Bruce Schoumacher is the Group Co-Chair of the Construction Practice Group and also practices in several other areas, including professional liability, product liability, commercial litigation, and antitrust. He works with a variety of professionals, including architects, engineers, contractors and manufacturers. He has recently been recognized by his peers and named as a Leading Lawyer in the area of construction law. He has also earned an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Besides construction litigation, he works regularly with owners, contractors and design professionals drafting and negotiating construction contracts and professional services agreements. He recently drafted standard form agreements for an industrial equipment manufacturer, including sales terms, purchase terms, equipment test and rental agreements and sales representative agreements. He has extensive experience drafting international and domestic commercial contracts, design agreements, sales representative contracts, repair agency agreements, distributor agreements and fabrication agreements.
He recently worked with a client and its project manager, drafting project management, design, pre-construction, and construction agreements for a $180 million health care project.
Working with our other attorneys, he has assisted clients in establishing successful businesses. He also regularly works with clients on legal issues which arise during the daily operation of their businesses. Further, he works with our intellectual property attorneys to handle the patent, trademark and copyright matters for our business clients.
Mr. Schoumacher is a former instructor of business administration at Bellevue College and in the University of Maryland Overseas program. He is author of Engineers and the Law: An Overview (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1986), contributing author of Construction Law (Matthew Bender & Company, 1986), co-author of Successful Business Plans for Architects (McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992), and contributing author of Construction Law Handbook (Aspen Law and Business, 1999), Construction Business Handbook (Aspen Publishers, 2004), Construction Law Handbook (Second Edition), (Aspen Publishers, 2008), and Construction Law (ABA Publishing, 2009). He also is co-author of “A New Remedy: Product Recall”, published in the Loyola University Consumer Reporter, Fall, 1988, and authored “Contract Awards and Contract Administration,” in Quality Assurance: A National Commitment, Proceedings of the Conference, (ASCE, 1997).
Mr. Schoumacher is also an active speaker in the construction industry, having been featured at over 120 seminars or meetings of the American College of Construction Lawyers, American Society of Civil Engineers, Power Engineering Society, American Society of Military Engineers, Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel, Western Society of Engineers, Chicago Building Congress, Chicago Bar Association and other organizations. He also acts a moderator and speaker at Lorman Education Services’ Illinois Construction Lien Law Seminar, which Querrey & Harrow attorneys have presented more than 25 times. He recently spoke at Mealey’s Wrap Insurance Conference in Las Vegas.
Mr. Schoumacher is a fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers, a member of the Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys, and a member of the Special Committee of Construction of the Illinois State Bar Association. He currently serves as Treasurer of the Society of Illinois Construction Attorneys.
Mr. Schoumacher is a director and former vice president of the Chicago Building Congress, a past member of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Council on Insurance Law, and former chair of the Membership and Bar Activities Committee of the Illinois State Bar Association. He is also a former chairman of the Federal Civil Procedure Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.
Mr. Schoumacher has authored more than 70 articles on construction issues in the Consulting-Specifying Engineer, Construction Specifier and other publications.
Mr. Schoumacher was a Special Agent of the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigtions. He was released from active duty with the rank of captain.
