Vanessa S. Werden is an experienced construction lawyer that advises construction and infrastructure project participants during all phases of project procurement, contracting, and construction. Vanessa has experience reviewing and negotiating all forms of standard contracts, including CCDC contracts and supplementary conditions specific to various methods of project delivery. She has also guided clients through referee processes and interim dispute resolution. Vanessa regularly acts as counsel at mediations and arbitrations. Vanessa’s experience includes the arbitration of delay, extra work and deficiency claims following the construction of hydroelectric power facilities, telecommunications infrastructure, and stadium construction litigation. Proficient at managing lengthy and complex documentation, she incorporates the most current technology to maximize efficiency in the handling of construction disputes, which are inherently document intensive.

Vanessa has significant experience in the complex area of surety bonds. Each year from 2014 to 2018, Vanessa was the guest lecturer for the lecture on surety bonds for the fourth year mandatory course “Law and Contracts in Civil Engineering” in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia. In the past five years, Vanessa has successfully advanced claims on both labour and material payment bonds and performance bonds, achieving significant payments from sureties to her clients. Vanessa has successfully advanced claims by general contractors on performance bonds as a result of subcontractor defaults on municipal infrastructure and one housing projects, achieved settlements with the sureties that resulted in a payments exceeding $500,000 in less than six months from the dates the claims were made. Vanessa has experience advancing mid-project claims, taking steps ensure that her client’s claims are preserved while the project is completed, and realizing interim payments.