Experience You Can Trust

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After practicing with a large firm in litigation and environmental law as an attorney for many years, Mary Jo began in construction as a generalist performing various duties with contract administration, project management, estimating, field supervision and safety in a small construction management firm.  Then, she became a cost engineer analyzing and negotiating entitlement and value of change order requests for a large regional construction management company. She was promoted to be in-house counsel and handled all legal matters from contracts, claims, third party insurance claims, employment claims, due diligence, compliance and federal contracting work.

Through this varied industry hands-on exposure in conjunction with her legal knowledge, Mary Jo Gilsdorf, Esq. has significant experience with the preparation, presentation and resolution of claims through informal negotiation processes, alternative dispute resolution proceedings and litigation. Representative experience includes claims involving scheduling and delay issues, cost entitlement, change orders, scope of work analysis, concealed conditions, coordination disputes, financing / work-out issues, construction defect, design errors and omissions and disputes involving Building Information Modeling (BIM), ranging from $ 10K to $ 60MM in value.

Further, through her experience, she has an in-depth knowledge of contract drafting and negotiation.  Understanding contracts from the perspective of the structure for the relationship of the parties involved in a project, they are a critical component of the construction process.  

Building upon this foundation, Mary Jo Gilsdorf has developed an Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") practice focusing on construction issues but also dealing with various commercial, real estate transaction and consumer matters.  She has extensive experience in mediating and arbitrating construction cost and payment claims, construction defect claims, professional liability claims, real estate disputes, personal injury claims, commercial claims, business dissolution, consumer claims, legal fee dispute claims and other contract claims.

Mary Jo Gilsdorf, Esq. was admitted into practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1989.  Since 2014, she has conducted over 150 successful mediations and  over 200 arbitrations with cases in value up to $ 60 Million in claims. Mary Jo also serves as an Accredited American Orchid Society Judge.

As an Arbitrator, Mary Jo Gilsdorf devotes her full focus and attention on the issues at hand. Perceptive and intelligent, she examines the issues presented and weighs the evidence against the backdrop of her industry experience and legal knowledge.

While Mary Jo Gilsdorf has served as an Arbitrator on several types of commercial matters, her prior construction industry experience as in-house counsel and a cost engineer at a major regional construction management firm gives her practical and insightful industry knowledge.  She has encountered numerous issues on cost, entitlement,  construction defect and design claims.  She can read blueprints, and understands the various means and methods of the trades.  Mary Jo has acquired a keen understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the various parties in a construction dispute. With over fourteen years of working within the industry and over thirty years of experience as a lawyer, she has a solid background supporting her ability to be an efficient, effective and fair arbitrator.  

Mary Jo Gilsdorf has mediated over 170 cases since 2015 with over an 80% success rate.  She is known for her tenacity and understanding of each participant's position which enables her to see through the issues and develop a mutually agreeable settlement of the dispute.  Not afraid to be creative or look at the matter from different perspectives, Mary Jo's unique approach in developing a workable solution in a mediation session has resulted in substantial savings for claimants over more costly and involved litigation or arbitration proceedings.

Mary Jo Gilsdorf is available to facilitate settlement of disputes on a fair and impartial basis. In her approach, she seeks to understand and appreciate each participant's perspective and bring that understanding to the other parties in the process.  then as the process develops, she can fairly and objectively provide evaluative input on the likelihood of success of the issues involved and provide "handicapping" of the values of the claims. In this way, common ground can be developed as a foundation for resolution and settlement.  In the construction context, she appreciates the roles of the members of the construction team and the division of responsibility and risk among the key parties which aids in reaching consensus and agreement.