News

Moore & Lee is pleased to announce that Allison Hemmer and Brandon Lee have joined the firm as Associates.  Allison graduated from George Mason University School of Law in 2021.  Brandon graduated from the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law in 2021. Allison and Brandon worked as Summer Associates at Moore & Lee in 2020.

Moore & Lee is pleased to announce that Erica Rutner has joined the firm as a Partner in Moore & Lee, P.C.’s Florida office.  Erica previously practiced for many years at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP representing clients in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters throughout the country, including complex class action litigation.

Moore & Lee partners Robert M. Moore and Charlie C.H. Lee were recognized in the 28th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America^©.  Specifically, Mr. Moore and Mr. Lee were selected by their peers for recognition of their professional excellence in Construction Law and Construction Litigation.

In a decision issued by the United States Court of Federal Claims, Anthem Builders, Inc. v United States, 121 Fed. Cl. 24, the Court considered a Contracting Officer’s right to deny a bid on a project based on an entity’s use of an unacceptable individual surety.  Proper bonding is essential, because without a safety net, the government is left with no protection if the contractor fails to meet its contractual obligations.  Under FAR 28.203 an entity can use an individual surety, instead of a corporate surety, for all types of bonds, with the exception of position schedule bonds.  Anthem bid on a government construction project and the bidding package included a bond secured by an individual surety.  The Contracting Officer rejected the bid as “nonresponsible.”

Contractors have been careful about using an individual surety to secure bonds because of the difficulty in verifying assets and the questionable practices of some individual sureties.  Since these problems arise with an individual surety a Contracting Officer is given wide latitude under FAR 28.203(a).  FAR 28.203(a) gives the Contracting Officer the right to find the individual surety “nonresponsible.”  The right of a Contracting Officer to reject an individual surety was cemented in Anthem Builders.  The Court found that even though pursuant to FAR 52.228–15(d), the bond was supported by an individual surety, the Contracting Officer had the right to deny the bid if the individual surety was “nonresposible” and the funds were not guaranteed.

For Contracting Officers, the validation that a bid does not have to be accepted if the individual surety raises severe financial red flags for the project provides some much needed relief and mitigates a common fear of having to accept fraudulent transactions.  Entities bidding on a federal government project should try and obtain bonding from a surety listed on the Treasury Department Circular.  If an entity is using an individual surety as security for the bond, the entity could take steps to avoid Anthems’ fate in this case.  The entity should ensure that the individual surety provides an escrow account where the Contracting Officer has the sole and unrestricted right to draw on the funds, provides proof of unencumbered assets, or provides an Irrevocable Trust Receipt that is issued by an FDIC insured financial institution.

Moore & Lee partner Robert D. Windus was recognized in the Official Educational Journal of the American Subcontractors Association, The Contractor’s Compass, for his peer review of the 2018 edition of Mechanical Contractors Association of America, Inc.’s (MCAA) publication Change Orders, Productivity, Overtime: A Primer for the Construction Industry.  Specifically, Mr. Windus was credited for helping ensure that the content and data in 2018 edition was correct, reasonable, and applicable to the current state of construction management and construction law.  The American Subcontractors Association recently joined the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) in announcing its full support and formal endorsement of the 2018 edition of MCAA’s publication.  Read the full article here.

Moore & Lee is pleased to announce that Tara Hosseini and Zackary Rogers have joined the firm as Associates.  Tara graduated from The George Washington University School of Law in 2020.  Zackary graduated from the George Mason University School of Law in 2020. Tara and Zack worked as Summer Associates at Moore & Lee in 2019.

Moore & Lee is pleased to announce that Rachel Bauer has joined the firm as a Law Clerk.  Rachel graduated from the American University Washington College of Law in 2019.  She worked as a Summer Associate at Moore & Lee in 2017.

Moore & Lee was once again selected as Tier 1 for Construction Law and Construction Litigation in both the National and Washington, DC Metro Area Rankings of the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Law Firms.

Charlie Lee was featured in a recent issue of The Virginia Lawyer…

“Devastating, isn’t he?” That’s an ESPN announcer describing 22-year-old Charlie Lee in the center of a boxing ring, performing his taekwondo routine in 1986 Atlanta. “Lee is noted for his strong, solid stances,” the announcer says. “Every block, every punch is perfectly clean, solid, and strong.” In the YouTube clip, Lee slices and kicks at the air with precision before a large crowd, his routine set to the music of The Twilight Zone.

The announcer notes that Lee is a marketing major at Virginia Tech. “I wanted to go out to Hollywood and be the next Bruce Lee after I graduated,” says Lee, now 55. “But my very traditional Korean mother said, ‘No, you’re going to law school.’ So, you know, you don’t disobey your mother.”

But Lee didn’t just follow his mom’s advice. He became a lawyer, but he also found a way to make his passion an ongoing part of his life. Today, he is co-founder and partner at Moore & Lee LLP in McLean, and he crisscrosses the United States representing clients in cases ranging from healthcare to corporate litigation to construction law. Read the full story

Moore & Lee is pleased to announce that John Bertino and Danielle Lubin have joined the firm as Associates.  John graduated from The George Washington University School of Law in 2018.  He worked as a Summer Associate at Moore & Lee in 2017.  Danielle graduated from Suffolk University Law School in 2018.