Tawny D. Mack

Tawny D. Mack is a full-service construction lawyer who assists clients across diverse industries, including energy, large-scale commercial, and infrastructure, with managing risk from initial project development to completion of the punch list and beyond. Tawny counsels owners, developers, design professionals, general contractors, and subcontractors in all aspects of construction, including project planning and design, contracting, contract administration and delivery, claim analysis and prosecution, and dispute resolution. Tawny’s background as both a litigator and a transactional lawyer enables her to excel at effectively negotiating contracts, project counseling, and, when needed, resolving disputes through mediation, litigation, and arbitration.

Having litigated construction disputes since the beginning of her career, Tawny protects clients’ interests in state and federal courts, arbitration, and mediation. She has successfully resolved a wide variety of claims, including professional negligence, defective design and construction, breach of contract, default and convenience terminations, differing site conditions, and delay and disruption.

Tawny also prepares and negotiates design and construction contracts of all varieties and project delivery methods, including engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreements, general contractor, subcontractor, and construction management agreements, architectural and engineering agreements, and supply agreements.

Prior to joining Smith Gambrell & Russell, Tawny worked for a global consulting, engineering, and construction company as a member of a four-lawyer team responsible for advising the company’s renewable energy and power business, which executed large-scale projects in the renewable energy (wind, solar, and BESS), power, paper, and water sectors throughout the Americas. In addition to advising the business regarding commercial contracting, Tawny worked hand-in-hand with executives, commercial and supply chain managers, and project teams to manage risk throughout a project’s life-cycle. Tawny also assisted with the prosecution of significant claims for extra work, inefficiencies, delays, and changed conditions in connection with turnkey solar and wind projects. In this role, Tawny gained first-hand knowledge of the operational, commercial, and business relationship motivations that must be considered in order to achieve the outcomes her clients desire. Tawny brings this business-minded approach to her practice and leverages her prior experience to anticipate the needs of clients.

Tawny is an active member of the National Association of Women in Construction and currently serves as Treasurer of the Atlanta Chapter. Tawny also recently completed a term as a Barrister of the Joseph Henry Lumpkin Inn of Court. The Inn’s members, who are comprised of judges and lawyers of distinguished experience, select ten barristers each year who were identified as lawyers in their first eight years of practice who possess the potential to move into the top echelon of the bar.

In 2019 2020, and 2021, Tawny was selected as a Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star®, an honor given to less than 2.5 percent of attorneys in Georgia.

Tawny graduated, magna cum laude, from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She graduated with a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law.

Tawny's Practice

Representative Matters

Transactions

Ms. Mack is experienced in the drafting and negotiation of construction agreements, engineering and other professional services agreements, supply agreements, and other commercial instruments relating to the development and delivery of projects in a variety of sectors, including energy, industrial process, multifamily, and other diverse industries.

• Represented an EPC contractor in the negotiation of an EPC agreement and related supply chain agreements for a 160MW wind farm developed by a major investor-owned electric utility.
• Represented engineering and consulting firm in the negotiation of a design agreement with a Canadian electric utility related to the modernization of a hydroelectric generation plant.
• Represented a metropolitan transit authority in the negotiation of a construction management agreement for the expansion of a heavy rail station.
• Represented heavy civils contractor in the negotiation of an earthwork and site development contract for a phosphorous mine.
• Represented an international developer in the negotiation of a construction management agreement for a cryptocurrency mining facility.

Project Counseling

Ms. Mack has counseled owners, developers, contractors, and design professionals through unforeseen circumstances, claims, and other challenges that arose during the life of a project.

• Advised an EPC contractor in the negotiation of a “reset agreement” with a major investor-owned electric utility in connection with a 128MW wind farm.
• Advised an EPC contractor in preserving, asserting, and successfully resolving cost and schedule claims made across a portfolio of utility-scale solar projects.
• Advised an EPC contractor in the termination and replacement of a major subcontractor working across a portfolio of wind projects (40MW – 128MW) and claims arising from the same.
• Advised civil engineering firm in connection with challenges associated with the civil design of 779-acre solar facility.
• Advised commercial developer through the termination of a general contractor in connection with a mixed-use development.

Litigation/Arbitration

Ms. Mack has represented design professionals, contractors, and developers in litigation and arbitration.

• Represented a national engineering firm in litigation brought by state agency claiming delay and negligent performance of construction-phase services.
• Represented a national engineering firm in litigation brought by a state department of transportation related to the design of a major interstate expansion.
• Represented a civil engineering firm in an action brought by a municipality related to substandard performance of an elevated water tank allegedly caused by design error.
• Represented a national inspection and testing firm in litigation arising from the catastrophic implosion of an industrial autoclave.
• Represented a national architecture firm in action brought by state agency asserting claims of negligent design with respect to the design of convention center renovation.