Subsurface construction is often fraught with danger and uncertainty, minimize the impact on your construction project. As consultants and engineers, we work to minimize that uncertainty and engineer solutions to make construction safer. However, in many cases, it is the unknown presence of abandoned utilities that can pose both a danger to workers and adversely affect the project schedule and costs. This topic helps the persons responsible fo...

Are you up-to-date with the new regulations of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Right-of-Way? The new Bureau of Indian Affairs' Right-of-Way regulations have a considerable impact throughout Indian country, for both tribes and businesses involved in negotiations and economic opportunities on tribal lands. This topic will provide you with an overview of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' New Right-of-Way requirements. The new regulations will be compar...

Learn about key issues including keeping trespassers off utility or other easements. This topic will include legal and practical advice on identifying the priorities in land rights and responsibilities regarding easements and rights of way as the dominant estate and as to competing interests with respect thereto. Whether the servient estate holders, other easement holders or other third parties, determining what can, may and can't be done on...

Don't scramble when the time comes. Do you know if police body camera footage is subject to the Freedom of Information Act? The use of video surveillance has dramatically increased in the past few years, both in frequency of its use and the types of technology available. These videos are at the center of public debate and dispute in high profile police investigations, and a large component is the determination of whether to release these video...

The Freedom of Information Act, enacted in 1966, was the first law that gave Americans the right to access the records of federal agencies. FOIA establishes a legal right of access to government records and information on the basis of the principles of openness and accountability in government. In 1974, after the Watergate scandal the act was amended to force greater agency compliance. In 1991 the General Accounting Office reported over 1.9 m...