Mr. Dettman draws upon his legal and public management experience in the construction industry to foster construction and commercial dispute prevention and resolution, focusing on communication and consensus building among project stakeholders, owners, contractors, subcontractors, designers, attorneys, consultants, sureties and insurers.

Construction Industry Experience

§  Chief Counsel of $15B Central Artery/Tunnel Project, managing all legal issues on the Project

§  Associate Project Director for Claim Resolution on the CA/T Project, managing the resolution of thousands of construction claims with a claimed value of over $460M

§  Advisor to Princeton University on claims involving the $50M Lewis Library Project.

§  Advisor to City of Boston on multi-million dollar claim regarding a fire protection system.

§  Advisor to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation on its construction claims process and on multi-million dollar claims, including the $385M Rt. 3 North design build project and various projects implementing surety takeover agreements.

§  Chairperson of DRBs on three bridge projects and member of DRB on $120M highway project in the State of Ohio.  Member of DRB for MTA Capital Corporation on the East Side Access Project.

§  Mediator on claims involving sewer project; cement plant project; and power plant upgrade.

§  Facilitator on negotiated settlement of transit system signals upgrade project.

§  Arbitration panel on airport rental car facility, arbitrator on housing development project, and arbitrator on franchise disputes.

§ Mediation coach on mediation process involving claims on several highway projects.

§  Part of team updating city specifications, with concentration on the disputes/claims provisions. 

Other Experience

§  Member of facilitator team on stakeholder engagement processes for environmental  agency, metropolitan planning agency and transportation agency.
§  Part of facilitation team on an integrated project delivery project involving correctional facility.
§  Various Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitrations.
§  Various mediations and arbitrations involving court matters.
§  Formerly a commercial litigator at two leading Boston, Massachusetts law firms.

ADR Training and Qualifications

§  40-hour training by Mediation Works, Inc. and Harvard Program on Negotiation

§  Construction Arbitration and Mediation Panels of the American Arbitration Association

§  Construction Panel of International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution

§   Arbitrator Panel of FINRA (formerly NASD)

§  Mediator and Facilitator Panels of the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration

§  Arbitrator Panel of the American Dispute Resolution Center, Inc.

§  Arbitrator/Mediator/DRB Panels of Construction Dispute Resolution Services, LLC

§  Dispute Resolution Board Foundation President’s List

Organization Memberships

• American Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution (Co-chair of the Arbitration Committee) and Forum on the Construction Industry (Member of Div. 1 Advisory Group)
• Association for Conflict Resolution (Co-chair of Commercial Section)
• Transportation Research Board (Member and Communications Coordinator of Committee on Contract Law)
• Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (Co-chair of Transportation and Energy Committees)
• Lean Construction Institute (LCI New England Core Group; Finance Committee Chair)

Professional Activities

Speaker at many conferences and groups about the use of alternative dispute resolution in the construction industry, including the American Bar Association Section of Public Contract Law Annual Federal Procurement Institute; the Construction Management Association of America Annual Conference and local chapter events; the Transportation Research Board’s Annual Legal Workshop and Annual Conferences; the San Francisco and London Superconferences; the American Road and Transit Builders Annual Conference; the Connecticut Bar Association and the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers; the Federal ADR Working Group; the Ohio Transportation and Engineering Conference; the  Construction Specifications Institute (NH chapter); the National Contract Management Association (Boston Chapter); the Caltrans Contract Law Workshop; the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Annual Conferences; the Energy Bar Association; the American Arbitration Association Construction Conferences; and the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation Annual Conference.   

Publications

Dispute Resolution Board Foundation Forum: “What Role Should Lawyers Play in the DRB Process?”; “’End of the Contract Claims’: Tips for Handling Complex Claims Before the DRB”; “The Use Of ‘Adjudication DRBs’ Where Parties Are Subject To Adjudication Or Arbitration Processes”; “The Role of Dispute Review Boards in Dispute Prevention”; “The Potential Use of Dispute Review Boards (DRBs) Outside the Construction Industry”; "The Use of DRBs in the Energy Industry; "To Admit or Not to Admit DRB Recommendations--That is the Question"; and "The Potential Use of DRBs on Public Private Partnership Projects".

Michigan State Bar ADR Quarterly:  “Mediators as Settlement Process Chaperones: A New Approach to Resolving Complex, Multi-Party Disputes”.

ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, The Construction Lawyer:  "Resolving Megaproject Claims:  Lessons from Boston's 'Big Dig' ".

American Consulting Engineers Companies:  Megaprojects:  Challenges and Recommended Practices, Chapter 10 "Claims, Changes and Disputes".

High Profile Monthly Facilities Development News: "The Real Meaning of 'Prompt' in the Prompt Pay Law"

The Professional Contractor:  "How Can Trade Partners Go 'Lean'?" 

Background and Education   

• Constructive Dispute Resolutions, 2006 to Present (Principal)
• Carter & Burgess, Inc., 2005 (Claims Services Manager)
• Central/Artery Tunnel Project, 1992 to 2005 (Senior Counsel, Chief Counsel, Associate Project Director For Claim Resolution)
• Hutchins & Wheeler, 1989 to 1992 (Senior Associate)
• Palmer & Dodge,  1984 to 1989 (Associate and Senior Associate)
• Law Clerk to the Hon. William Callow, Wisconsin Supreme Court 1983 to 1984
• J.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison (Managing Editor, Wisconsin Law Review)
• B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison (Phi Beta Kappa)