Joel D. Heusinger

Joel Heusinger has practiced law with Woods Aitken since 1986 with an emphasis in construction law and litigation.  He has been involved in numerous complex construction disputes throughout the United States involving hundreds of millions of dollars in claims and damages as well as the management and review of terabytes of electronically stored information.  He has also participated in over 400 mediations and numerous arbitration hearings. 

Joel advises and represents contractors, subcontractors, public and private owners, architects, engineers, and surety companies in federal and state courts, mediations, arbitrations, and special master proceedings, on a variety of matters.  For example, he has handled client disputes involving P3 projects, airports, military bases, bridges, dams, tunnels, power plants, cogeneration plants, stadiums, hospitals, underground utilities, highways, water treatment facilities, high-rise dwellings, condominiums/multi-family dwellings, renovations, data centers, office buildings, schools, sewers, shopping centers, ethanol plants, wind farms, manufacturing plants, casinos, hotels, and resorts. 

Joel works hard to evaluate each client’s situation as early in the process as possible.  He then informs the client of his assessment and possible business risks involved in whatever the client is facing.  He always explores the available dispute resolution options, and he recommends the course of action that will minimize the potential risks to his clients.  Joel has found that a team approach is often the key to obtaining a positive outcome for his clients, so he frequently works in collaboration with the client’s project and in-house team as well as other members of the Firm’s Construction group in a joint effort toward more efficiently achieving the client’s goals.

Joel speaks regularly at industry conferences and seminars and has prepared numerous papers regarding current construction issues.  He is actively involved in numerous professional organizations, including as a member of the American Bar Association Forum Committee on the Construction Industry and the Section on Public Contract Law, where he was Chairman of the Construction Contract Committee from 1995-1998. 

In 2016, Joel was named as a Fellow in the American College of Construction Lawyers.  He served on the Board of Governors from 2020 to 2023. He has also been named in Who’s Who in Construction Law every year since 2005, and he is frequently recognized for his excellent service and many contributions to the fields of construction law and commercial litigation.  Joel is also an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law where he teaches a class on Construction Law and a separate class on Construction Practice.