Development of a Topics Course for Construction Law

The Cal Poly Construction Management program is designed to prepare students heading into the construction industry for daily management tasks. With construction comes many legal aspects integrated into a project’s operations. Though the curriculum includes a contract law course, a gap exists with a minimal number of classes that address the array of legal matters the construction industry must be versed in. Working with faculty member, Thomas Kommer, J.D., there is a need for a course that expands on these varying legal topics. In order to determine the specific topics that would impactfully benefit and educate Cal Poly Construction Management students, interviews were performed with both construction and legal professionals. Once the topics were established, literary reviews were performed to define the topics and benefits of adding this to our curriculum. This paper identifies the benefit from a topics course that dives deeper into construction law topics including real property law, professional licensing and insurance law, tort law with respect to negligence and willful conduct, labor law and employment law, and criminal law.