Thomas J. Powell is an experienced commercial litigation and trial attorney with a substantial background in construction and government contract law.
In July 2001, Mr. Powell opened the Law Offices of Thomas J. Powell to better serve his clients’ interests and to become more involved in construction litigation and trial work. Previously, from 1987 to 2001, Mr. Powell had been an associate and partner with Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, L.L.P., engaged primarily in the practice of construction litigation and government contract law. Mr. Powell’s practice is broad-based. He represents individuals, businesses, corporations and foreign government entities on matters valued from a few thousand dollars to more than $50 million. A list of representative projects and/or clients, as well as a list of references is available upon request.
An engineer and a lawyer, Mr. Powell is a graduate of the George Washington University’s National Law Center (1987) and will complete his L.L.M. in Trial Advocacy at Temple University in May, 2002. He also holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Civil Engineering from Villanova University (1979) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1981), respectively. Mr. Powell is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and in the Commonwealths of Virginia and Pennsylvania. He is also admitted in United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Fourth and the Federal Circuits, as well as the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia, the Eastern District of Virginia and the Court of Federal Claims. Mr. Powell is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, the Fairfax Bar Association and the National and Virginia Societies of Professional Engineers.
Mr. Powell has taught construction law at the University of Maryland in the School of Civil Engineering’s graduate program in Project Management (formerly Construction Management) since 1992. In addition, he has prepared and conducted dozens of seminars on the construction process and construction claims for, among others, Federal Publications, Inc., and The Center for Management Development and Training. As an author, Mr. Powell was selected to write John Wiley and Son’s Publishing Company’s chapter on “Suing the Construction Manager” in the book “Construction Litigation: Representing the Owner.”
Prior to practicing law, Mr. Powell worked as a civil engineer for a well-known international construction company engaged in heavy industrial design, manufacture and construction. He has lived and worked in the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, and his construction responsibilities have included draftsman, design engineer, project engineer and, for approximately one and one-half year, resident engineer on site in the United Arab Emirates.
Project Management Center for Excellence • A. James Clark School of Engineering • ©2024 University of Maryland
The GAC and PMI logos are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. For the full list of PMI’s legal marks, please contact the PMI Legal department.
Data Analytics for the Project Manager