Chris has over thirty-five years of experience advising design clients on all aspects of their practice. He drafts and negotiates design and construction contracts for projects throughout the world, including major university and hospital buildings, public schools and correctional facilities, museums and aquariums, and the tallest office towers in the world. He is in the forefront of the development of contractual and risk management tools to support Building Information Modeling and Integrated Project Delivery.

Chris serves as general counsel for numerous design firms, negotiates resolution of design and construction disputes, supports trial counsel in contested proceedings, and provides advice on the legal, financial, management, and interpersonal issues involved in the operation and ownership transition of design firms.

He was a partner with the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow, which he joined in 1973, until he left to found Noble & Wickersham LLP with Jay Wickersham in2003.

He is a founding fellow and recent Chair of the Contract Documents Committee of the American College of Construction Lawyers. He is a past chair of the Contract Documents Division of the American Bar Association Construction Industry Forum, and is an honorary member of the Boston Society of Architects.

Chris has written and co-written numerous publications, including Massachusetts Construction Law (Professional Education Systems, annual editions, 1982-2002). His recent articles include “Can Project Alliancing Agreements Change the Way We Build?” Architectural Record, July, 2007, and (with Bennet Heart) “The AIA’s New Digital Data Documents,” The Construction Lawyer, Spring, 2008. He contributed a chapter on Intellectual Property to Building (in) the Future, Princeton Architectural Press (2010) and (with Bennet Heart) a chapter in the ABA Construction Industry Forum’s Design-Build Deskbook (4th Ed. 2010).

His seminal article on Project Counsel services provides a conceptual framework for the role of lawyers in Integrated Project Delivery: "Friend of the Project: A New Paradigm for Construction Law Services in a ‘Partnered’ Construction Industry," The International Construction Law Review (January 1998)

He has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and other professional schools.

Chris graduated from Yale College in 1968 and from Yale Law School in 1973.

Prior Professional Experience
Hill & Barlow, Boston, MA (1973 – 2002). Practiced design, construction, corporate, and real estate law as chair of the firm’s Construction Law Practice Group.

Academic Appointments
Visiting Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Department of Architecture (1989).
Guest Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Real Estate (2002-2003).
Guest Lecturer, Roger Williams University School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation (2003-2010)
Secretary, Trustee, and Executive Committee Member, Boston Architectural College (2004-2008)

Professional Registrations, Activities, and Memberships
Admitted to bar, Massachusetts.
Founding Fellow, Former Board Member and Contract Documents Committee Chair, American College of Construction Lawyers.
Member, American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry. Chair, Contract Documents Division (2000-2002).
Honorary Member, Boston Society of Architects.

Education
Yale Law School. J.D. 1973.
Yale University. B.A. 1968.
Banaras Hindu University, 1964 – 65.