Ship Repair & Construction

From contracts and day-to-day operations, to disputes and litigation, ship repair and construction has a multitude of legal, budgetary and compliance issues. Woods Rogers attorneys leverage more than 135 years of admiralty law experience to help shipyards and their subcontractors navigate their legal issues. We represent clients on every U.S. coast, including those at the nation’s largest and busiest ports.  

Our Services

Our ship repair and construction services include: 

• Addressing bidding mistakes and disputes, including bid protests 
• Assembling teams and subcontractors and preparing proposals 
• Contract close-out, including billing issues, audits, pricing actions, insurance issues, and settlements 
• Contract performance, including scheduling, delay, and disruption analysis 
• Cost accounting systems, including set up, maintenance, and improvements 
• Ethics training  
• Forward pricing rates and purchasing systems 
• Litigation  
• Production issues, including equitable adjustment requests, warranty issues, subcontractor disputes, terminations, and claims 
• Solicitation and bidding processes  

Team Approach

Our approach ensures our ship repair and construction industry clients have access to, and receive, a full suite of legal services to address any issues that may arise. These include commercial drafting, labor and employment issues, workers’ compensation and Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) defense, and product liability issues. We also have extensive experience in state and federal procurement law. This experience is invaluable in the industry given the large percentage of ship repair and construction carried out by federal and state agencies or under federal guarantee programs. 

Dispute Resolution 

We are seasoned in dispute resolution specific to the ship repair and construction industry, including extensive experience in federal and state court litigation, federal Boards of Contract Appeal, arbitration including the American Arbitration Association and the Society of Marine Arbitrators of New York, mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Many of our attorneys are trained and certified arbitrators and mediators with industry-specific backgrounds. 

Our ship repair and construction clients benefit from the integrated talents and experience of our professionals. The team includes seasoned attorneys with marine leadership backgrounds, including U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy officers, as well as a naval architect, engineers, and the Virginia Ship Repair Association general counsel. Several of our lawyers have project management and scheduling experience and are skilled contract professionals, including two certified fellows of the National Contract Management Association.