91视频

A lot of legal firms practice construction law. But when it comes to the field of Dirt Law, one firm stands alone.

The phrase is more than a simple description of an area of law that the Portland area firm now known as Jordan Ramis specializes in. The trademarked name is a brand, part of a savvy marketing approach that has defined the firm almost since it formed 50 years ago.

Back then, the firm was known as Myatt & Bolliger.

“Like most startups, they probably tried to do whatever was necessary fairly early on,” Jordan Ramis managing shareholder Steve Shropshire said.

In its first 15 years, the firm changed its name and its location, moving to Cedar Hills Boulevard in Beaverton. It also began to change direction, focusing more on the field of construction law while embracing ideas and approaches that weren’t always in line with other Portland area law firms.

“Lawyers in general are known to be a fairly traditional, even stodgy, bunch in terms of embracing change,” Shropshire said. “Even as early as 10 years ago, there were firms that did not understand or embrace the need for marketing. It was considered beneath the profession to do educational sessions; it was frowned upon.”

Jordan Ramis, however, saw opportunity in taking a different path. The firm trademarked the phrase “Dirt Law” to describe its focus on construction law, and reached out to the building industry with seminars and workshops.

As the firm’s construction law practice matured, so did its approach to recruiting attorneys, hiring law school graduates and attorneys that had hands-on experience in the construction industry.

Firm shareholder and Dirt Law group member John Hickey was one of those hires.

Before Hickey received a law degree at the University of Oregon and hung out his shingle, he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Massachusetts. One of his first jobs was on the Big Dig project in Boston, where he was privy to large-scale contract negotiations with big-name subcontractor and design firms as well as major public agencies.

That insider’s view of how projects come together even before the first shovel of dirt is turned over allowed him to bring a unique perspective to Jordan Ramis when he joined the firm in 2002.

“I call on that experience now (as a construction lawyer) even more than I can on my design experience,” Hickey said. “Dealing with the ins and outs of a public works job as a big constructor is more similar to what I do day to day as a lawyer.”

That revelation would likely surprise most people, whose perceptions about construction lawyers has been shaped by prime-time television and the media.

“Nowadays, when you tell people you’re a construction lawyer, they assume you’re dealing with water intrusion issues, and you’re either suing contractors or representing them in construction defect cases,” Hickey said.

Jordan Ramis, however, has chosen not to focus its main efforts in construction law on litigation, Hickey said. While some of his practice does deal with litigation and alternative dispute resolution, he and other attorneys in the firm’s Dirt Law group also help companies and public agencies deal with the day-to-day details of working on construction projects. It’s an area that Hickey says has become more complex in recent years.

“More and more public bodies are turning to alternative procurement methods, rather than competitive low bids 鈥� more design-build, more CM-GC 鈥� where there’s a realization that a project will be better overall if you get a contractor in early,” Hickey said. “We’re now seeing public bodies of every size heading in that direction, where it used to be just larger ones. I think we’ll probably see more of that in the future.”

The public procurement process, for example, has become more complex for both contractors and the public agencies they work for, according to Hickey.

“You have a lot of boxes to check as a contractor submitting a bid,” he said. “For a lot of them, you need to do it exactly right; if you don’t, you take a huge risk. You take a lot of time to prepare a bid, and you’re not going to get it.”

Despite carefully preparing documents and filling them out, disputes still arise between contactors and public agencies. But even the nature of those disputes has changed since Hickey began practicing construction law.

“The days of big construction trials are, for the most part, gone,” Hickey said. “A lot of construction companies 鈥� and (project) owners too 鈥� have gotten a lot more sophisticated. They understand the cost of going through litigation, that’s a distraction.”

Instead, a growing number of parties that traditionally would have been involved in lawsuits are now choosing to go through alternative dispute resolution with an arbitrator.

Hickey finds the most satisfaction when a case he’s involved in can be solved with the latter approach. It’s also the route that he feels he’s most skilled at as an arbitrator. He’s been with project owners in rooms as they’ve made certain decisions. He’s worked on sites with subcontractors and journeymen. The experiences give him a unique perspective.

“I understand the relationships and personalities on the other side (of the table),” he said. “So I’m able to focus on the relationship of a dispute and get a good outcome. When you have an owner and a contractor in a dispute, having been on both sides, understanding that balance has been beneficial.”

The law firm name game

1963 鈥� The law firm of Myatt and Bolliger opens its doors.

1972 鈥� A professional corporation is named Myatt, Bolliger & Hampton PC.

1974 鈥� The firm name changes to Myatt, Bolliger, Hampton & Tarlow PC.

1975 鈥� The firm drops Myatt from its name.

1978 鈥� Bolliger, Hampton & Tarlow PC moves to 1600 S.W. Cedar Hills Blvd. in Beaverton.

1982 鈥� The firm tweaks its name again, becoming Bolliger, Hampton & Tarlow, A Professional Corporation.

1993 鈥� Another name change is made, this time to Tarlow, Jordan & Schrader.

1993 鈥� On the heels of another name change, the firm launches a trademarked brand called Dirt Law.

1997 鈥� The firm moves to Kruse Woods in Lake Oswego.

1999 鈥� Another move is made, this time to the firm’s current offices on Centerpointe Drive.

2001 鈥� A new shingle is chosen for the firm: Jordan Schrader PC

2007 鈥� The firm adds Ramis to its name, becoming known as Jordan Schrader Ramis.

2011 鈥� The firm adopts its current moniker of Jordan Ramis.