About
Ron’s practice is focused on all aspects of the construction industry. He has substantial experience representing general contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, and owners/developers in construction-related matters, including all aspects of construction law, contractual disputes, lien work, bond claims, construction and design defect claims, bid disputes, litigation, and dispute resolution. Ron has litigated cases/issues before all levels of courts throughout the Northeast, arbitrated disputes nationally, and advocated on behalf of clients using various forms of dispute resolution. He also has broad experience in construction transactional work, drafting and negotiating contract documents for all types of project delivery including, integrated project delivery and other highly collaborative delivery methods, design-bid-build, design build, CM-at-Risk, and other more traditional methods for both public and private projects. Ron routinely counsels his clients on all business aspects of planning, initiating, and completing construction related projects.
Ron is a nationally recognized speaker and has presented on a myriad of construction related topics, on behalf of over 50 different organizations, including, the Associated General Contractors of America, Construction SuperConference, Construction Management Association of America, Associated Builders and Contractors, ConsensusDocs, National Business Institute, Lorman Educational Services, Build Boston, Associated General Contractor chapters in Nevada, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Hampshire, and Maine.
- Ron represented a regional commercial construction manager relating to the construction of an $11 million hotel. Owner withheld final payment and retainage using several different defenses for its basis for nonpayment. After a six-day arbitration, Ron was successful in obtaining an arbitration award for his client for the full amount sought, over $2 million with interest.
- Ron represented a large commercial general contractor relating to a dispute with the owner over the construction of a $17 million wing on one of our country’s grand hotels. Through mediation, Ron was successful in collecting nearly all of the damages the Owner owed his client, without having to litigate the matter.
- Ron assisted his client, one of the largest hospitals in the New England region, by preparing one of the first Integrated Project Delivery Agreements used in New England for the construction of a new medical office building. He has since prepared three more such Agreements for this hospital.
- Ron represented an international contractor in a dispute involving construction services provided on a commercial facility in Mississippi. After a seven-day jury trial, the jury awarded Ron’s client a verdict in the entire amount sought, including attorneys fees, costs, and interest.
- From 2009 through 2012, Ron successfully negotiated and drafted commercial construction contracts relating to: Owner/General Contractor Agreements; General Contractor/Subcontractor Agreements; Owner/Construction Manager Agreements, Construction Manager/Subcontractor Agreements; General Contractor/Consulting Engineer Agreements; Joint Venture Agreements; Teaming Agreements; Purchase Orders; Owner/Architect Agreements; and Owner/Consulting Engineer Agreements; involving such delivery methods as: Design-Bid-Build; Design-Build; and Integrated Project Delivery (many including the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM)). These contracts totaled well over a billion dollars.
- Ron represented a large regional corporation in a construction design defect case against the architect and engineer. During arbitration, the opposing party settled for the six-figure damages demanded.
- Ron represented a large New England-based Commercial Developer/General Contractor relating to a Performance Bond claim based on a site contractor who was unable to complete its work. Although initially the client was attempting to collect approximately $100,000 on the bond, Ron was ultimately successful in getting the surety to pay approximately $800,000 with liquidated damages
Work Experience
-
Hinckley Allen
- Partner (2007-Present)
-
Devine Millimet & Branch, Professional Association
- Partner (1999-2007)
- Associate (1991-1999)
Honors & Awards
- AGC of New Hampshire Appreciation Award (2010)
- Best Lawyers in America® (2012-2019)
- Recognized for Litigation - Construction
- Martindale-Hubbell® BV Peer Review Rating, Recipient
Charitable & Civic Involvement
- Heritage United Way Campaign, Cabinet Member, Chair of Professional Division (2002-2006)
- New Hampshire's Catholic Lawyers Guild, Founding Member
- New Hampshire Governor's Task Force on Employee Misclassification
- New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra,
- Former President
- Director
- The Manchester Bar Association, Director
Professional Affiliations
- American Bar Association
- Associated General Contractors of America, Inc.
- Contract Documents Committee (Committee responsible for drafting ConsensusDOCS), Chair (2019-Present)
- Building Division, Vice-Chair
- Public/Private Industry Advisory Council (PIAC), Member
- Frequent Speaker
- Legal Helpline Member
- Associated General Contractors of New Hampshire, Inc.
- Board of Directors; Chair
- Building Committee, Member
- Finance Committee, Member
- Highway Specifications Committee, Member
- Legislative Committee
- PAC Committee, Member
- Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International: former Chair of Legal Aspects of BIM Subcommittee
- Associated Builders and Contractors
- Legislative Committee
- Construction Excellence Committee
- Member Involvement Committee
- Home Builders and Remodelors Association: Legislative Committee
- International Council of Shopping Centers, Member
- Manchester Bar Association
- Board of Directors
- Former President
- New Hampshire Bar Association
- New Hampshire Good Roads Association
- Board of Directors (2019-Present)
- Public/Private Industry Advisory Council, Member (PIAC)
Bar Memberships
- New Hampshire, 1991
Firm News
Ronald D. Ciotti Named Chair of Associated General Contractors of America’s Contract Documents Forum
April 2, 2019
Ronald D. Ciotti, a Partner in our Construction & Public Contracts practice has been named Chair…
Firm News
51 Hinckley Allen Attorneys Recognized by Best Lawyers in America 2019
August 15, 2018
Hinckley Allen is pleased to announce that Best Lawyers® has recognized 51 attorneys in the 2019 edition…
Publication
The Dotted Line: Putting Together the Pieces of a Modular Project Contract
January 29, 2019
Read Ronald D. Ciotti's insights on prefabrication and modular construction in the latest part of "The…
Publication
August 1, 2018
Current economic conditions and recent changes to trade policy governing the importation of goods crucial…
Upcoming Event
Strategies to Mitigate the Risk of Material Price Escalation
May 9, 2019
Ronald D. Ciotti will be presenting “Tariffs, Taxes and Trade Wars: Strategies to Mitigate the Risk…
Past Event
Strategies to Mitigate the Risk of Material Price Escalation
April 2, 2019
Ronald D. Ciotti will be presenting “Tariffs, Taxes and Trade Wars: Strategies to Mitigate the Risk…
- AGC of America: Joint Contractors Conference and BuildCon (Centennial Celebration) – Tariffs & Rising Material Prices: Strategies for General Contractors – Washington, D.C., September, 30, 2018
- New England Real Estate Journal – Construction Summit – Collaborative Delivery Methods and Material Price Escalations – Boston, MA, June 14, 2018
- American Bar Association’s Forum on Construction Law – National Webinar – Material Price Escalation: Risk Mitigation for Contractors, May 15, 2018
- ABA Forum on Construction Law – Annual Meeting –Leverage New Standard ConsensusDocs Contracts to Stay Ahead of the Curve – New Orleans, LA, April 13, 2018
- Construction Superconference – How to Leverage the New 2017 ConsensusDocs Standard Contracts – Las Vegas, Nevada, December 3 – 6, 2017
- AGC of America: BuildCon/BIMForum, Dallas, Texas, November 2017
- Understanding How and Why Prefabrication and Modular Construction Require Changing the Terms to Traditional Construction Contracts, November 7, 2017
- Equip Your Company for the New 2017 AIA A201 & ConsensusDocs Contracts: What Contractors Need to Know, November 7, 2017
- AGC of MA – Conference on Changes to the AIA A201 General Conditions – What Contractors Absolutely Need to Know About the New AIA A201 and ConsensusDocs Contract Documents – Boston, MA, October 17, 2017
- AGC of NH, AGC of Maine, and AGC of VT – Joint Conference on Changes to the AIA A201 General Conditions –– Prepare for the Risks and Challenges, Understanding How Changes to the New 2017 AIA A201 Impacts Your Projects and Relationships – Manchester, NH, October 26, 2017
- AGC of NYS – Conference on Changes to the AIA A201 General Conditions – AIA A201 2017, Prepare for the Risks and Challenges – Albany, NY, October 11, 2017
- CMAA (Construction Management Association of America): National Conference – What CM’s Absolutely Need to Know About the New 2017 AIA A201 and ConsensusDocs Standard Contracts – October 8-10, 2017
- New England Real Estate Journal – Construction Trends in Commercial Real Estate Conference – Modular Offsite Construction, New Technologies Improving Costs and Timeliness – Newton, MA, September 28, 2017
- AGC (Associated General Contractors) of America – National and Chapter Leadership Conference – Equip Your Company for the New 2017 AIA A201 & ConsensusDocs Contracts: What Contractors Need to Know – Washington, D.C., September 25, 2017
- AGC (Associated General Contractors) of America: National Webinar: Analyzing the Revisions to AIA’s 2017 A201 General Conditions, July 2017
- ATSSA (American Traffic Safety Services Association): National Webinar – Understanding and Minimizing Work Zone Liabilities from a Construction Attorney’s Perspective, July 25, 2017
- NEREJ (New England Real Estate Journal): 2017 Summit Northern New England State of Commercial Real Estate – Construction Projects and Trends, June 29, 2017
- Construction SuperConference – Maxing the Benefits of Collaborative Design While Avoiding the Vortex of Design Liability – Las Vegas, Nevada, December 5, 2016
- International Council of Shopping Centers’ (ICSC) CenterBuild Conference — Innovative Approaches to Improving the Development, Design, and Building Process – Phoenix, Arizona, December 1, 2016
- ABX 2016 –Contract Killer Clauses and How to Survive Them – Boston, Massachusetts, November 16, 2016
- Healthcare Design Expo — Dissecting Integrated Project Delivery for the Healthcare Industry—When Does the Diagnosis Call for Using Other Collaborative Methods — – Houston, Texas, November 14, 2016
- International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) –And Now a Word From Our Attorneys – Getting Attorneys to be Ladders, Not Walls — Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, July 19, 2016
- Lorman Educational Services –Practical Considerations and Concerns in Basic Construction Contract Law — National Webinar, June 15, 2016
- Mass Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) –Key Contract Clauses for Contractors and Subcontractors — Boston, Massachusetts, May 5, 2016
- American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) New England Chapter – Legal Liability in Construction Projects – Concord, New Hampshire, March 23, 2016
- Lorman Educational Services –Integrated Project Delivery Documents – National Webinar, March 7, 2016
- Boston University –The Risk in CM at Risk and IPD; Looking at the Spear in the Spearin Doctrine – Boston, Massachusetts, January 15, 2016
- Construction SuperConference — Is the Spear in the Spearin Doctrine Pointing in a Different Direction? Looking at Risk in CM At-Risk and IPD – San Diego, California, December 8, 2015
- ABX 2015 – The Risk in CM At-Risk and IPD: Looking at the Spear in the Spearin Doctrine – Boston, Massachusetts, November 17, 2015
- Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America — Understanding the Fine Print . . . Contract Clauses Contractors Must Know (and Revise), Part II – National Webinar, October 1, 2015
- Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America — Understanding the Fine Print . . . Contract Clauses Contractors Must Know (and Revise) – National Webinar, August 27, 2015
- Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America – True IPD or “IPDish”? Flexibility in Project Delivery is Critical! – San Juan, Puerto Rico, March 17, 2015
- Construction SuperConference — Raise or Fold: How to Effectively and Efficiently Plan and Prosecute Litigation and Arbitration Without Putting the Client on Tilt – Las Vegas, Nevada, December 3, 2014
- Associated General Contractors (AGC) of New Hampshire – Employee Misclassification in Construction – Bow, New Hampshire, November 19, 2014
- Lorman Educational Services –AIA Contracts – National Webinar, Manchester, New Hampshire, October 31, 2014
- New England Construction Forum – Integrated Project Delivery and How it is Changing Construction Contracting – Portsmouth, New Hampshire, October 23, 2014
- Northeast Flooring Contractors Association’s Annual Meeting — Keynote Speaker — Retainage Practice in the Construction Industry – Newton, Massachusetts, June 26, 2014
- Northeast Flooring Contractors Association’s Annual Retreat — Keynote Speaker — Retainage Practice in the Construction Industry — Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, March 13, 2014
- Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. New Hampshire/Vermont Chapter – Construction and Demolition Debris Management – Concord, New Hampshire, December 17, 2013
- Construction SuperConference – Recent Trends in DBE Fraud Prosecution – San Francisco, California, December 12, 2013
- ConsensusDocs – Sprinting Through the Metcalf Issues, Decisions, Briefs, and Potential Impacts – San Francisco, California, December 11, 2013
- ConsensusDocs – Tailoring ConsensusDocs Standard Contracts to Your Specific Projects or Using ConsensusDocs Clauses as a National Standard in Contract Negotiations – National Webinar, May 13, 2013
- Associated General Contractors (AGC) of New Hampshire – Construction Delivery Methods – Bow, New Hampshire, April 16, 2013