Patrick Harder

As chair of Nossaman's infrastructure practice, Harder leads the firm in guiding multi-billion-dollar public construction projects across the country.

"Our team is involved in getting big infrastructure projects realized and built using innovative techniques and by finding private sector funding for these projects," Harder said. "It's satisfying work. We can see the benefits that our work has on society at large. It benefits ourselves, but also our friends and family."

His counsel helped steer expansion and modernization projects for Los Angeles World Airports and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, including an ongoing project at LAX designed to offer a direct train link from the city to the airport.

When the concept for the LAX expansion was conceived, there was no notion that the world would find itself in the middle of a pandemic but that hasn't stopped Harder and his team from continuing with their work.

"Ironically the pandemic has helped," he said. "When you go to LAX it's normally a parking lot. Well, not anymore. So they've had the ability to close lanes, and advance the construction in a number of ways they normally couldn't have."

Even with the onset of the coronavirus outbreak this year, Harder was also instrumental in helping UC Merced complete a 1.2 million square foot campus extension by it's June 1 deadline.

"The university's gone from 6,500 students to over 10,000. That's a lot of firsts-in-the-family to go to college, a lot of first-generation students," Harder said. "It's just an important campus for a lot of reasons and to see that campus grow and become a more powerful academic institution has been very satisfying."

In preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, a major expansion at the L.A. Convention Center is taking place under Harder's legal guidance.

"It'll span a much greater area and we're adding a hotel. It'll be much more competitive in the convention center market so L.A. can compete with San Diego and Las Vegas," Harder said.

Gathering a wide range of expertise is an important part of the multi-disciplinary work of Harder and his team, he said.

"We talk to engineers, financial advisers, insurance experts, a whole gamut of expertise that is involved in a successful project," Harder said. "We work regularly and closely with all of these professions."

-- Nick Kipley