Sarah Carson combines passion for justice
with logical approach to construction law
Staff writer
North Carolina Construction News
special feature
Appreciating the logical,
black and white nature of
construction law and hav-
ing a passionate desire to
see justice done may seem
like two opposing views,
but for Sarah Carson,
they’re a natural fit.
Holding the title of of-
counsel with Smith, Currie
& Hancock LLP—a firm that only
does construction law work—Car-
son has handled cases worth mil-
lions of dollars (including one where
she represented a contractor in ar-
bitration with the owner concerning
a $15 million roofing installation
contract and one where she negoti-
ated contracts and litigated actions
on behalf of owner regarding a
mixed-use apartment community
valued at $81 million), but the size
of the case doesn’t matter to her.
The facts of the case do.
“In terms of righting wrongs, I’ll
help somebody with a
$25,000 claim. Nobody
should be taken advan-
tage of regarding the
amount of the claim.
That’s the reason why I
became a lawyer: to
right those wrongs re-
gardless of the amount
at issue. If you negoti-
ated for a certain result and sud-
denly a subcontractor disappears,
it’s not fair for anyone regardless of
the size of the company to have to
absorb those costs,” says Carson.
That drive to right wrongs has
been with Carson throughout her
career. While working at her first
firm after law school, she says she
encountered a lot of situations
where people tried to take advan-
10 — AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 — The North Carolina Construction News
tage of government contracting
rules. “Too often, private contractors
try to take advantage of the federal
government or of state govern-
ments by lying about the amount of
women-owned small businesses so
they can get a contract. I can’t tell
you the number of ‘women-owned
small businesses,’ where the
woman is just on paper. It’s some-
one’s wife who has absolutely noth-
ing to do with it. And those
businesses are taking away oppor-
tunities from another company or
contractor that truly is qualified.
And that was frustrating and
brought out in me the need to fight
and right the wrongs that so often
happen in government contracts
and in private contracts.”
Carson says that construction
law offers all parties involved the
benefit of being clear cut with de-
fined goals.
© CAN STOCK PHOTO / GYN9988
“There is a structure in place in
from the very beginning of the con-
tract that you want to build upon,”
she says. “You have a map in terms
of the contract and there are expec-
tations and rules from which every-
body is supposed to abide by, and
when one veers off that path, it’s an
opportunity to put them back on
that right path.”
As a women working in con-
struction law, Carson has had
plenty of opportunities to demon-
strate to fellow lawyers, contrac-
tors, and other members of the
industry, that women in general
should be taken seriously, and that
Carson in particular should be re-
garded as an expert who gets re-
sults. She mentions her first trial
where opposing counsel took a
look at her and told his client that a
woman meant a slam-dunk victory.
He, of course, was wrong.
“When you’re already being un-
derestimated, you’re going to work
twice as hard to prove them wrong.
And from that point forward, they
develop a new respect and a new
understanding of female attorneys
and of my abilities.”
Carson says she’s even encoun-
tered situations where people on
the opposite sides of cases she has
tried have approached her after
seeing her skills in the courtroom
and asked her to work for them.
After taking them on as clients, she
successfully gets results their male
lawyers couldn’t.
The respect she has earned from
her work in court has been far
reaching, as lawyers from across
the nation have called upon her for
consultation or advice after hearing
one of her closings or reading re-
ports of one of her arguments.
Carson also shares her expertise
with law students, and has taught
construction law at both the gradu-
ate and undergraduate level. She
also publishes articles and opin-
ions, and has articles published in
engineering and law journals.
As a member of the North Car-
olina Bar Association’s Legislation
Committee, she has a deep familiar-
ity with changes to the law and
what those changes mean for her
clients. Next year, for example, gen-
eral contractors will be required to
have a set-number of continuing ed-
ucation hours, and Carson is able to
explain exactly what that means
and how to best accomplish the re-
quirement. Having worked with a vast range
of clients, from those involved in
casino projects, mixed-use develop-
ments, and even overseas (includ-
ing Afghanistan) and local military
bases, Carson has a level of first-
hand knowledge that clients appre-
ciate. “I have the experience and as-
sertiveness to understand what
these clients are experiencing in
the construction industry. I’ve had
boots on the ground to see the hur-
dles. “I’ve got experience from draft-
ing the contract to litigation and
mediation and every step of the
way, I can help a client succeed in
terms of delivering a project on
time, on budget and for maximum
profitability with the minimum of
claim,” she says.
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The North Carolina Construction News — AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019 — 11