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Schwartz Cooper Retained by MGM Mirage and Perini Building Company for CityCenter Project Training Program in Las Vegas

March 13, 2007

Schwartz Cooper is pleased to announce that the firm has been engaged by MGM Mirage and Perini Building Company to develop, administer and teach a training program for minority, women and diversity subcontractors working on the MGM CityCenter Project in Las Vegas.  At 18 million square feet and estimated to cost over $7 billion, the CityCenter development is the largest privately funded construction project in U.S. history.  

Attorneys Michelle Kantor, Ronald Grais and Joan Eagle will serve as instructors for the two-day training program.  The program, “Construction and Business Management Program for Diversity Contractors," will include the following courses:

  • Estimating: Right and Wrong Ways
  • Scheduling Basics
  • Banking and Financial Management
  • Employment Law and Employer Responsibilities
  • Critical Project Management Skills
  • Understanding the Plans and Specifications
  • Construction Law, Contracts and Claim Avoidance
  • Leadership Skills and Ethics ; and 
  • E-Construction, E-Signatures and Technology

Ms. Kantor will teach the “Construction Law, Contracts and Claim Avoidance” and “E-Construction, E-Signatures and Technology” courses.  Mr. Grais will teach the "Leadership Skills and Ethics" program, and Ms. Eagle will lead the "Employment Law and Employer Responsibilities” session.  Other instructors include representatives from Fifth Third Bank; The Kenrich Group LLC; Industria, Inc.; Crandall Ritzu Architects; and Broadway Consolidated Companies, Inc.

As head of Schwartz Cooper’s Construction Practice Group, Ms Kantor is a regular presenter at construction industry seminars, conventions and trade association meetings nationwide.  She also leads training programs on a variety of topics including, construction contract writing and negotiation, construction law, mechanics' liens, contract management, conflict resolution techniques, procurement law, design liability, technology law, and e-construction law.

Mr. Grais and Ms. Eagle also are experienced presenters.  Mr. Grais, Schwartz Cooper’s Chief Operating Officer, has addressed legal and real-estate professionals on the subject of downtown redevelopment at national conferences, including the Urban Land Institute National Convention, the International Downtown Association National Conference, the Urban Mass Transit Agency National Symposium, and the International Council of Shopping Centers/HUD Conference on Centralized Retail Management.  Ms. Eagle is head of Schwartz Cooper’s Labor & Employment practice and chair of the firm’s annual Employment & Business Law Seminar.  She frequently speaks about labor and employment issues for organizations including, the North Shore Professional Women's Association, the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago, Illinois Women in Business, and the Council on Education in Management. 

The “Construction and Business Management Program for Diversity Contractors” training program is a joint venture of Schwartz Cooper Chartered and MFK Consulting.  For more information please contact Michelle Kantor.