Our Attorneys

Daniel A. Dorfman

Daniel A. Dorfman is a Capital Partner and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Chambers-ranked Construction Law Group. Daniel is individually named among the leading construction law attorneys by Chambers USA. His practice includes litigation and arbitration of construction disputes through trial, drafting and negotiating design and construction agreements, serving as outside general counsel to construction businesses, and representing policyholders in insurance coverage disputes.

Daniel has extensive experience handling complex construction disputes in state and federal courts and in arbitration around the country. He is admitted in Illinois and New York and appears pro hac vice wherever his clients build. His matters include claims involving project delay and acceleration, construction and design defects, changes and cumulative impact, payment and retainage disputes, mechanics liens and bond claims, ground lease and lease disputes, breach of warranty and indemnity, and insurance coverage. He handles those claims for owners, developers, and general contractors. His projects run from stadiums, arenas, and practice facilities to high-rise residential and condominium towers, hotels and resorts, office and retail buildings, data centers, cold storage and industrial facilities, airports, and EPC and utility infrastructure.

Daniel’s work often begins before a complaint is filed. He is brought in at the first sign of trouble on a project to develop and document the client’s claims, evaluate the claims asserted against it, and create the settlement pressure that resolves a matter before the cost of litigation. When a case has to be tried, he tries it. He has obtained a directed verdict at a bench trial, a defense verdict in arbitration, and resolutions reached on the eve of trial and after opening statements.

Daniel’s transactional practice covers the full range of design and construction agreements: general contractor and construction manager at risk agreements, guaranteed maximum price agreements, design and engineering agreements, EPC agreements, prime subcontract and FF&E forms, project management and development management agreements, and consulting agreements. He builds integrated families of forms that clients reuse across a program of projects rather than negotiating each one from scratch. His current engagements carry more than $9 billion in project value, including a $7 billion sports and entertainment district redevelopment, the $1 billion modernization of an NFL stadium and training campus, a $450 million research facility, a $300 million residential tower, a $250 million ballpark district development, and a $150 million professional practice facility.

As outside general counsel to construction businesses, developers, and hospitality owners, Daniel handles the construction work along with the employment, real estate, and corporate questions that come with running the business. Those clients get on-demand legal support without the overhead of in-house counsel.

In addition to Daniel’s construction and general counsel practice, Daniel has a related Policyholder/Insurance Coverage practice representing insureds in securing millions of dollars of coverage, both within and outside of the construction industry, in insurance coverage disputes. Those policies include commercial general liability, errors and omissions and professional liability, directors and officers, project specific and manuscript, first party, and nonprofit liability.

Daniel is a LEED Green Associate and represents clients who construct green buildings.

Daniel is a Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America, a member of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Construction Law, and a regional contributing editor of the AGC and ABA State Law Matrix. Daniel is a frequent presenter, author and academic lecturer on construction law topics, including presenting on Construction Law at such academic institutions as Northwestern School of Law. He chairs the Government Relations Committee for the Chicagoland Associated General Contractors and sits on its Board. Daniel is a founding Board Member and Secretary of the Fulton Market District Improvement Association, whose board includes some of the largest developers and hospitality owners in the Chicago market.

For more than 20 years Daniel has led construction matters nationwide, on projects ranging from signature sports venues and high-rise towers to airports, industrial plants, and utility infrastructure, and in

Daniel represents owners, developers, and general contractors across the country. Representative engagements include:

Representative Litigation and Arbitration Engagements

• Represented owner of a condominium tower on Miami Beach, Florida in a mechanics lien action tried to the bench, obtaining a directed verdict after cross-examination established that the subcontractor had sold all of its assets, including the lien, to a separate entity. Dorfman entered the case three months before trial over an opposed pro hac vice application and with the court unwilling to grant a continuance, and filed counterclaims of $16.5 million for negligence, backcharges for defective work, and delay.
• Represented a wire and cable supplier in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on claims for breach of indemnity and express warranty against a manufacturer that supplied defective product, obtaining a ruling that the client had no obligation to prove an underlying defect as a matter of law and narrowing a $4.5 million case to a single question for the jury.
• Represented a hotel operator as tenant in a ground lease forfeiture and eviction action in Davidson County, Tennessee brought on a claimed technical default for building condition. The case was worked up through the eve of trial, when the landlord voluntarily dismissed it.
• Served on the trial team for the design-builder of a $1 billion expansion and renovation of an international airport in Washington, in a $60 million delay and scope suit that drew counterclaims exceeding $100 million.
• Represented the hotel owner in a mixed-use condominium in New York (Manhattan) across from United Nations headquarters in a $24 million capital expenditure dispute, defeating a demand that the client fund a share of a $200 million renovation program presented outside the condominium declaration. Resolved at mediation.
• Represented the design-builder of a $50 million hospital renovation and reopening in Illinois in an $8 million mechanics lien foreclosure against $10 million in fraud and breach counterclaims and a lender’s competing priority position, on the unsettled question of when work sufficiently improves a property to prime a secured creditor.
• Represented one of the largest owners and operators of quality apartment communities in the U.S. in obtaining a multimillion-dollar settlement in a construction defects case in California against contractors and subcontractors arising from tile and flooring claims involving a multifamily property. The favorable outcome allowed the client to save the project, keep the property in its portfolio and retain its value.
• Represented owner of a large office and hotel property in New York (Manhattan) in arbitration over mechanical and HVAC claims, obtaining a favorable settlement after opening statements.
• Represented a Chicago landmark hotel-owner in obtaining a multimillion-dollar settlement on the eve of trial in a construction defects case against general contractor and design professional arising from renovation of guest rooms and related mechanical claims in Illinois. The timely settlement permitted the client to complete the renovation, retaining the value of its investment.
• Obtained favorable settlement for a general contractor in Illinois in a multimillion-dollar dispute filed by neighboring property owner on allegations that client’s commercial office building was structurally unsound. The client was vindicated, and the neighboring property owner was required to pay attorneys’ fees.
• Represented and successfully defended developer in a building envelope construction defect case brought by condominium association involving a ground-up new construction condominium in Illinois.
• Represented owner and successfully obtained a defense verdict in arbitration on behalf of owner in substantial lien claim on an office renovation project.
• Represented one of the largest general contractors in the country in obtaining a favorable settlement arising out of coverage denial related to the construction of an upscale shopping mall in Illinois.

Representative Transactional Engagements

• Lead construction counsel for the owner of a $7 billion, 55-acre mixed-use redevelopment of a sports and entertainment district in Illinois, approved by the Chicago City Council in February 2025, beginning with a music hall and structured parking. (Design, construction, project management)
• Lead construction counsel for the owner of a $1 billion modernization of an NFL stadium in North Carolina, together with a new training facility and fieldhouse, delivered in part with prefabricated modular assembly. (GC, GMP, architect, engineering, consultants)
• Construction counsel to a WNBA franchise for a $150 million practice facility and executive office building in California. (Preconstruction, GMP, design, engineering, consultants, permitting)
• Construction counsel to a minor league baseball club for a $250 million mixed-use development replacing surface parking in Kentucky, including residential, retail, and office space. (All construction agreements)
• Lead construction counsel to a developer for a $300 million, 39-story residential tower with approximately 517 units and ground-floor retail in Florida. (Design and construction)
• An NFL Stadium for Owner. (Design, construction, project management)
• A ground-up Miami, Florida apartment complex for Owner. (Design and construction)
• Data Center in Utah for General Contractor. (Design and construction)
• Cold Storage facilities for General Contractor (suite of construction/design forms)
• A global hospitality management and real estate group for the first modular built hotels in the U.S., located in California. (Construction management, construction, design)
• A healthy foods vendor in a multifloor commercial office space build-out in Chicago’s culinary incubator housed within a Chicago historic 1920’s building. (Design and construction)
• A leading restaurateur for a Tribeca (NY) build-out of new outpost for his renowned diner serving one of America’s most critically acclaimed burgers. (Design, consulting, construction)
• A national boutique real estate development company/owner for construction of a multimillion-dollar mixed-use retail/commercial/apartments project in Illinois. (Construction)
• A boutique hotel renovation and construction firm specializing in upper mid-scale to luxury spaces, acting as general contractor, for multiple major branded hotel renovation projects nationwide. (Owner-contractor, subcontract forms)
• A Chicago-based real estate investment company/owner for multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Arizona five-star hotel and also ensuring timely delivery of design drawings. (Multiple construction, design agreements)
• A design/builder for renovation of flagship hotels throughout the U.S., including creating forms for design/builders to use on their future mixed-use and hotel renovation projects. (Construction, design)
• The owner and operator of the largest underground parking system in the U.S. for construction of new parking garages and upgrades. (EPC, infrastructure)
• A real estate investment group/owner for project management of cold storage (food temperature) facility in Florida. (Project management services)
• A New York-based real estate finance and investment management firm for development of new Missouri entertainment, office, and residential facility. (Construction manager (not at risk), design, construction, consulting)

Representative Insurance Coverage Engagements

Daniel represents insureds and has resolved insurance coverage disputes involving commercial general liability, errors and omissions, D&O, professional liability, project specific and manuscript, first party, association and nonprofit liability policies on behalf of:

• A policyholder in successfully obtaining reimbursement of legal fees against insurer who declined coverage and filed declaratory judgment of no coverage in underlying dispute involving construction of a new retail shopping mall in Chicago, Illinois.
• A general contractor in obtaining summary judgment dismissal against insurer in subrogation action involving alleged construction defects on core and shell of 10-story retail property.
• Client in obtaining declaratory judgment ruling against insurer on the issue of duty to defend in underlying action involving construction of the largest airport runway in the U.S.
• Owners of new construction townhome community in obtaining a favorable settlement in an underlying construction dispute in which insurers refused to provide coverage.
• A client-insured in a first-party coverage dispute where insurer denied indemnity obligation based on alleged exclusionary language in policy.

• “Protecting Projects: Safeguarding Against Subcontractor Default” – Co-Author, Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) Building Profits Magazine (March/April 2026)
• “Associated General Contractors of America/American Bar Association’s Forum on the Construction Industry State Law Matrix,” Regional Contributing Editor (July 2021 to present)
• “Strategically Navigating the Commercial Real Estate Tax Appeal Process During Construction Defect Litigation” Under Construction, a publication of the American Bar Association, Vol. 22, No. 3, Spring 2021
• “Negotiate and Draft – ‘Pass-Through’ Clauses You Can Live With” – TileLetter, the official publication of the National Tile Contractors Association, Inc. (NCTA) (December 2019)
• “New Protection for Illinois Contractors – The Buck Stops at Contractual Privity” – TileLetter, the official publication of the National Tile Contractors Association, Inc. (NCTA) (May 2019)
• “Bonds and the Construction Process” – TileLetter, the official publication of the National Tile Contractors Association, Inc. (NTCA) (December 2018)
• “Illinois Retainage Reform Bill Defeated – Senate Bill 3052 Would Have Mandated 5% Retainage Limit in Private Construction Contracts” – Building Chicagoland, the annual magazine of the Chicagoland Associated General Contractors (AGC) (Fall 2018)
• “Green Risks and Rewards: Managing Legal Issues on Sustainable Projects” – TileLetter, the official publication of the National Tile Contractors Association, Inc. (NTCA) (September 2018)
• “Are P3s Truly a Better Project Delivery Method to Fix our Ailing Infrastructure? The Trump Administration May Think So” – Under Construction, ABA Forum on Construction Law, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Summer 2017)
• “Using Magic Words: Understanding Pay-If-Paid vs. Paid-When-Paid Clauses in Construction Agreements” – Builders Blueprint, a publication of the Builders Association and the Associated General Contractors of America (April 11, 2017)
• “Titles and Liability: The Latest on Illinois Mechanics Lien Act” – Building Chicago Magazine (December 2015)
• Removing Cloud of Title, But Adding Cloud of Additional Liability (August 20, 2015)
• Chapter 1: “What is Green Building 101,” Green Building and the Construction Lawyer — ABA (October 2014)
• “What’s Your Status?” – ABA, Insurance Coverage Litigation (July 2011)