David C. Petrone

Dave is the former Counsel to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Northeast Region. During his over 25-year tenure with the Navy, he was responsible for leading a staff of attorneys in the defense of contractor bid protests, claims, and appeals. In addition, he was involved with the development, review, and administration of construction, facility support, environmental remediation, and public private venture contracts, to include providing legal counsel with respect to the negotiation, resolution and litigation of complex construction/design issues. In this role, he also provided his clients training related to federal contract law, contract/project management, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), and ethics.

After his tenure with the Navy, as the (first and) sole counsel/director for contracts and risk management for a privately held multifaceted engineering company, Dave continued to provide legal counsel relating to the formation, negotiation, and administration of both public and private Architect, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) contracts, including but not limited to the development of teaming/joint venture, confidentiality, (surety) Takeover/Tender, novation, and change of name agreements.

Dave favors the practice of preventive law to reduce the potential for disputes and conflicts, where the client, and not a judge or arbiter, is the ultimate decision-maker on managing risks. If issues arise, however, he attempts to resolve them through negotiation before a client needs to consider the commencement of a more formal adversarial process.