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GENERAL OVERVIEW
Mr. Koehn was born in Winterset, Madison County, Iowa in 1936. He spent his lifetime in complex dispute resolution specializing in Construction and Environmental law. He has been married for fifty years with three children, ten grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He was a lifetime resident of Iowa. He has spent 44 years of his life at the Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors and Roberts Law Firm; now branded as Davis Brown. He served on its Board of Directors and was an officer of the Corporation. He currently is Of Counsel with the firm. He is an avid outdoorsman, with skiing, hunting, fishing being some of his avocations.
CONSTRUCTION EXPERIENCE
Mr. Koehn’s construction experience started in 1963 upon graduation from
college. Since that time he has been involved with construction disputes in
twenty six states, Canada, the Virgin Islands and the International Court of
Justice. He was admitted to the Eighth, First, Fifth, and Tenth Circuit Courts
of Appeals. He has been involved in disputes involving stadiums, sports arenas,
high rise condominiums, high rise and flat rise concrete construction, highway
bridges and roadway failures, dams, HVAC, roofing, structural, foundation issues
and multiple process plants including as recent examples, refrigeration, flat
rolled steel, and ethanol plants.
Mr. Koehn has represented owners, general contractors and sub-contractors (both
commercial and residential) design professionals including architects and
engineers, heavy equipment and material providers, and heavy equipment
manufacturers. He has represented insurers on multiple Comprehensive Liability
and Property insurance issues. He has also represented sureties and bonding
companies. His practice has required him to serve both claimants and
defendant/respondents.
He has been involved in a wide range of dispute resolution forums and types of
claims and claims defenses. These include multiple arbitrations on behalf of
parties. He has been a certified Commercial and Construction arbitrator with the
American Arbitration Association for the last four years. In that capacity he
has acted as the sole arbitrator in four cases. He has been involved in
litigated construction and construction related matters in all courts of general
jurisdiction and in related Administrative Courts. The litigated matters,
handled by him involved a range from relatively small claims up to
$150,000,000.00. His arbitration assignments have ranged in amounts from
$40,000.00 to $5,000,000.00. His experience also includes an administrative
practice relating to multiple Federal, State, County and City administrative
issues. He has been involved in making and defending claims made against
governmental and administrative agencies, insurers and bonding companies.
EDUCATION
Mr. Koehn attended Drake University in 1954-1956. He transferred to the
University of Iowa in the winter of 1956 and he received his B.A. in 1958.
He then left in 1958 to accept a commission as an Ensign in the United States
Navy. Upon completing his tour, he returned to the University of Iowa in 1961
where he received his Juris Doctorate degree in June 1963. Mr. Koehn is admitted
to practice before the Iowa Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Koehn was a Member of the Board of Editors of the Iowa Law Review in
1962-1963. He was awarded, upon graduation, the Order of the Coif. Since that
time Mr. Koehn has attended multiple seminars and educational courses. He
attended the Commercial and Construction Arbitration I and II Courses presented
by the American Arbitration Association.
COMMITTEES AND LEGAL WRITINGS
Mr. Koehn was the initial Chairperson of the Lex Mundi Dispute Resolution
Committee and served from 1990 to 1994 in that capacity. As Chair he dealt with
dispute resolution forums and procedures involving the vast majority of
countries of the world which required him to deal with dispute resolution
systems not involving litigation. He also served on the Board of Directors of
that Organization from 1992 through 1996. He was the Co-Chair of the Technology
Committee from 1996-1997 and its Environmental and Public Works Commission, and
Governmental Task Force. Lex Mundi is the world’s largest Association of
Lawyers, serving over 140 jurisdictions around the world. Mr. Koehn Arbitrated
the first case to the International Court of Justice relating to the claims
against Iran in the early 1980’s. The decision made in that case set the legal
criteria for all future claims.
Mr. Koehn is a member of the American Bar Association. He has served on the ADR,
Construction Forum, Environmental, Litigation Committee, and International
sub-committees. He is also a member of the Iowa Bar Association. There he served
on the Council on Environmental Law from 1972-1982, 1988-1990, and 1999-2002. He
served as Chair in 1974. He served as the Chair of the Electronic Research
Committee from 1982-1984. He was Chair of the International Law Council in 1995.
He served on the Professional Committee from 1994-2002 and the Litigation
Legislative Committee from 1986-1890.
Mr. Koehn has been involved in making presentations in multiple Legal Seminars
and in legal writings. A few examples of his writings include: “Laser
Animation”, a Legal Presentation to Lex Mundi, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1993.
“Computer Generated Animation Use in Trial-What is This Animal?” Published in
Lex Mundi World Report, April/May 1995; “Construction Law: Can This Job Be
Saved?” Legal Presentation for Lorman Education Services, 1998, “Liability for
Products and Waste in the United Kingdom.” Davis Law Firm and Osborne & Clark,
London, England, 1990.
