AFJCT Board of Directors

James E. Frankel, Esq.
Partner, Buchanan Ingersoll

James E. Frankel is a shareholder with the New York office of the Law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll as well as the founder and chairman of the firm's Construction Industry Practice Group (CIPG).  He is also a member of the firm's Toxic Mold Response Team.

Mr. Frankel's practice is directed toward serving the construction industry where he is one of this country's leading figures within the construction bar.  With his multi-disciplinary background and strong belief in realistic approaches to problem solving, he brings leading edge business-solution techniques and resolution-oriented methods to serving the needs of the architectural, engineering and contracting community on a domestic and international level.

Mr. Frankel's group has participated in projects such as New York's Grand Central Station, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and Radio City Music Hall.  The group has successfully negotiated design contracts for the Miami International Airport and the American Airlines Arena in Miami as well as major international facilities.  In addition, Mr. Frankel has assisted CIPG's clients in the export of American construction and design work, handling projects in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Prior to joining Buchanan Ingersoll, Mr. Frankel created and developed CIPG, 20 years ago within a national New York based firm.

A strong advocate of the architectural and engineering profession, as well as the construction community, Mr. Frankel serves as general counsel and board member of the NY/NJ Port Authority Regional Alliance and has served as a board member of the New York Building Congress.  He served for more than 10 years as the general counsel to the New York City Chapter of the AIA.  Mr. Frankel is currently general counsel to the Westchester/Mid-Hudson Chapter of the AIA

Along with the more traditional legal counsel, construction litigation and transactional services he and CIPG provide, he and his team have also developed a unique practice area of Ownership Transition Planning (OTP) for architectural and engineering firms wherein he participated and/or arranged the merger/acquisition of many national and international architectural and engineering firms.  In addition to his M&A work, he counsels design firms through their internal transitions.

Mr. Frankel serves on the boards of the Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment, the Floating Hospital—New York's Ship of Health—and the American Friends of the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT).  He is also the General Counsel to the Society of Design Administration.

In addition, Mr. Frankel has been a frequent speaker at the Construction Law Superconference, as well as a contributing author to Wiley Publications on the subject of construction collapse and failures.

For three years prior to entering into private law practice, Mr. Frankel served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York.  In that capacity, he served as a member of the Claims and Litigation Unit defending state agencies engaged in highways, buildings and other infrastructure elements.