Patrick Harder Discusses Impact of Pandemic on Infrastructure Landscape

Patrick Harder was interviewed by Law360 on how the COVID-19 virus has impacted the infrastructure field and the practice of law in "Coping With A Pandemic: Nossaman's Patrick Harder."

On infrastructure, Patrick stated, “The impact of the various ‘safer at home’ orders have actually worked in favor of many of our projects. Some of the complex logistical challenges involved in undertaking massive construction projects around operating roads, airports and universities have become much easier as the public usage of these facilities has dropped dramatically, at least in the short term. At universities, for instance, classes are being taught in an online environment and few students are circulating on campus. This makes it easier to continue or even accelerate building badly needed facilities, while still maintaining safety for workers through social distancing measures.”

Commenting on how the industry had reacted to the crisis, he opined that he was heartened by “the calmness that I see in our industry, which has adapted to this without missing a beat. This is impressive, especially for our government clients, who not only have to deal with implementing large, complex infrastructure projects, but are now also dealing with the myriad challenges that governments have to deal with during a public health emergency.”

Discussing working remotely during the crisis, he said that it “has been going very well thanks to our outstanding IT and administrative teams” and that he is thankful that “the telecoms have all stepped up to the plate and done an exceptional job meeting the enormous increase in demand as more and more people are working remotely.”