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Anne Gorham

  • Retired Chief Legal Officer; Consultant
  • Lexington, Kentucky 40502

Education

  • Undergraduate: BA University of Kentucky 1987
  • Law School: JD University of Kentucky 1991

Career History

Stites & Harbison, 1991 – 2017

Gray Inc. 2017 – 2022

Gray Construction, Inc. Consultant 2023

Gray Solutions LLC Advisory Board Member

Biography

  • Martindale-Hubbell® AV-Preeminent® Peer Review Rated
  • Best Lawyers in America®, Construction Law, Construction Litigation and Commercial Litigation (2007-17)
  • Best Lawyers in America®, Lexington Area Construction Law Lawyer of the Year (2014)
  • Kentucky Super Lawyers® (2007-17)
  • Kentucky Super Lawyers®, Top 25 Women Lawyers in the state (2007-17)
  • Chambers USA, “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” (2011-17)
  • Benchmark Litigation magazine, Litigation Star (2015)
  • Who’s Who Legal, Construction (2017)

Professional Activities

Before joining Gray Construction as General Counsel, and later as Chief Legal Officer from which she retired December 31, 2022, Anne was a member of Stites & Harbison’s Construction Service Group in the firm’s Lexington office.  Her practice focused on construction law and litigation. She is a past president of the College and she is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and Litigation Counsel of America.  Highlights of her years of private practice include:

  • Developed and negotiated design and construction contracts for owner/developer of $1 billion investment in manufacturing facilities in South Carolina
  • Participated in the development of term sheets and EPC contracts for $3 billion coal gasification facility in Western Kentucky
  • Drafted and negotiated design build contract for fracking sands plant in South Dakota
  • Review, advise and draft contracts, purchase orders, subconsultant agreements and subcontracts for multi-state design builder involved in projects ranging from $20 million to $300 million
  • Successfully defended a multifaceted challenge of a PSD air permit by the Sierra Club and other citizens’ groups relating to the Cash Creek coal gasification facility
  • Successfully litigated a case for a Minnesota bridge painting contractor, its subcontractor and  its surety against the Commonwealth of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Her clients achieved a $12 million settlement from the Cabinet, the largest settlement paid in the history of the Transportation Cabinet.
  • Negotiated successful resolution of a multi-million dollar dispute with a contractor and its surety regarding the failure of the contractor to timely complete installation of a gas pipeline under the Spring River in Iowa.
  • American College of Construction Lawyers, Past President 2021-22, Board of Governors; Chair, 2016 Annual Meeting
  • Fellow, Litigation Counsel for America
  • American Bar Association, Forum on the Construction Industry, Governing Committee
  • Kentucky Bar Association, Former Chair of Construction and Public Contracts Section
  • Federal Bar Association
  • American Arbitration Association, Mediators and Neutrals Panelist
  • Kentucky Law Journal Association, Inc., Board Member and President, 1992-93
  • American Bar Foundation, Fellow
  • Ohio Valley Chapter of the DBIA, past Board Member, Legislative Chair and Vice President

Professional Accolades

  • Martindale-Hubbell® AV-Preeminent® Peer Review Rated
  • Best Lawyers in America®, Construction Law, Construction Litigation and Commercial Litigation (2007-15)
  • Best Lawyers in America®, Lexington Area Construction Law Lawyer of the Year (2014)
  • Kentucky Super Lawyers® (2007-16)
  • Kentucky Super Lawyers®, Top 25 Women Lawyers in the state (2007-16)
  • Chambers USA, “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” (2011-16)
  • Benchmark Litigation magazine, Litigation Star (2015)
  • Who’s Who Legal, Construction (2016)

ABA Forum Committee on the Construction Industry, CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, Design Build Institute of America

Representative Articles, Publications, Speeches and Seminars

  • “Capital Construction Process for Small Institutions,” NACUBO 2015, Nashville, Tennessee
  • “Helping Your Client Set Up a Pre-Bid Risk Assessment System,” ABA Forum on Construction Law Annual Meeting, Boca Raton, Fla., April 16, 2015
  • “Practical Issues with Building Information Modeling (BIM),” 2014 Construction Law Institute, UK/CLE, Lexington, Ky., October 23, 2014
  • “New 2014 AIA A141 Design Build Documents: Throw-Back or All New?,” Stites & Harbison Client Alert, July 31, 2014
  • “The Delicate Balance Between Managing the Project vs. Managing the Claim,” ABA Forum on the Construction Industry 2014 Annual Meeting, April 12, 2014
  • “Contract Drafters Beware: No appeal arbitration provisions may not be enforceable under the FAA,” Stites & Harbison Client Alert, January 23, 2014
  • “Advancing the Design While Avoiding Misunderstandings on Design-Build Projects,” Design-Build 2013 Conference & Expo, Las Vegas, Nev., November 4-6, 2013
  • “Striving for Diversity – A Guide to Implementing Law Firm Diversity Programs,” Cutting Edge Tools: Advanced Techniques for Construction Practitioners, ABA Forum on the Construction Industry 2011 Annual Meeting, Scottsdale, Ariz., April 14-16, 2011
  • “ABA Forum on the Construction Industry Annual Meeting,” Co-Chair, Boston, 2003
  • “Kentucky Construction Law,” Contributing Author, Stites & Habison, PLLC, 2007
  • “AIA and ConsensusDOCS: Which Contract Forms are Best for Your Project,” Lorman Education Services, Lexington, Ky., August 29, 2012
  • “The Spearin Doctrine,” International Construction Law Conference, Melbourne, Australia, May 2012
  • “New state immigration laws are impacting the construction industry,” Stites & Harbison, PLLC, Client Alert, September 13, 2011
  • “What to do when a customer doesn’t pay?,” Stites & Harbison, PLLC, Thirsty Thursday networking event, May 26, 2011
  • “Law Firm Diversity Best Practices: The Essentials to Starting & Maintaining an Effective Diversity Initiative for Hiring & Retention,” ABA Forum on the Construction Industry 2011 Annual Meeting, Scottsdale, Ariz., April 16, 2011

Court Admissions

  • Kentucky
  • U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th and 6th Circuits
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
  • U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Community Activities

  • Kentucky Commission on Women Foundation, former Board member
  • Lexington Humane Society, former Board Member and Chair
  • Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Lexington Affiliate, former President and past Board Member
  • Truist Bank, local advisory board


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