Ross Altman focuses his practice on construction, real estate, and international sales. He chairs the transactional side of the firm's Construction Law group.

Mr. Altman represents owners, contractors, design professionals, lenders, and others in matters ranging from drafting and negotiation of contracts to resolution of disputes and claims. He also counsels clients in the business structure, financing, and administration of construction projects, often utilizing alternate methods of project delivery such as design/build, engineer/procure/construct, build/operate/transfer, construction management, multiple prime contracts, and various hybrid or innovative approaches. His representative construction projects include pulp and paper plants, petroleum refineries and other large industrial facilities, highways and infrastructure projects, stadiums, medical complexes, high-rise buildings, commercial and retail structures, resorts, hotels, and mixed use developments. He has worked on projects located throughout North America and in South America, Europe, and Asia, and is involved in public-private partnerships.

Mr. Altman was general counsel of a major global equipment manufacturer and EPC contractor of pulp and paper plants, with annual sales in excess of $1 billion. The product line extended from the woodyard to some of the largest paper-making machines in the world used for the production of tissue, newsprint, and high quality paper. Mr. Altman was responsible for the management and direction of company’s legal affairs, focusing initially on the company’s core business and revamping contract standards and practices. He was a member of the Senior Management Committee, which formed and implemented business plans and strategic decisions. He was heavily involved in projects located in South America and Asia, and in the resolution of disputes with customers, suppliers, lending institutions, and other creditors. He was part of the legal team that handled an arbitration in Singapore for the company involving several hundred million dollars in claims, and led the negotiations which ultimately resolved that matter successfully.

Mr. Altman also has significant experience working with companies in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and international insolvency matters, serving as general counsel for a global company that successfully reorganized under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, restructuring over $750 million in aggregate liabilities. As part of the turn-around team, Mr. Altman was responsible for managing the legal affairs of the company while it operated its business as a debtor in possession, including corporate governance and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. He was actively involved in the disposition of non-core assets, the preparation of the Disclosure Statement and Plan of Reorganization, discussions with the Creditors Committee and resolution of claims against the Estate. Mr. Altman also was responsible for the implementation of a major corporate restructuring that was approved as part of the Plan of Reorganization, which reorganized more than 80 of the company's subsidiaries and achieved tens of millions of dollars in tax savings.

In Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, the respected English research publisher Chambers & Partners lists Mr. Altman for his construction law practice, describing him as "a great transactional lawyer.” He was selected recently for the International Who's Who of Construction Lawyers. Since 2005, Mr. Altman has been designated an Illinois Super Lawyer, as the result of research projects conducted jointly by Law & Politics and Chicago magazines. He is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Construction Law.

Mr. Altman is an adjunct law professor, teaching a course in drafting design and construction contracts. He is a regular contributor to legal treatises and frequently writes and lectures on topics that pertain to the design professions and construction industry. He recently was part of a panel discussion in Toronto, Canada, on project delivery systems (including “Lean” Construction) and spoke in London, England on risks in EPC contracts. Recent publications include a book chapter on vendor-led EPC projects. He also serves as a contributing editor to The Real Estate Finance Journal.

REGISTRATIES

• Illinois

Lidmaatschap

• Fellow, American College of Construction Lawyers
• American Arbitration Association Panel of Arbitrators for Construction Industry Disputes
• Construction Advisory Committee of the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution
• American Bar Association Forum Committee on the Construction Industry (Former member of Steering Committee for Division 12, Owners and Lenders)
• International Bar Association (International Construction Projects Committee)
• Founding Member, Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys