Amanda Kraft

Profile

Amanda B. Kraft is a member of the McNees Real Estate and Construction & Procurement Law Groups.

With more than five years of experience drafting and negotiating construction, design, professional, and master service contracts, Amanda has a deep understanding of the construction process. She is dedicated to client service, committed to expanding her knowledge of her clients’ businesses to provide the best services possible.

Amanda counsels nationally located owners, contractors, and subcontractors for the development and construction of complex commercial, retail, and mixed-use development projects utilizing traditional project delivery systems as well as construction management, EPC, and design/build systems.

She has advised business owners in corporate and contract matters as well as REIT and contractor construction project teams and in-house legal counsel regarding project risk management, mechanics’ lien policy, prompt payment policy, COVID-19 policy, and standard construction practices in the retail/mixed-use sectors throughout the United States.

Amanda has also served as lead counsel, representing her clients in state and federal courts and briefing and arguing three matters before the Pennsylvania Superior Court. One appellate argument involved successfully representing an intervening commercial condominium association in a dispute related to a $20 million infrastructure improvement plan.

Before joining McNees, Amanda was senior associate at Blumling & Gusky LLP, a Pittsburgh-based boutique construction law firm, where she counseled business owners in corporate and contract matters and represented creditors and lien holders in connection with various execution proceedings, including sheriff sales and mortgage foreclosures.

Amanda represented criminal defendants and juvenile delinquents in addition to her commercial litigation practice at another Pittsburgh-based firm prior to that. She also clerked for Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Janet Moschetta Bell, now retired, and interned with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.

Her areas of thought leadership include project risk management for owners and contractors; Pennsylvania mechanics’ lien law; force majeure/COVID impacts; and drafting and negotiating construction contracts.

Amanda is a 2011 cum laude graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law and she earned her B.A. in Psychology, Criminal Justice, and Sociology from the University of Delaware in 2006. She is a current board member and former president of the National Association of Women in Construction, an organization that unites for the mutual benefit of women actively engaged in the various phases of the construction industry.

When she is not practicing law, Amanda spends time and travels with her husband and stepdaughter. She enjoys trying new restaurants, reading, and watching bad movies.