Professional LLM in Construction Law

Credits: 6.0

Construction law disputes are complex and often multi-party. Professionals in the field require a sophisticated understanding of dispute resolution options and mechanisms. This course will cover dispute resolution agreements, mediation/conciliation processes, expert determination, dispute boards, domestic and international arbitration and litigation in the context of construction matters.

Credits: 6.0

Construction law is ordered by a complex web of private contracts, public laws and regulations, and a set of common law duties, unique to the industry in some instances. The cast of players engaged in this robust industry is both domestic and international and includes public sector regulators, federal and provincial Crown corporations, design professionals, developers, builders, general contractors, project managers, subcontractors, material and equipment suppliers, union and non-union labour, sureties and insurers.

The course will explain project delivery models, the various parties to construction projects, and contracts, including standard forms used in the industry, key clauses and common performance issues. Students will learn about the unique rules governing construction procurement, the statutory framework for projects, including builders’ lien, health and safety and labour legislation, and risk management in the form of bonds and insurance. The course will also explore key comparative issues in construction law as well as major theories underlying this field and critiques of law and policy.

Credits: 3.0

Adjudication is emerging in various legal systems as an alternative to arbitration and litigation for the resolution of construction disputes. This course will cover adjudication as part of the construction ADR toolkit; the rise of statutory adjudication internationally; adjudication procedure and strategy; enforcement of an adjudicator’s determination; common issues on judicial review (adjudicator’s jurisdiction, natural justice issues); and explore the growing body of international adjudication jurisprudence.

Note: This course is under development and pending Osgoode Faculty Council approval.

Credits: 3.0

Standard form agreements are regularly used across the construction industry globally. This course will examine the main forms in use in Canada (CCDC, RAIC) and the United States (AIA), as well as internationally (FIDIC, NEC). The course will explore common supplementary conditions to the standard forms (e.g. limitation of liability, indemnity, notice provisions, liquidated damages, claims waivers, and dispute resolution) and the legal issues and risks raised by these clauses.

Note: This course is under development and pending Osgoode Faculty Council approval.

Credits: 3.0

This course explores contract law principles in the context of the construction industry, including identification of parties, interests and risks. This course includes coverage of standard forms of contract and a comparative discussion of construction contracts across the common law world.

Credits: 3.0

Delay is a key risk component and cause of disputes in the construction industry, and has specific legal implications that will be examined in this course. Course coverage includes: delay concepts; international standards (Society of Construction Law, American Society of Civil Engineers, AACE International); common causes of delay (unforeseen site conditions, contractor issues, design issues, owner impacts, weather, labour issues); and common approaches to analysis (impacted as planned, collapsed as-built, as-planned v. as-built, time impact analysis, window analysis).

Note: This course is under development and pending Osgoode Faculty Council approval.

Credits: 3.0

Adjudication is emerging in various legal systems as an alternative to arbitration and litigation for the resolution of construction disputes. This course will cover adjudication and dispute boards as part of the construction ADR toolkit; the rise of statutory adjudication internationally; adjudication procedure and strategy; enforcement of an adjudicator’s determination; common issues on judicial review (adjudicator’s jurisdiction, natural justice issues); and explore the growing body of international adjudication jurisprudence.  The course will also cover the use of dispute boards as a strategy to proactively resolve disputes.  This course covers both substantive legal issues in construction law and procedure, as well as advocacy techniques to help students participate effectively as advocates, parties, or decision-makers in these proceedings.

Credits: 3.0

The construction industry is a major economic driver in the and its workforce is highly unionized.  Construction labour relations affect both employers and employees within the industry.  For employers, labour costs represent a significant expense for a construction project and collective agreements often contain restrictions with respect to how work can be subcontracted.  For employees, trade unions bargain all the terms and conditions of employment and often provide training to workers within the construction industry.  Also, unlike the non-construction industry, trade unions operate hiring halls and can control the assignment workers to employers.

This course explores unique aspects of construction labour law, including

1) how trade unions obtain bargaining rights in the construction industry,

2) the concept of trade jurisdictions held by the various construction trade unions,

3) the concept of sectors within the construction industry,

4) province wide bargaining and sector based bargaining, and

5) the enforcement of collective agreements.

We will also explore the regulation of occupational health and safety and the role played by construction trade unions within the industry.

Credits: 3.0

This course explores in greater detail important issues and debates in construction law. A new topic will be explored in detail in each offering. The course will be taught by a visiting expert scholar and/or practitioner in that area.

For the first offering of this course, the topic of Technology & Sustainability in Construction Law explores the use of AI and emerging technologies in the practice of construction law. Students will gain insights into how AI is transforming the construction industry, including its impact on legal services, while engaging in interactive discussions about ethical, legal, and environmental implications of these changes.

Credits: 3.0

This course will cover important insurance law concepts relevant to the construction industry. These include performance security principles; the role of agents, brokers, and other industry participants; kinds of insurable and uninsurable construction risks, and how those risks are allocated in construction contracts and professional services agreements; types of bonds (performance bonds, labour and material payment bonds, holdback bonds, lien bonds); types of insurance (builder’s risk, general liability, design professional, pollution, cyber).

Credits: 3.0

This course examines the various project delivery models available that engage procurement requirements and implications for public and private sector participants in the construction industry, including coverage of bidding and tendering law and social procurement issues.