Leslie P. King

Experience

• Served as lead counsel and obtained high-profile jury verdict for the city of Hartford after five-week trial in 2019 arising out of the design and construction of minor league baseball park and development of surrounding parcels.
• Continue to serve as lead counsel for all appellate matters arising out of the design and construction of the baseball park. Successfully negotiated a takeover agreement with the surety that issued the performance bond for the completion of the $73 million stadium.
• Successfully defended design professional in 2018 appellate case impacting architects’ statute of repose in the state of Connecticut.
• Obtained defense verdict on case involving statute of repose for architect after successfully bifurcating the trial.
• Obtained full summary judgment for design professionals based on argument that fraudulent concealment statute does not toll statute of repose applicable to design professionals.
• Successfully negotiated Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, contract on behalf of two Yale professors as part of Big Data Initiative.
• Received full defense verdict in a trial on behalf of a land surveyor facing claims of professional liability allegedly worth more than $6 million in damages. Successfully defended verdict on appeal.
• Successfully obtained summary judgment for a civil engineering firm in a $7 million lawsuit alleging professional malpractice and unfair trade practices.
• Won complete dismissal of claims against a landscape architectural firm after an evidentiary hearing regarding the plaintiff contractor’s failure to comply with a dispute resolution clause in the plaintiff’s agreement with the owner.
• Successfully obtained motion in limine forbidding the plaintiff from introducing evidence at trial of more than $40 million in lost profits as speculative damages in a lawsuit filed by a developer against city officials and design professionals.
• Provided pro bono services to a consortium of architects formed to help preserve a historic mid-century library faced with imminent demolition.

Recognition

• The Best Lawyers in America, Construction Law (2021–2022)
• Attorney of the Year, Connecticut Law Tribune (2020)

Speaking Engagements

• "The Risks and Rewards of Digital Practice - Current and Future Issues," Digital Built Environment Institute (October 15, 2020)
• "Innovation and the Standard of Care," Yale School of Architecture, Professional Practices Seminar (February 2018)
• "School Security in Design," Connecticut Bar Association Construction Law Section (September 2016)
• "Integrated Project Delivery at the Mason Contractors Association of Connecticut, Hartford, CT (June 2016)
• "Evolving Practice and the Standard of Care; Sustainability, Security, and Everything In-Between," Victor O’Schinnerer & Company Inc.’s 54th Annual Meeting of Invited Attorneys (May 28, 2015)
• "Teaching to the Test – Getting your Judge and Jury to Understand Your Expert’s 'Technical Speak,'" American Bar Association, Women of the Section of Litigation Annual Conference (November 2014)
• "State v. Lombardo Bros., Background and Ramifications of the Decision," American Institute of Architects, Connecticut Chapter (December 2012)
• "Legal Aspects of Architectural Practice," American Institute of Architects, Connecticut Chapter (July 2012)
• "How Architects Can Avoid Five Common Legal Missteps," Yale School of Architecture, Professional Practices Seminar (April 2012)
• "New Indemnification Language in State Contracts," American Institute of Architects, Connecticut Chapter (December 2009)
• "Statutes of Repose and the Doctrine of Nullum Tempus Occurrit Regi," American Institute of Architects, Connecticut Chapter (October 2008)
• "There is No Common Law Right to Indemnity Against Design Professionals for Violations of the ADA," The Design and Construction Management Professional Reporter (October 2007)

Credentials

Areas of Focus