Edward B. Gentilcore
Shareholder and Director
28th Floor, Two PNC Plaza
620 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
ebg@sgkpc.com
Phone: 412-258-6714
Fax: 412-261-6221
Edward B. Gentilcore
Mr. Gentilcore is a Shareholder and Director of the firm and is Chair of the firm’s Construction Services Group. He practices in the areas of construction law and complex commercial litigation with a considerable emphasis on construction litigation, construction contracts, green building and mechanic’s lien matters. Mr. Gentilcore has represented owners, developers, architects, engineers, contractors, construction managers, specialty trade contractors, subcontractors, and a wide variety of material suppliers in construction-related matters, including those involving design-build, delays, extras, contract negotiation and compliance, construction safety, insurance, surety, payment and mechanic’s liens issues. He also has considerable experience in the preparation of design and construction contracts, with a focus on dispute prevention considerations. Mr. Gentilcore has handled a variety of matters involving sports, educational, utility, hotel, industrial, institutional and multi-use residential and commercial office facilities.
Another unique facet of Mr. Gentilcore’s practice involves the design and construction of buildings that have pursued green design, construction and rating recognition. He is a LEED® AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional) under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Green Building Rating System and has been quoted in numerous articles on green construction developments. Also, Mr. Gentilcore served as a co-chair of the ConsensusDOCS Committee charged with the development of a new ConsensusDOCS 310 Green Building Addendum currently in use on a wide variety of green building projects.
Listed in the Best Lawyers in America in both Construction Law and Litigation Construction and recognized for many years as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in Construction and Surety Law, Mr. Gentilcore has authored seminar materials and delivered numerous educational presentations on various topics related to construction and surety law around the United States. Recent presentations include “Green Building: Seeds for Growth? Rooted in Trouble?”, delivered in Baltimore, Maryland before the Construction Owners Association of America, “Jury Instructions in Construction Litigation: Challenges in Crafting Compliant and Convincing Charges in Construction Cases,” delivered in San Diego, California; “From Blueprints Through Red Tape to Green Buildings and All the Colors in Between (and Hopefully Beyond): Practical and Contractual Considerations on Your Road to LEED™ Certification,” presented in Florida, New York and Pennsylvania; “Veni, Vidi, Vici, Verdigris–Building Green,” presented throughout Pennsylvania and in national webinars; “Help on Avoiding Red Ink, Red Tape and the Risk of Being Red-Faced While Building Green,” delivered in Pennsylvania and Missouri; “Contractor Concerns and Considerations on Confronting Chartreuse Challenges and Commitments,” presented in two national webinars; “Bond…Surety Bond: What It Is, How to Use It, and What It Can Do for You and Your Project,” delivered in Pennsylvania; and “Pennsylvania’s Mechanics’ Lien Law Of 1963 and the January 1, 2007 Amendments: Eventually, All Things Inevitably Must Change,” delivered to numerous audiences around Pennsylvania.
Mr. Gentilcore is the co-chair of the Construction Litigaton Committee of the ABA Section of Litigation, where he also served as co-chair of the Environmental Subcommittee, co-chair of the Program Subcomittee, and as Committee Liason to the other ABA Committes and serves on the Division 10 (Environmental and Legislation) Steering Committee for the ABA Forum Committee on the Construction Industry. He also served on the Environmental Network Committee of the Associated General Contractors of America and is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. Mr. Gentilcore helped to form the Construction Law Section of the Allegheny County Bar Association, and served as chair, vice chair and committee chair of that organization. He also serves as a representative to the Constructors Association of Western Pennsylvania and is a member of that organization’s Activities Committee, Education Committee and Professional Council.
Areas of Law / Focus
- Construction Litigation
- Mechanics’ Liens
- Construction Contracts
- Green Building Contracts and Project Development
- Construction Insurance and Bonding
Distinctions
- Listed in Best Lawyers in America, 2011
- Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in Construction and Surety Law, 2006-2011
- American Bar Association Section of Litigation Outstanding Subcommittee Chair, 2008
- Listed in Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition, 2009-2010
- Acknowledged in The Legal 500 for construction litigation, construction contracts, green building, and mechanics’ lien matters
- AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
Selected Engagements
- Drafted and negotiated numerous contracts involving sports, educational, utility, hotel, industrial, institutional and multi-use residential and commercial office facilities. Project values ranging from $500,000 to $70 million. Represented owners, prime contractors, heavy equipment manufacturers and specialty trade contractors.
- Focused construction contracts and litigation practice, representing owners, contractors, subcontractors, sureties, architects, engineers and suppliers in public contract bidding and compliance litigation, public contracting dispute litigation, private contract dispute litigation, project development, private contract preparation, and negotiation and design-build/EPC contracting/dispute matters.
- Experienced in multiple delivery systems, including design-build, EPC and traditional design, bid, and build projects; experienced in public contracting, procurement and bidding compliance matters.
- Experienced in various energy-related matters, including cogeneration, turbine performance and waste-to-energy.
- Worked closely as counsel for United States subsidiary of major international steel equipment manufacturer. Interacted directly with president, chief financial officer, controller, project managers, purchasing agents and parent company legal department on a daily basis on numerous contracting and performance issues.
- Experience in complex case management, multiple issue scope claims, mechanics’ lien claims, default and termination claims, surety claims and defenses, delay claims, environmental-related construction claims, component part performance, failure and deficiency claims, construction contract disputes and payment claims.
- Acted as liaison to general counsel of major publicly-traded engineering and construction firm, monitoring litigation and supervising law firms located in New York, California, Georgia, Idaho, Utah, Indiana, Louisiana and South Carolina, regarding ongoing engineering and construction litigation. Interacted directly with general counsel, chairman of the board, president, chief financial officer, treasurer, risk manager and project managers on a daily basis on wide variety of private and public contracting matters across the United States.
- Participated in construction litigation nationwide representing owners, contractors, subcontractors and sureties on wide variety of issues including: termination, default, delay claims, mechanics’ liens, enforceability of liquidated damages, constructive acceleration and various contract compliance matters.
- Negotiated and prepared numerous architectural and construction contracts on multimillion-dollar projects for privately-held companies, publicly-held companies, and established cultural and nonprofit institutions.
- Prepared form agreements for a major national lending concern dealing with arbitration of construction loan disputes.
- Representation of national contractor in dispute with subcontractor over alleged deficiencies in a high-profile customer service facility.
- Handled numerous mechanics’ lien matters, including reported appellate decision involving high-profile cultural project on which the assertion of a lien claim was successfully removed from the property. This case, involving the Carnegie Science Center, is a 2003 published decision of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania; City Lighting Products Co. v. Carnegie Institute, 2003 WL 245606.
- Defended numerous claims against an international engineer/contracting concern due to the chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of a major steel company.
- Represented client in multimillion-dollar arbitration over disputed warranty claims on a steel mill project.
- Represented the interests of a national design engineer over the design of an air field taxiway.
- Successfully defended a mid-Atlantic specialty trade contractor involving disputes over the construction of a large paving area supporting a distribution facility.
- Represented a major national contractor on a public project involving multiple performance and scope of work disputes.
- Responsible for preparation of residential development agreements for an Eastern Pennsylvania development company.
- Provide consulting assistance for regional construction trade association.
- Represented joint venture partner in negotiation of a joint venture agreement for a $100-plus million undertaking.
- Successfully defended developer in disputes over remediation/renovation of a former industrial facility/condominium conversion.
- Represented owners in several projects seeking Green/LEED building ratings.
Selected Publications
- Author, “Pennsylvania Court Digs New Ground for Excavator’s Lien Claim: Firmer Foundation or Deeper Hole?,” Building and Bonding Alert, June 17, 2011
- Co-author, “Fits and Starts: EPA Encounters Difficulty in Regulating Stormwater Runoff From Construction Sites,” Under Construction, the Newsletter of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, March 2011; and 2 x 4 x 10 Newsletter, Winter 2011
- Author, “It’s a Technilogicality: The law Is Challenged with Accommodating New Developments,” ABA Committee on Commercial & Business Litigation Newsletter, Winter 2011
- “Anatomy of a Jury Instruction in Construction Litigation: Distilling the Complex into Plain Language for Compelling and Effective Charges,” Building and Bonding: The Construction Group Newsletter, February 15, 2011
- Co-author, “New Jersey Significantly Amends Construction Lien Law, Effective Immediately,” Building and Bonding Alert, January 31, 2011
- Author & Co-Editor, Pennsylvania Construction Law: Getting Started, Getting Covered, Getting Paid, PBI Press, 2011
- Co-author, “Growing Demand for Green Construction Requires Legal Evolution,” Construction Lawyer, Summer 2010
- Author, “New Directions: Are the LEED 2009 Requirements a Tempest in a Teapot or a Ticking Time Bomb?” Construction Today, September 2009
- Author, “Déjà Vu: Pennsylvania Re-Amends Its Lien Law to Again Permit Broad Waivers of Lien Rights on Residential Property Projects,” Building and Bonding Alert, August 21, 2009
- Author, “Green Buildings: Are You Getting Real Energy Efficiency Now? The Legal Intelligencer, August 17, 2009
- Author, “So You Want to Get Paid? Five Tips for Securing Payment for Performance,” Building and Bonding: The Construction Group Newsletter, Spring 2009
- Author, “Right around the Corner: Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act Opening for Business,” Building and Bonding Alert, March 30, 2009
- Author, “Clear as Mud: Pennsylvania District Court Rejects Surety’s Liability for Prompt Payment Act Penalties and Attorneys’ Fees,” Building and Bpnding Alert, March 18, 2009
- Author, “Help on Avoiding Red Ink, Red Tape and the Risk of Being Red-Faced While Building Green,” 2008
- Author, “Jury Instructions in Construction Litigation: Challenges in Crafting Compliant and Convincing Charges in Construction Cases,” 2006
- Author, “From Blueprints Through Red Tape to Green Buildings and All the Colors in Between (and Hopefully Beyond): Practical and Contractual Considerations on Your Road to LEED™ Certification,” 2007
- Author, “Pennsylvania’s Mechanics’ Lien Law Of 1963 and the January 1, 2007 Amendments: Eventually, All Things Inevitably Must Change,” 2006-2007
- Author, “Renewed Report on Repose, Represent, Repast, Re-future, and Resources: A Companion to a Compendium,” Construct! Spring 2005
- Author, “Intercepted Pass (Through): A Possible Limitation on Indemnification Pass-Throughs to Subcontractors Appears on the Horizon,” The Real Estate Finance Journal, Summer 2005
- Author, “Don’t Spoliate an Already Bad Ending: Exploring the Ethical Intersection of Spoliation and Remedy of Warranty and Other Deficiency Claims,” Construct! Spring 2004
- Co-author, “Insurance and Bonding,” Miller Construction Guide, 2006
- Editor, The Benchmark, a quarterly, multi-page update on construction law trends
- Author, “For Whom the Bell Never Tolls: Commonwealth Court Helps to Expand the Doctrine of Nullum Tempus Occurit Regi to Allow Landslide Suit to Proceed,” Pennsylvania Bar Association Civil Litigation Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 1998
- Author, “The Perils of Incorporation by Reference,” The Subcontractor,” Vol. 17, No. 4, October 1995
- Author, “Effective Presentation of Multiple Issue Scope Disputes in Design/Build Project Litigation,” American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry, 11th Annual Meeting
- Editor, The Critical Path, a quarterly, multi-page update on construction law trends
- Author, “Renewed Report on Repose, Represent, Repast, Re-future, and Resources: A Companion to a Compendium,” Construct! Spring 2005
- Author, “Intercepted Pass (Through): A Possible Limitation on Indemnification Pass-Throughs to Subcontractors Appears on the Horizon,” The Real Estate Finance Journal, Summer 2005
- Author, “Don’t Spoliate an Already Bad Ending: Exploring the Ethical Intersection of Spoliation and Remedy of Warranty and Other Deficiency Claims,” Construct! Spring 2004
- Co-author, “Insurance and Bonding,” Miller Construction Guide, 2006
- Editor, The Benchmark, a quarterly, multi-page update on construction law trends
- Author, “For Whom the Bell Never Tolls: Commonwealth Court Helps to Expand the Doctrine of Nullum Tempus Occurit Regi to Allow Landslide Suit to Proceed,” Pennsylvania Bar Association Civil Litigation Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 1998
- Author, “The Perils of Incorporation by Reference,” The Subcontractor,” Vol. 17, No. 4, October 1995
- Author, “Effective Presentation of Multiple Issue Scope Disputes in Design/Build Project Litigation,” American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry, 11th Annual Meeting
Selected Speaking Engagements
- Panelist, “What Owners Need to Know: Legal Considerations for BIM and Green Construction,” Spring Owners Leadership Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, May 5, 2011
- Panelist, “Professional Liability Companies and Sureties,” AIA-AGC Industry Summit on Sustainability and Risk, April 25, 2011
- Presenter, “Environmental Roulette: The Current Betting Line on Stormwater, Environmental Liability and Green Building Issues on Construction Projects,” AGC Annual Convention, March 23, 2011
- Presenter, “Breaking Down the Basics Series: How to File and Defend a Mechanic’s Lien,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) webinar, February 3, 2011
- Panelist, “Expressing Your Construction Dispute Effectively in Jury Instructions: A Translation Guide,” Construction SuperConference 2010, San Francisco, December 16, 2010
- Speaker, “Green Building: Contract Essentials—Identifying Risks and Reviewing Best Practices,” ConsensusDOCS webinar, April 22, 2010
- Speaker, “Tiptoeing Through the Garden,” AGC’s Surety Bonding and Construction Risk Management meeting, Naples, Florida, February 3, 2010
- Speaker, “The New ConsensusDOCS Green Building Addendum—Presented by the Lead Drafters,” Construction SuperConference09, San Francisco, California, December 10, 2009
- Faculty Member, “Pennsylvania’s Mechanics’ Lien Law and its Amendments: Getting Down to the Basics. . . And Then Some,” Lorman Education Services teleconference, December 4, 2009
- Speaker, “Mechanics’ Lien Law: An Update,” Pennsylvania Bar Association CLE telephone seminar, November 12, 2009
- Speaker, “Challenges of High Performance Buildings and Building Information Modeling,” Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants Annual Construction Industry Conference, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, October 22, 2009
- Speaker, “Legal and Contractual Implications of Green Construction,” Going Green! Understanding the Risks and Liabilities of Green Building Seminar, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, June 4, 2009
- Speaker, “Out of the Blue – The Ultimate Differing Site Condition & Environmental Due Diligence,” ABA Forum on Construction Industry 2009 Annual Meeting, April 16-18, 2009
- Speaker, “Pennsylvania Mechanics Lien Law of 1963 from the Owner’s and Contractor’s Perspectives, Including the Lien Law Amendments Effective January 1, 2007,” Lorman Education Services’ Construction Lien Law Seminar, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 2, 2008
- Faculty Member, “Problems and Risks Associated with Green Construction,” Lorman Educational Services Green Construction teleconference, September 9, 2008
- Course Planner and Presenter, Real Estate Law Update 2008, Pennsylvania Bar Institute program, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, April 4, 2008, and Malvern, Pennsylvania, April 17, 2008
- Speaker, “Problems and Risks Associated with Green Construction,” Lorman Education Services teleconference, March 11, 2009
- Speaker, Construction Law Lien Conference, Lorman Educational Services, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 11, 2007
- Speaker, “Building Green,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s 11th Annual Real Estate Institute seminar, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 5, 2007
- Faculty Member, “Veni, Vidi, Vici, Verdigris–Building Green,” 11th Annual Real Estate Institute, Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Philadelphia, December 5-6, 2007
- Faculty Member, “The Ever Evolving Changes to the Mechanics’ Lien Laws of Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Pittsburgh, November 1, 2007
Education
- J.D. University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1987, Cum Laude
- Order of the Coif
- Order of Barristers
- Business Editor, University of Pittsburgh Law Review
- B.A. University of Pittsburgh, 1984, Cum Laude
Professional & Community Activities
- American Bar Association
- Section of Litigation
- Construction Litigation Committee
- Co-Chair, 2011 – Present
- Named Outstanding Subcommittee Co-Chair, 2008
- Program Co-Chair, 2010-2011
- Committee Liaison, 2005-2010
- Environmental Subcommittee Co-Chair, 1999-2004
- Forum Committee on the Construction Industry
- Division 10 (Environmental and Legislation) Steering Committee
- Litigation Counsel of America
- Fellow, 2009-present
- Blue Ribbon Panel selecting the LCA Highest Tier Award recipients, 2010
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Allegheny County Bar Association
- Construction Law Section
- Publications Committee, 1998-Present
- Chair, 1997
- Vice Chair, 1996
- Associated General Contractors of America
- Environmental Network Committee, 2009-2010
- Constructors Association of Western Pennsylvania
- Activities Committee
- Education Committee
- Professional Council
- Pennsylvania Bar Institute
- Faculty Member
- Lorman Construction Certification Compliance Program Advisory Board, 2005-Present
Bar Admissions
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1987
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court