Attorneys

James F. Butler, IIIPartner

JAMES F. BUTLER is a partner with the Atlanta law firm of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP in the firm’s Construction and Environmental Litigation Department.  He is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Kentucky College of Law.  He is admitted to practice in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas.

His practice is concentrated in the negotiation, arbitration and litigation of hazardous waste issues and construction contracts.  He has experience with a variety of sites and projects, including power plants, water and wastewater systems, airports, office buildings, casinos, semiconductor facilities, food processing facilities, schools, condominiums, prisons, highways, manufacturing and industrial plants, hospitals, asbestos abatement projects, superfund sites, and government facilities. 

Mr. Butler writes and speaks on construction contract claims, the quantification of damages, claims avoidance, design-build projects, environmental auditing, alternative dispute resolution, indoor air quality, and asbestos abatement contracts.  He has conducted seminars for the American Bar Association, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the American Consulting Engineers Council, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and  Air Conditioning Engineers, the Florida Bar, the Construction Industry Forum Committee, the Construction Superconference, the National Asbestos Council, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Texas, the Texas State Department of Transportation, the Department of the Army, the National Solid Waste Management Association, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute.  In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor at the College of Architecture of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He is a mediator for the American Arbitration Association and a member of its Construction Industry National Panel of Arbitrators, and has completed Harvard Law School’s Advanced Mediation Training.  He is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Construction Industry Forum Committee, and the International Bar Association’s Committee on International Construction Contracts.  He is a contributing author to Alternative Clauses to Standard Construction Contracts, Design-Build Contracting Handbook and The AGC Environmental Risk Management Procedures Manual.