLE-accredited courses to other law firms and organizations on how the construction industry actually works and how they can best protect their clients from the vagaries of the construction process.