Legal Issues for Tennessee Civil Engineers and Land Surveyors
Agenda
Webinar instructions will be emailed before the date of the webinar.
Please log into the webinar 15 – 30 minutes before start time.
Day One: Tuesday, December 14, 2021
8:30 am – 1:00 pm EST (including a 30-min. break)
Day Two: Wednesday, December 15, 2021
8:30 am – 1:00 pm EST (including a 30-min. break)
Legal Issues for Tennessee Civil Engineers and Land Surveyors Day One
Tuesday, December 14, 2021 | 8:30 am – 1:00 pm EDT (including 30-mins. of break)
Complying with Rules of Professional Conduct V. McConnell
Sealing of documents
Standards for responsible charge of engineering work
Unauthorized practice of engineering
Complying with professional codes of conduct under Tennessee law
State and Local Tools to Address Public Nuisance Properties S. Barlow
City and county code enforcement V. Sawyer
• Building code
• Property maintenance
• Abandonment/Condemnation
Tennessee Neighborhood Preservation Act
• In rem proceedings against public nuisance properties
• Compliance requirements
• Receiverships of vacant and abandoned properties
Environmental Laws and How They Work B.H. Knight
Legal primer – the “basics” and the “drivers”
Brief history and importance of CERCLA (Superfund)
Applicability to real estate transactions – legal defenses
Importance of due diligence – phase I and II assessments
Limiting liability: Brownfield voluntary agreements
Legal Issues for Tennessee Civil Engineers and Land Surveyors Day Two
Wednesday, December 15 2021 | 8:30 am – 1:00 pm EDT (including 30-mins. of break)
Handling Ethical Issues V. McConnell
Promoting health and welfare vs. managing risk: complimentary or conflicting duties?
Protecting the environment: meeting or exceeding legal requirements
Watching the bottom line: identifying and balancing economic pressures in design and construction
Integrating new technologies: identifying and balancing the benefits and risks
Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law J.K. Walsh
Understanding eminent domain powers K. Conway
• Source of eminent domain powers
• History of the exercise of eminent domain powers
• Types of eminent domain “takings”
Participating in the condemnation process
Understanding regulatory “takings” and inverse condemnation
Understanding Riparian and Water Rights B. Savage
History and development of riparian rights
Determining land boundaries near the water line
Determining access rights to surface waters
Determining rights to groundwater
Overview of regulations restricting access to and use of surface water and groundwater
Understanding Basic Principles of Boundary Law B. Savage
Determine the intent of the grantor
Follow the steps of the original surveyor
Evaluating boundary evidence
Legal descriptions, natural monuments, artificial monuments, adjoining boundaries,
surveys and maps, statements and testimony
Methods for resolving boundary disputes
Webinar Instructions
All attendees must log-on through their own email – attendees may not watch together if they wish to earn continuing education credit. HalfMoon Education Inc. must be able to prove attendance if either the attendee or HalfMoon Education Inc. is audited.
Certificates of completion can be downloaded in PDF form upon passing a short quiz. A link to the quiz will be sent to each qualifying attendee immediately after the webinar. The certificate can be downloaded from the Results page of the quiz upon scoring 80% or higher.
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Credits
Tennessee Civil Engineers &
Professional Engineers
8.0 HSW PDHs
Tennessee Land Surveyors
8.0 PDHs
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public and offers 8.0 HSW PDHs to civil and professional engineers in Tennessee. Educators and courses are not subject to preapproval in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors has approved this course for 8.0 PDHs.
Completion certificates will be awarded to participants who complete this event, respond to prompts and earn a passing score (80%) on the quiz that follows the presentation (multiple attempts allowed).
Speakers
Steve Barlow
Attorney, President and Co-Founder of Neighborhood Preservation, Inc.
Neighborhood Preservation, Inc, is a Memphis-based policy advocacy nonprofit that clears the path for neighborhood revitalization by addressing the root causes of blighted properties. Mr. Barlow has been involved in community organizing, legislative advocacy and community development efforts in Memphis since 1995 and frequently consults with local, statewide, and national leaders to develop legislative and practical resolutions to the challenges brought on by vacancy and abandonment of real estate.
Kannon C. Conway
Attorney and Member at Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh, PLLC
Mr. Conway defends property owners in actions in which governmental authorities exercise the power of eminent domain. He is the current Tennessee-affiliate member of the Owners’ Counsel of America, a national association of lawyers dedicated to protecting the rights of property owners faced with an eminent domain action. Mr. Conway has presented at national seminars on eminent domain and land valuation litigation.
B. Hart Knight
Attorney and Partner at Butler Snow
Mr. Knight practices in Butler Snow’s Toxic Torts and Environmental Litigation Group. He has represented a wide variety of environmental clients including construction companies, financial institutions, manufacturing facilities, electric utility systems, real estate developers and energy companies. His experience ranges from state enforcement actions to the defense of federal citizen suits to matters of regulatory compliance and environmental remediation and brownfield projects. Throughout his practice, he has focused on issues involving the Clean Water Act, RCRA, CERCLA, ESA, TSCA (PCBs), FTC greenwashing and water allocation matters.
Vic L. Mcconnell
Vic L. McConnell is a Partner with Smith Cashion & Orr, PLC in Nashville, TN. Mr. McConnell represents owners, developers, contractors, and design professionals and concentrates his practice in the areas of construction litigation and design professional defense. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Auburn University and a Master of Science degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Mr. McConnell also received a Master of Science degree in Environmental Management from Samford University and a J.D. degree from Samford’s Cumberland School of Law. Prior to obtaining his law degree, Mr. McConnell worked in the construction industry as a design engineer/project manager with several engineering-consulting firms in the southeast. Mr. McConnell is a registered professional engineer and a LEED® AP. Furthermore, he is a member of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers Nashville Chapter, is a Board Member of AGC of Tennessee, and has served as board member and president of the Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel. Mr. McConnell has co-authored several publications related to construction law including the Tennessee chapter of State-by-State Guide to Construction Contracts and Claims (Aspen Publishers). Mr. McConnell also teaches Construction Law and Contracts as an adjunct professor for Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering.
Barry E. Savage, PLS
Survey Products Group Manager with Tennessee Valley Authority in Chattanooga, TNPrior to his service at TVA, Mr. Savage was in private survey practice for 10 years specializing in dispute resolution and expert witness services. He has surveyed several disputed state boundaries to resolve jurisdictional conflicts. Mr. Savage is an adjunct professor at Cleveland State Community College where he teaches courses in boundary law, geodesy, GIS, and surveying fundamentals. He has researched and retraced the historical surveys of Henry David Thoreau and has published several articles on the subject. Mr. Savage teaches exam review and continuing education seminars at various state and local conferences across the country.
Vincent Sawyer
Staff Attorney at Neighborhood Preservation, Inc., Memphis, TN
In this position, Mr. Sawyer conducts legal research and analysis, assembles and files case materials with the courts and drafts legal agreements, motions and memoranda. He also assists with drafting and implementation strategies for local ordinances and state law. As co-chair of Memphis’s Blight Elimination Steering Team’s (BEST) Code Committee, Mr. Sawyer focuses on code enforcement and anti-blight interventions and coordinates public and private-sector neighborhood maintenance and community development efforts. His work deploys compatible blight fighting tools, strategies, and initiatives across different departments and agencies and in concert with nonprofit, civic and business partners.
J. Kevin Walsh
Member at Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh, PLLC
For over 40 years, Mr. Walsh has represented hundreds of property owners in cases involving the taking of property by governmental authorities exercising the power of eminent domain. In addition to his work with property owners, he also has significant experience representing governmental authorities in eminent domain proceedings. He is the Tennessee member of Owners’ Counsel of America, a national association of leading eminent domain attorneys across the United States. Mr. Walsh frequently shares his experience with others by lecturing on eminent domain issues.