- Mergers and AcquisitionsWe provide general counsel services to our design and construction clients, from the creation of a firm through the challenges of growth, ownership transitions, and mergers and acquisitions. Unlike many lawyers, we understand and attend to the special considerations – professional, personal, and aesthetic – that affect both the business and the culture of design and construction firms and their principals and employees.
- Construction ContractsIn his role as Partner Emeritus of the firm, Chris Noble consults with his NWH colleagues on various client matters. During his decades of active practice in design and construction law, Chris drafted and negotiated hundreds of design and construction contracts for projects throughout the world, including major university and hospital buildings, public schools and correctional facilities, museums and aquariums, and the tallest office towers in the world.
- Employment Contract
- Employment LitigationBennet also advises design firms and others in the construction industry on a wide variety of matters such as contract formation and negotiations, dispute resolution, and ownership transition. Bennet joined Noble, Wickersham & Heart LLP in 2007 after serving as General Counsel of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, and prior to that as Principal Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. At EOEA he advised the Secretary of Environmental Affairs and directed the legal work of this cabinet-level office. At MassDEP, Bennet managed over thirty attorneys and worked on the broad range of legal and policy issues facing the agency, from the regulation of air quality, wetlands, and tidelands (Chapter 91) to contracts and employment disputes. Before joining state government, Bennet was a Senior Attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, one of the nation’s foremost regional environmental advocacy organizations, where he directed CLF’s Smart Growth program. His work at CLF focused on land use law, permitting, housing development and transportation issues. While at CLF, Bennet edited and co-authored the publication
- Real Estate LitigationBarbara represents businesses, property owners, real estate developers, non profit organizations and serves as outside counsel to towns and redevelopment authorities, assisting them with compliance and permitting at sites with hazardous waste, wetlands and other environmental concerns. She helps clients obtain and maintain liability protection and negotiates resolution of disputes involving hazardous waste cleanup and other land use and environmental issues. Barbara also assists clients with construction and real estate matters at brownfields sites; and she assists with permitting and development of renewable energy projects.
- Construction LitigationWe also have expertise in cost-effective dispute resolution. We help clients settle problems informally as well as represent them in mediations and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures. We are available to act as ADR neutrals in disputes involving design and construction issues for parties other than our clients.
- Real Estate Transactions• As outside counsel to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, Barbara Landau counsels PEDA on the redevelopment of the former General Electric Company site, including compliance assistance with environmental land use restrictions, environmental regulations, and permitting, advice on potential liability, and assistance with real estate transactions and redevelopment.
- Land Use and ZoningThe law firm of Noble, Wickersham & Heart LLP offers legal advice from attorneys who have national expertise in design, construction, environmental, and land use law. We serve public and private clients, large and small, locally, nationally, and internationally.
- Estate Planning• When clients have needs in areas such as tax or estate planning or in foreign countries, we meet those needs cost-effectively by coordinating with experts with whom we have established relationships.