Robert Beale Thum has 40 years’ experience in construction Alternative Dispute Resolution, serving as Arbitrator on the American Arbitration Association’s Mega-Projects, Large Complex Disputes and National Construction Panels, and the California Office of Administrative Hearings’ Public Works Contract Arbitration Panel. As an Arbitrator or Court-Appointed Neutral, he has heard cases involving high-speed and conventional rail, highways, bridges, dams and reservoirs, power plants, airports, military facilities and base housing, manufacturing and other industrial plants, natural disaster recovery projects, hotels and destination resorts, hospitals and long-term nursing facilities, college campuses, shopping centers, and product distribution centers. He has also served as Early Neutral Evaluator and Discovery Master in complex litigation matters.
Prior to becoming a full-time neutral, Mr. Thum practiced construction law for five decades as partner in prominent national and international law firms. He drafted and negotiated design and construction contracts for a wide variety of public and private projects, including infrastructure, industrial, energy, health facilities, museums, commercial and residential developments. As an advocate, he prosecuted or defended major claims involving delay, acceleration and complex scheduling; loss of labor, equipment and/or management productivity; contract abandonment and cardinal change; total cost and jury verdict damages; limit of liability and damage caps; non-payment, interest and prompt pay penalties; defective or incomplete design/specifications; non-conforming work and repair; differing site or changed conditions; additive and deductive scope changes; defective or late owner-furnished property; denial or delay of site access; failures of supervision and management; force majeure; terminations for default and for convenience; consequential damages, economic losses and waivers; cost audits; bid protests; contractor's license issues; pay-if and pay-when paid clauses; no-damages-for-delay clauses; subcontractor pass-through claims; performance, payment, release and license bonds; surety take-overs; false claims and truth in negotiating; and tort claims for fraud, misrepresentation, concealment, and negligence.
Mr. Thum was admitted as a Fellow in the American College of Construction Lawyers, and recognized for excellence by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers, U.S. News and World Report, Super Lawyers and Engineering News Record. He is located in the greater Los Angeles area, but hears cases throughout California and the United States.
As of December 1, 2024, Mr. Thum is hearing cases involving California high speed rail, hospitals and psychiatric facilities, natural gas production plants, railroad grade separation/bridge project, design and construction of an university science complex, renovation of a luxury resort renovation in Hawaii, among others.
