Parnell, Bruce F

William Alexander (“Sandy”) Fead is the managing attorney for Fead Construction Law, PLC, a law firm that began in January, 2006 and focuses almost exclusively on the practice of construction and real estate law for owners and contractors on commercial construction projects.  Mr. Fead also has an active practice as a mediator and arbitrator of commercial and construction disputes of all types.

Mr. Fead has represented contractors and other businesses in connection with citations for VOSHA and OSHA safety violations; violations of zoning regulations; fire and building code violations; wage and hour laws; discriminatory hiring and firing practices; overweight truck regulations; workers compensation misclassification of employees; federal and state asbestos regulations; and retaliatory discharge of employees making complaints to public agencies.  Mr. Fead has also represented contractors before the VTrans pre-qualification committee.  Mr. Fead has been hired by different insurers to represent contractors in defense of construction defect claims.  He has also been engaged by a professional liability insurer to defend an engineer accused of malpractice.  Mr. Fead has represented several contractors in coverage disputes with commercial general liability insurers and in disputes with builder’s risk insurance carriers regarding casualty loss claims.  He has represented several contractors with claims against subcontractor performance bonds and subcontractors with claims against contractor payment bonds.  He has also defended two contractors against indemnification claims by their sureties.

Mr. Fead is included in the 2012 US News Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” rankings in the First Tier for Arbitration, Mediation, Construction Law, and Litigation – Construction, and has been in those rankings since their inception.  He is also listed in the current Corporate Counsel’s Top Lawyers List.

In 2011 Mr. Fead served as adjunct professor at Norwich University teaching Construction Supply Chain Management.

Mr. Fead is the author of the Vermont chapters in State Public Construction Law Source Book (2002), published by CCH, Inc.; Fifty State Public Construction Contracting (1996), published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (now Aspen Law and Business); 50 State Public Construction Law Source Book published by the American Bar Association Section of Public Contract Law; The Design/Build Process: A Guide to Licensing and Procurement Requirements in the 50 States and Canada and The Design/Build Deskbook (2nd  and 3rd ed.) both published by the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry; and Fifty State Construction Lien and Bond Law (2nd ed., 2000) (co-author) and the State-by-State Guide to Architect, Engineer and Contractor Licensing (1999) published by Aspen Law and Business (formerly Wiley Law Publications).  Mr. Fead was a member of the Vermont Governor’s Commission on Alternate Dispute Resolution and has given lectures on ADR topics for the Vermont Bar Association, the Vermont Association of General Contractors, the Construction Specifications Institute, Vermont Law School and the University of Vermont.

Mr. Fead is a member of the American Bar Association and its Public Contract Law Section, its Litigation Section, its ADR Section and the Forum on the Construction Industry; the Vermont Bar Association; the Chittenden Bar Association; the American Arbitration Association, the Construction Specifications Institute; the Associated General Contractors; and the American Institute of Architects.  He serves as counsel to the Associated General Contractors of Vermont and to the Vermont affiliate of the American Institute of Architects.  He has been awarded the Construction Document Technologist designation by the Construction Specifications Institute.