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About the Curriculum
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Fundamental Courses--Bidding or Negotiation Phase Risk Management
This course will provide design professionals with useful tips and best practices to use during the bidding and negotiation phase. This phase involves assisting the owner throughout the process, from obtaining bids all the way through helping the owner and owner's legal counsel with awarding the construction contract.
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Concepts in Risk Management
This course is the foundation for all risk management learning. Design professionals will learn the basics of identifying project risks and important ways to manage those risks to minimize unfavorable outcomes. Learn about the sources of project risk and gain a better understanding of strategic options in risk management.
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Construction Phase Risk Management
This course will show design professionals the importance of managing risk early and clearly within the contract documents and the selection of the contractor. It will help design professionals navigate important risk management procedures that align with the roles and responsibilities of the design professional versus the contractor.
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Developing the Capacity to Manage Risk
Managing risk in a design firm requires a commitment to best practices. This course will help design firms honestly assess their current capacity for managing risk and assist firms in developing important best practices and implementing robust capabilities for successful future practice.
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Evaluation of Projects and Clients
Design firms must carefully evaluate whether a project is really the best fit from a risk management perspective. This means projects should be evaluated from a number of perspectives, including whether or not the design professional can effectively add value during the planning, design, and construction phases. Similarly, the design professional must consider whether or not the project meets the firm's goals with respect to geographic location, project type, potential profitability, likelihood of disputes or problems, enhancement of reputation, and the prospect that the project will lead to future work. This course will support design firms in considering these implications.
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Legal Liability of Design Professionals
Professional liability consists of those obligations that are, or will be, legally enforceable and that arise out of the performance of, or failure to perform, professional services by the design professional. This course will provide an overview of the legal principles underlying professional liability and will help design professionals recognize the implications in practice.
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Lessons Learned--How Case Law Informs Prudent Practice
This course will review cases involving a number of issues affecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Course content will discuss licensure issues faced by individuals and firms engaged in multi-state practice; how courts interpret and apply contracts on construction projects to protect the rights of project participants; and the insurance available to design professionals to protect owners and the public in the event of negligence on the part of a design professional.
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Planning Phase and Design Phase Risk Management
Project planning begins with development of a clear, coherent definition of the project along with a plan for performing the scope of services provided for in the owner-design professional agreement. This course addresses the design professional's contractual and functional responsibilities in performing planning and design services under the EJCDC and AIA standard forms of agreement and emphasizes those activities that are critical to effective risk management.
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Understanding the Value of Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability (PL) policies are designed for a specific risk-the risk of loss caused by the negligent performance of professional services. Design professionals and their clients need to understand the unique features of the PL policy and how to effectively transfer the risk of negligent performance when specifying PL insurance requirements. This course will explain "claims-made" coverage, the extent of contractual liability coverage, and how broad indemnity obligations challenge coverage, among other topics.
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Intermediate Courses--Alternative Methods for Project Delivery
As market forces and technological innovations change design and construction, alternative methods of project delivery have become more popular. The traditional design-bid-build project delivery process includes procedures and legal requirements that are well-known. In this course, learn how the sequential approach to project delivery is being challenged by varying forms of construction management, program management, design-build, bridging, and integrated project delivery.
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Contracts for Professional Services
Clear, concise contract terms substantially reduce the risk of business and financial disputes, as well as the risk of professional liability claims with clients. Contracts have long been recognized as essential risk management tools. This course provides an overview and discussion of the types of contracts and project-specific and general contract terms commonly used in the procurement of professional services.
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Design Liability in a Changing Climate
Society faces rapid climate change and extreme weather events, and antiquated codes and standards do not adequately address the demands of climate volatility. This course can help design professionals understand their legal duty to meet an ever-changing standard of care while responding to climate change in a way that puts the security and well-being of users and the community above the immediate financial interests of the client to design to minimum standards. Design professionals must also understand the legal environment where foreseeability of harm and the duty to design to a higher standard of care may increase their professional liability exposure beyond their contractual liability exposure.
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Dispute Prevention and Resolution
This course will focus on success in preventing disputes and mitigating those that cannot be prevented through appropriate action when a dispute occurs. Managing the risks and consequences of disputes affects the ability of all parties involved on a project to put a capital asset in place. Disputes also risk delays, deficient design or construction, or project compromises that could impact public health and safety.
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Managing the Claims Process
Professionals who have had lawsuits filed against them say they would have been less anxious if they had known more about what to expect during the claims handling process. This course will familiarize firms with the sequence of events in a typical claim, and provide advice on how best to assist in defending the claim. It will also provide advice on what not to do. Having this knowledge can help firms obtain a greater sense of control and reduce the stress of a claim and its impact on their professional practice.
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Managing the Risks of Various Project Delivery Methods
Design firms must understand their role on a project and how it is essential to successfully manage their risks. The project delivery method, whether it is design/bid/build, design/build, public-private partnerships, or integrated project delivery, sets up the role of design firms and the relationships they have with other project stakeholders. This course examines different delivery methods, the typical roles design firms have in each setting, and how to successfully manage a client's expectations and the risks that the design professional may have.
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Negotiating Contracts with Clients
This course examines the riskiest provisions design firms face in client-generated professional services agreements, focusing on onerous provisions that corrupt the standard of care, transform normally insurable professional services into uninsured contractual responsibilities, or create risk and cost-shifting obligations that exceed professional liability insurance coverage. Examples from Schinnerer's experiences reviewing contracts for policyholders are compared to standard language in the AIA and EJCDC agreement forms and focus on the contractual intent and associated risks of many client-generated provisions.
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Tailoring an Insurance Program for Your Firm Needs
This course will discuss those insurance policies unrelated to professional liability coverage that are essential in helping a design firm successfully manage the risk of unforeseen events. It will also discuss the role of cyber and privacy policies that provide coverage for business liability for a data breach involving sensitive information. At a time when firms are increasingly sharing digital information, firms need to understand their responsibilities to safeguard sensitive information and how cyber policies play a key role in protecting both the public and the client from harm.