Bio
Jacob is experienced in advising and acting on behalf of various players within the construction industry. While most of his practice focuses on litigation and alternative forms of dispute resolution, including mediation, arbitration, and adjudication, he is routinely involved in drafting and reviewing construction contracts for clients across many sectors.
Jacob has acted as counsel in leading and supporting roles on numerous court and arbitral proceedings involving disputes on large, multi-disciplinary infrastructure projects, including underground tunneling, light rail, steelworks, hospital redevelopment, and highway expansion and rehabilitation.
Jacob is actively involved with various leadership organizations and often lectures on topics such as construction tendering and contracts, prompt payment and adjudication, and construction delay claims. Jacob is also currently serving on the Executive of the Ontario Bar Association Construction and Infrastructure Law Section as a Member-at-Large.
Memberships
- Ontario Bar Association, Construction and Infrastructure Law Section, Executive (Member-at-Large)
Representative Work
- Counsel for a participant in the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry, which investigated the commercial and technical circumstances that led to certain breakdowns and derailments.
- Ad hoc arbitration relating to the manufacture and supply of light rail vehicles to a major public infrastructure project
- Complex multi-party litigation relating to the redevelopment and construction of a new hospital
- Ad hoc arbitration in respect of a tunneling project involving a general contractor and municipality
- Counsel for other lawyers in respect of alleged professional negligence in handling of construction law matters
Representative Publications
- “Portable Classrooms Are “Improvements” under the Construction Act" Building Insight - Glaholt Bowles LLP Newsletter, Spring 2023 (Issue 22).
- J. McClelland, Building Contracts, in O'Brien's Encyclopedia of Forms, 11th ed., Division I, Commercial and General, Chapter 21 (Thomson Reuters, 2023).
- “A Home Under Renovation is Not Necessarily “Under Construction”: Ontario Court of Appeal" Building Insight - Glaholt Bowles LLP Newsletter, Summer 2021 (Issue 16).
- “Newfoundland Court of Appeal and Ontario Superior of Justice Clarify Scope of Builder’s Risk Insurance Policies” (2019) Canadian College of Construction Lawyers Legal Update, 153.
- Podcast - “Episode 19: COVID-19, Ontario’s Essential Workplaces and the Suspension of Limitation Periods and Procedural Time Periods” Building Insight Podcast, April 17, 2020.
- Podcast - “Episode 14: Adjudication” Building Insight Podcast, October 22, 2020.