Barbara G. Werther

Representative Matters

Barbara’s trial accomplishments are substantial. Her successes include:

• Overturning a termination for default of a subcontractor resulting in nominal damages for defaulting prime contractor.
• Obtaining a favorable arbitration award in a case involving deep excavations and slurry walls.
• Obtaining a favorable federal district court award in a case involving construction of an Air Force taxiway.
• Winning the largest jury verdict ever in a commercial case in Jackson County, Mississippi, for a subcontractor on a project that involved the dismantling of a fertilizer-manufacturing facility.
• Settling a nine-figure claim for alleged defective windows where the plaintiff had already prevailed in one trial and sought to enforce that judgment in 38 other lawsuits.
• Obtaining a rare summary judgment on behalf of a plaintiff contractor in a default termination case against a subcontractor.
• Securing the first and only case in which the court overturned the Navy contracting officer’s non-responsibility determination and directed an award to a contractor before the Todd decisions expanded the Court of Federal Claims’ and Boards of Contract Appeals’ jurisdiction.
• Settling a bet-the-company case for a subcontractor on a theory of the government’s breach of its duty of good faith and fair dealing, where the government revoked acceptance of a hospital communications system.
• Receiving a favorable award in a dispute between railroads pertaining to the proper counting of articulated railroad cars.

Accolades & Professional Involvement

• Recognition in the Chambers USA Guide, 2023-2026
• Panel Member, American Arbitration Association
• Fellow, American College of Construction Lawyers (2016-present)
• 2018 President, Construction Lawyers Society of America; Fellow
• American Bar Association, Construction, Public Contracts and Litigation Sections
• Trainer, National Institute of Trial Advocacy
• Trainer, Trial Advocacy Program, ABA Construction Forum

I litigate claims on behalf of owners, general contractors and subcontractors in federal and state courts and before arbitral tribunals. I also draft and negotiate construction and architect contracts for developers and construction contracts for contractors. Notwithstanding that my training and experience is as a litigator, my principal goal is to assist clients in finding a path to resolve issues, eliminate disputes and to find sensible solutions to complicated legal issues.  Separately, in the same vein, I also am trained as a mediator and arbitrator, I am on the current AAA panel, and I perform those services when requested either through the AAA or ad hoc.

I also routinely represent government contractors in claims against the federal government. This includes performance and payment bond disputes; representing government contractors in False Claims Act investigations and disputes; and representing government contractors in bid protests and claims at the various Boards of Contract Appeals and in the Court of Federal Claims.

I graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and received my Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University. I am admitted to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia. I co-founded the Women In Construction, Inc organization, a 501 C (6), and served as President of the annual conference from 2006 to 2021. In 2018, I served as the President of the Construction Lawyers Society of America, and I continue as a Fellow. Since 2016, I have been a Fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers and was recently selected to its Board of Governors. Chambers has ranked me since 2008. I have been selected to SuperLawyers from 2006 to the present. From 2016 to 2018, I was Chair of Division 13, Government Construction Contracts, of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry, and in that capacity edited a recent ABA publication, Federal Government Construction Contracts. I am on the faculty of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (“NITA”) and also on the faculty of the ABA Division 13 Trial Advocacy Program.

In my spare time, I enjoy horseback riding, cycling, golf and triathlete competitions. I served on the Board of the Leukemia Ball in Washington, D.C., on the Host Committee for Active Minds’ “Casino Night”, and since 1984, I have been on the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, where I am currently co-chair of the athletics’ subcommittee.

Experience

Member of the Virginia and DC Bar Associations
Member of the Federal Bar Association

Publications

• Author in first edition, and all subsequent editions and updates as recently as 2026, Construction Law Handbook, “Terminations” (4th ed. 2021)
• Editor, “Federal Government Construction Contracts,” Third Edition, 2017
• Co-author, “Todd Construction v. United States: Navigating Performance Evaluation Claims in the Court of Federal Claims,” The Construction Lawyer, Winter 2015
• Co-author, “Navigating the Buy America Act in Federal Transit Authority Funded Contracts,” Under Construction, American Bar Association, March 2014
• “How Non-U.S.-Owned Companies Can Compete for Federal Government Contracts,” ConstructionWebLinks.com, March 24, 2010
• “$130 Billion for Construction in the Economic Stimulus Bill: Where It Will Be Spent,” ConstructionWebLinks.com, Feb. 23, 2009

Speaking Engagements

• Panelist, “Speak, Connect, Build: Storytelling for Women in Construction,” 19th Annual Women in Construction Conference, October 2025.
• Co-presenter, “When the Axe Falls: Terminations on Government Construction Projects,” Forum on the Construction Industry, Fall Meeting, American Bar Association, September 2023
• Presenter and Mock Judge, ABA Forum on Construction Trial Advocacy Program, March 6 to 8, 2023
• Presenter, “Damages in a Termination for Default | Who gets whacked?,” Construction Lawyers Society of America, December 2022
• Presenter, “Why Construction Projects are Immune from the Economy: Change Orders & Delays,” Fast-forward transformation, Construction & Real Estate Conference 2021, Presented by AICPA and CIMA
• Moderator of “Taking the Next Steps: Overcoming Implicit Bias to Improve Diversity + Inclusion in Law Firms (and Law Departments), June 17, 2021 with Panelists Lori Baggett, Allen Estes, and Michelle Lipkowitz
• Moderator of “Take Another Look: Bias, Diversity and Inclusion,” ACCL 32nd Annual Meeting (Virtual Conference), March 16-21, 2021 with Panelists Lori Baggett, Robert L. Johnson and Rashida MacMurray-Abdullah
• Presenter, “Cutting Edge Techniques in Mediation and Arbitration,” Construction Lawyers Society of America, December 2019
• Presenter, “Public Construction Projects Not Always a Hollywood Ending” ABA Midwinter Meeting, Forum on Construction Law, 2019
• Presenter, “Breach of the Government’s Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing”, Hot Tips at American College of Construction Lawyers Annual Meeting, February 2019
• Presenter, “Case Study: VW international, Inc. ASBCA No. 60596,” Construction Lawyers Society of America North American Construction Law Symposium II, 2018
• Presenter, “The World’s Worst Contract Clauses,” North American Construction Lawyers Symposium, 2017
• Presenter at 38th Annual Construction and Public Contracts Law Seminar Virginia State Bar’s Annual Seminar, 2017
• Presenter, “Tips for Playing ‘The Price Is Right’ on Your Government Contract Claim,” World Congress, National Contract Management Association, 2014
• Presenter, “Is That Really Proof of Delay? Critical Path Method Analyses Versus the Insurgents,” Construction Super Conference, 2014