Bradley Disaster Relief Team

Client Alert

While severe weather events often bring adversity, there can be a clear path forward. With lawyers across nine offices – including Houston, the District of Columbia, Birmingham, Tampa, Charlotte, and Nashville – Bradley is committed to doing our part to help recovery and reconstruction efforts in affected areas. 

Serving our clients in the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey, Katrina, Ike and Ivan, as well as Superstorm Sandy and other natural disasters, has provided Bradley’s attorneys and advisors with the experience necessary to help our neighbors and communities not only recover from these difficult events, but emerge with an established approach to help them achieve their business objectives. We have advisors who have served in senior government positions during Hurricane Katrina and Ivan, providing unique insight into the federal, state and local resources available for recovery and reconstruction efforts. In the aftermath of severe weather events, clients need assistance and representation in a number of diverse areas, including insurance coverage, affordable housing and community development, government contracts, government affairs, construction, banking and financial services. Bradley has the right team to address all of those needs.    

Insurance

Drawing on decades of experience, our Policyholder Insurance Coverage team provides commercial policyholders with sophisticated representation in all aspects of property and casualty insurance. We focus on efficiently maximizing the value of our clients’ insurance portfolios consistent with their business objectives.

Bradley attorneys handle matters involving virtually every type of property and casualty insurance policy available in the market today. This diverse experience allows our team to advise on coverage issues and exposures under crime and fidelity bonds, fiduciary liability, cyber (first- and third-party coverages), directors and officers and entity liability (for both public and private companies), property (including contingent business interruption), errors and omissions and professional liability, employment practices liability, commercial auto, commercial general liability (bodily injury, property damage, and advertising and personal injury), flood, inland marine, owner- or contractor-controlled insurance programs, pollution and environmental, products liability, title insurance, and workers’ compensation.

Bradley’s Policyholder Insurance Coverage team is led by Katherine Henry, who is based in our Washington, D.C. office. Katherine recently returned from Thailand, where she is handling a contingent business interruption case for Ford Motor Company arising out of the catastrophic 2011 Thai flooding. Katherine also successfully recovered business interruption losses arising out of offsite power supply interruption during Superstorm Sandy, and assisted firm clients in recovering insurance coverage arising out of the recent flooding in Nashville, Tennessee, including complete recovery for losses for some clients.

Who to Contact: Katherine J. Henry, Alex Purvis, Geoffrey Greeves

Affordable Housing and Community Development

Bradley has been a long-time leader for legal issues involving affordable housing and community development. We have represented participants in all aspects of low-income housing tax credit transactions throughout the Southeast, closed one of the first new markets tax credit transactions in the United States, and have been deeply involved in HOPE VI transactions on behalf of public housing authorities, developers and lenders. Our attorneys include a former general counsel to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the outside general counsel of the Alabama Affordable Housing Association, and outside counsel for several of the most prominent public housing authorities in the Southeast. We are familiar with HUD regulations on Environmental Review Procedures, Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements, HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grants Program, and the Continuum of Care Program. 

Generally, we have broad experience in HUD-related financing and grant matters. Our firm was involved in the development of the Alabama Housing Finance Authority’s HOME Loan Program after the advent of the Cranston-Gonzalez Act and participated in the closing of one of the first loans under that program in 1993. Since that time, we have been continually involved in affordable housing transactions, including Community Development Block Grants and transactions involving HOME lo-funds. Our involvement has been from the perspective of borrowers, construction lenders, permanent lenders and tax credit investors. In addition, we have regularly advised governmental and quasi-governmental entities, such as public housing authorities, on compliance with federal programs, including disaster assistance programs.

Who to Contact: T. Atkins Roberts Jr.

Governmental Affairs

A hurricane can leave massive recovery and rebuilding projects in its wake that will require funding from all levels of government and the private sector. Understanding the process of working with government and government officials is vital to identifying opportunities, prioritizing goals, determining strategies, and successfully implementing a game plan that produces positive results. Our team is composed of veteran local, state and federal policymakers and advocates, including individuals who previously served as chief of staff to a governor during Hurricanes Katrina and Ivan, general counsel of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), president of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), advisors to members of Congress, head federal lobbyist for a multi-national company, and counsel to a governor. Our professionals have disaster recovery experience in the public and private sectors that can help clients during difficult times.

Who to Contact: Paul A. Kavinoky, Dave Stewart, J. David Stewart

Government Contracts

The aftermath of severe weather events involves not only disaster recovery and relief, but also substantial restoration and reconstruction projects that will be financed largely by public funding at the federal, state and local level. Bradley's Government Contracts lawyers represent clients, large and small, in all types of matters, ranging from contract review and bid protests to claim preparation and litigation. Our consultation also involves more routine matters arising on a daily or weekly basis, such as contract interpretation and payment issues. We are well-versed in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Small Business Administration (SBA) programs and regulations, and we consult clients regularly on FAR clauses and SBA issues. We also have substantial experience dealing with agencies at the federal, state and local level, and in numerous jurisdictions and districts.

Who to Contact: Robert J. Symon, Eric A. Frechtel

Construction

The members of Bradley’s Construction Practice Group have spent decades representing a broad range of industry clients worldwide, providing a wealth of practical, hands-on business and legal experience to develop solutions for the challenges our clients confront every day. From contract negotiation and bid preparation to project close-out and dispute resolution, our clients count on us to partner with them through every phase of a project to help make it a success. We work with clients operating in all sectors of the construction industry and represent many of the top construction companies in the U.S. Many of our attorneys worked previously in the construction industry and have degrees in engineering and architecture. Our clients’ projects are in the hands of not just experienced attorneys, but seasoned industry professionals who truly understand their business, the issues they face and what is required for success.

Who to Contact: Jim Archibald, James A. Collura, Ian P. Faria, Slates C. Veazey, Monica Wilson Dozier

Banking and Financial Services

Bradley’s Banking and Financial Services team counsels clients on their unique and particularly complex legal needs, whether these pertain to litigation, regulations and compliance, or other corporate matters. Representing a broad range of banks, lenders, and financial services institutions across the United States, we provide experienced, proactive guidance on a broad spectrum of legal issues, including regulatory compliance, governmental investigations, risk assessments, audit and exam support, business transactions, litigation, and multi-state settlements. The members of our team have demonstrated their preeminence and leadership in a number of prominent professional organizations and have assisted clients in nearly every state in the U.S.

Who to Contact: T. Atkins Roberts Jr., James J. Wright Jr.

Environmental

Our Environmental Practice Group consists of both a focused environmental regulatory and transactional practice and a litigation practice that includes real estate, environmental, and natural resources. We are committed to effectively and efficiently serving our business clients while responding to shifting regulations and enforcement priorities. We do more than stay abreast of environmental issues — we advocate for our clients, who consider us part of their team of trusted business advisors.

Who to Contact: Bart J. Kempf