Audra J. Zarlenga

Practices

• Construction

Professional Experience

Audra is an attorney in the firm's Construction practice group. For several years, she has devoted the majority of her practice to the representation of owners, architects, engineers, general contractors, construction managers, developers, subcontractors and suppliers. For a substantial portion of her time, Audra is involved with the litigation, arbitration and/or mediation of commercial construction disputes. In addition, she assists design professionals and contractors with state and local licensing compliance requirements. Audra has worked on a variety of complex construction cases involving public and private entities, bid protests, wastewater treatment plants, underground pipelines, marine construction bonding and insurance issues, and a variety of commercial projects.

Audra routinely provides construction and litigation-prevention counseling to clients, as well as advises on bidding, contract, bond, mechanics liens and claim avoidance/preservation issues.

Education

• Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1995
• University of Cincinnati, B.A., 1992

• Represents an owner with claims on a $100 million EPC project involving additions to an existing manufacturing/process facility.
• Represents a dredging contractor with a $5 million claim on $90 million Navy pier replacement project.
• Represented a design professional on claims involving a sewer replacement project.
• Represents design professionals on national licensing matters.
• Represents and assists various owners and contractors in drafting design and construction contracts.
• Represented an owner defending a $60 million claim by a contractor on an EPCM underground natural gas pipeline project.
• Represented a design professional defending a multi-million claim related to personal injuries on convocation center project.
• Represented prime contractors involving claims on various wastewater treatment plant projects.
• Represent contractors with bid protests on local improvement and Federal procurement projects.
• Represent contractors on multi-prime public construction projects in litigation, arbitration, and mediation.
• Represent owners and contractors on cost-plus, guaranteed maximum, and lump sum projects.
• Represented a contractor with claims against the State of Ohio related to the cumulative impact of multiple changes.
• Represented concrete subcontractor on alleged defect claims arising out of multiple garages built on $100 million dollar college dormitory project in Cleveland.
• Represents contractors with claims on federal procurement contracts before various Boards of Contract Appeals.
• Regularly advises construction professionals on bidding, contract, mechanic's lien, bond, claim avoidance, and claim preservation.

• "Considerations: Default Termination of Contracts" · Ohio Code News, January/February 2004
• "Can a Non-Signatory or Non-Party Be Bound to an Arbitration Award? A Warning for the Unwary" · The Construction Lawyer, American Bar Association Journal of the Forum of the Construction Industry, Summer 2004
• Contributing author of the Baldwin's Ohio Construction Law Manual, WEST/Thomson Reuters, February 2009

• Presenter, Lorman Seminar, "AIA Contracts 2007 and Beyond", May 14, 2009
• "Construction Trends for Public Entities" · Speaker, topic "Claim Theories Limited by Public Contracting Laws"; 2004
• "Ohio Construction Law: Can This Job Be Saved?" · Speaker, topic "Job Progress"
• "Coming to Consensus Under the AIA Documents: Resolving Common Issues Presented by the 1997 AIA Construction Contracts and Architectural Agreements", ICSC U.S. Shopping Center Law Conference, 2002

• Latin