2022 Construction Law Q&A

Scott W. Kowalski

Published November 29, 2022 by Virginia Business

Petty, Livingston, Dawson & Richards PC, Lynchburg

Title: President (sadly, the title came with neither a scepter nor a cape) and shareholder

Other legal specialties: Comedy … or not. Construction law encompasses construction defects, professional design liability, bond claims and public contracts.

Education: Bachelor’s degree, William & Mary; law degree, George Mason University

Family: Wife Amy Miles Kowalski (the smarter Kowalski lawyer at PLDR) and our four wonderful kids: Kate (22, W&M alumna), Lily (20, junior at Christopher Newport University), Evie (18, freshman at Central Virginia Community College) and Graham (15, high school sophomore)

Career mentors: Bob Watt, Carter Reid and Kathy Barnes at Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald LLP and Jim Richards and Ed Dawson at PLDR. Each has provided wonderful examples and sage guidance in my (gulp) 27-year legal career.

Fan of: Tennis (playing and watching my son play) and running our 5-acre “farmlet” (gardens, chickens)

First jobs: Yard man/handy man (self-employed), Kings Island Restaurant (Lynchburg) busboy

What recent developments in Virginia construction and contracts law have changed the field? The last five years have seen a great deal more construction-related legislation than I can recall from my earlier career — the addition of a statute of limitations on state work, restrictions on waivers of lien rights, wage-theft bills and, most recently, restrictions on
pay-if-paid provisions.

What drew you to construction law? I worked construction jobs on summer and other breaks and decided to combine that interest with my interest in law. Through the kind efforts of the late Judge Terry Ney, I was able to start my construction law career at Watt Tieder.

Read the 23rd edition of the Virginia Business Legal Elite here.

Read the complete 2022  list of Construction Law here.

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