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Scott W. Kowalski
Virginia Business// November 29, 2022//
Petty, Livingston, Dawson & Richards PC, Lynchburg
Title: President (sadly, the title came with neither a scepter nor a cape) and shareholder
Other legal specialties: Comedy … or not. Construction law encompasses construction defects, professional design liability, bond claims and public contracts.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, William & Mary; law degree, George Mason University
Family: Wife Amy Miles Kowalski (the smarter Kowalski lawyer at PLDR) and our four wonderful kids: Kate (22, W&M alumna), Lily (20, junior at Christopher Newport University), Evie (18, freshman at Central Virginia Community College) and Graham (15, high school sophomore)
Career mentors: Bob Watt, Carter Reid and Kathy Barnes at Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald LLP and Jim Richards and Ed Dawson at PLDR. Each has provided wonderful examples and sage guidance in my (gulp) 27-year legal career.
Fan of: Tennis (playing and watching my son play) and running our 5-acre “farmlet” (gardens, chickens)
First jobs: Yard man/handy man (self-employed), Kings Island Restaurant (Lynchburg) busboy
What recent developments in Virginia construction and contracts law have changed the field? The last five years have seen a great deal more construction-related legislation than I can recall from my earlier career — the addition of a statute of limitations on state work, restrictions on waivers of lien rights, wage-theft bills and, most recently, restrictions on
pay-if-paid provisions.
What drew you to construction law? I worked construction jobs on summer and other breaks and decided to combine that interest with my interest in law. Through the kind efforts of the late Judge Terry Ney, I was able to start my construction law career at Watt Tieder.
