Mr. Kerivan is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and a Principal Owner of The Nielsen Wurster Group, Inc. He has been with the firm since 1988 and is active in Nielsen-Wurster’s Management Consulting, Risk Management and Dispute Resolution services.

Mr. Kerivan specializes in contracts, contract administration, risk management and procurement issues. He advises clients in contractual, legal, regulatory and code risk management, emphasizing proactive actions intended to mitigate and / or avoid those risks through proper alignment of the risk management actions to specific contractual / legal requirements. He also specializes in consultation on standard of care issues as those issues are addressed in various legislation and contract requirements.

Mr. Kerivan provides consulting services and training (procurement management, partnering, conflict management, construction project insurance and bonds, value engineering, contract administration, contract claims, mediation and ethics) for institutional, industrial, public and private clients in the United States and abroad. Mr. Kerivan has assisted client counsel with case preparation before various US Government Agencies and Boards of Appeals, and has provided independent assessments as part of dispute resolution case evaluations. He has also worked with the American Society of Civil Engineers to develop new contracting methods, products and services. He has authored and presented papers to the American Arbitration Association, American Bar Association, International Chamber of Commerce and other organizations.

Prior to joining Nielsen-Wurster, Mr. Kerivan served as the Competition Advocate and Chief Contract Attorney for the Panama Canal Commission, Republic of Panama, where he managed and directed the Commission's efforts to acquire materials, equipment and services through open market competition. He actively participated in the formation and administration of Commission contracts and was involved with Commission contract disputes before the US Army Corps of Engineers Board of Contract Appeals, the US Claims Court, and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the US Bankruptcy Court of Massachusetts. Dispute issues included the construction of a harbor tug; a termination and differing site condition claim concerning the construction of a vessel tie up facility on the west bank of the Panama Canal; the delay and differing site condition claim on the extensive renovation of the Commission's Water Treatment Plant at Paraiso; an unstable soil condition claim encountered during construction of a synchro lift facility at the Commission's Mt. Hope Industrial Division; and a Commission claim for damages as a result of an electrical fire at the Commission's Madden Dam power generation facility.

Prior to his service with the Panama Canal Commission, Mr. Kerivan was appointed to the position of Administrative Judge with the Veterans Administration (VA) Contract Appeals Board in Washington, D.C., where he heard and participated in the decision of numerous construction disputes. He also served as a trial attorney in the VA's Office of General Counsel, working primarily in construction litigation and appearing before the VA Contract Appeals Board, the US Court of Claims and various US District Courts.

Mr. Kerivan also served as an attorney with the Office of the Chief Counsel, US Coast Guard, in the areas of regulatory and administrative law. In this assignment, he was extensively involved with the US Coast Guard regulatory activities in vessel construction, offshore oil exploration and deep sea diving. Representation included participation in public hearings on behalf of the Coast Guard and as Regulatory Counsel on individual projects spanning from inception to final rule making. Mr. Kerivan also provided contract claims management and claims training for the Bechtel Corporation in the United States, China, Mexico, Singapore and the United Kingdom. He is a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Construction Panel and is a frequent lecturer on claims management of construction contracts in the Gulf States of Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.