WILLIAM KOEHN

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.