Karl Oles

Practice Areas

For more than 30 years, Karl Oles has helped owners, architects, engineers, and contractors solve complex legal problems through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and trial. Karl has also drafted, negotiated, and analyzed multimillion-dollar design and construction contracts on a wide variety of construction projects. He serves as an arbitrator on the American Arbitration Association’s construction panel. He is co-author of the current standard treatise on Washington lien law.

In 2019, Karl was part of a team that represented the Washington State Department of Transportation in a nine-week jury trial, obtaining a verdict of $57.2 million for WSDOT and defeating the contractor’s claim for $337 million.

Professional Memberships

- Past Chair, Washington State Bar Association, Construction Section

Publications

- “Every Construction Project Comes With Risk, but It Can Be Managed,” Daily Journal of Commerce, Jan. 2022

- “Benefits and Risks of Involving a Project’s Contractor in The Design,” Daily Journal of Commerce, March 2021

- “Differing Site Conditions An Issue in the Seattle SR 99 Tunnel Litigation,” Daily Journal of Commerce, March 2020

- “The Construction Lien in Washington: A Legal Analysis for the Construction Industry,” co-author, Stoel Rives LLP, 2015 Edition (Updated 2019)