A conflict check for a construction expert is not the same inquiry as a law firm's conflicts search. An attorney's database is built around clients and adverse parties. A construction expert's conflicts sit in project history: which buildings the team has worked on, which design and construction firms they have worked with or for, which carriers they know and where each person worked before joining PCC.
This post explains what PCC checks on its side, what we need from the requesting party to run the check and how long it takes. It also explains why we ask that no case facts be sent until the check is cleared.
What PCC Checks
Every name and project in a request is checked against the firm and against each individual on the team who may work on the matter. Much of our team's experience comes from careers at other firms before PCC, so the check covers that earlier work too.
- Prior involvement with the same project. Has anyone on the team worked on this building, site or project before, for any party? A past inspection, design review, estimate or informal consultation can matter even if it had nothing to do with the current dispute.
- Relationships with the parties. We check the named parties and the entities behind them: parent companies, affiliated developers and shared ownership groups. On construction projects, entities that look unrelated on a caption often share owners or managers.
- Design and construction firms on the project. Architects, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers are checked by name. Our team members have worked alongside many firms in the region over their careers. A current or recent working relationship with a firm whose work is in question needs to be known before the engagement starts.
- Insurance carriers. Carriers for the owner, the contractors and the design professionals are checked for any current business with PCC or with individual team members.
- The team's prior employers and projects. If a party or a project traces back to a firm where one of our people used to work, we look at what that person did there and when. Some of these connections are no issue at all. Others mean that person should stay off the matter.
- Other consultants on the case. If either side has already brought in experts or consultants, we check for shared projects, shared employment or ongoing referral relationships with them.
A connection found in the check does not always rule PCC out. Some can be disclosed and resolved. Either way, the requesting party hears about it at the start instead of in the middle of the engagement.
What We Need From You
The check runs on a short list of names. That is deliberate: enough to search against without sharing anything about the dispute itself.
- A list of the parties, including any related entities you know of.
- The project name and street address.
- The consultants and experts the parties have already retained, if known.
- Counsel for each party, if known.
If the design team, the contractors or the carriers are known, include them. A fuller name list gives a more reliable result.
How Long It Takes
All submissions are held in strict confidence and reviewed within one business day. If a conflict does turn up, the outcome is usually a same-day referral rather than a delayed "maybe." A fast no is more useful to a case timeline than a slow one.
Why No Case Facts Before Clearance
We ask that no documents, reports, photos or descriptions of the dispute be sent until the check is cleared. If a conflict turns up after facts have been shared, PCC is holding information from a side it cannot work for. That is a problem for everyone involved and it is easy to avoid by keeping the first step to names and a project address.
Questions about privilege are for counsel to handle. Our part is to keep the intake clean so the question does not come up.
None of this replaces a law firm's own conflicts process. It is the added layer that a construction team's project history and industry relationships call for. Running it first is a small step that protects the engagement.
This article is a general informational overview, not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client or expert-client relationship. PCC is a construction forensics and construction management firm, not a law firm. Rely on your counsel for how any rule applies to your matter.
