Contributors, Staff & Authors

The Public Works Web Site was developed through the collaborative efforts of many. Our sponsors believed in the idea enough to invest in it. Our contributors gave time in consultation and the staff and authors devoted hours researching, designing and writing material for the web site.

Contributors

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of NAFC Board member, Diane Ravnik, and NAFC legal counsel, Phillis Payne of Connerton & Payne, who have provided us with ideas, encouragement, expertise, editorial assistance, and countless hours of volunteer effort.

The authors also sincerely acknowledge the support and assistance of their colleagues at Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld, A Professional Corporation who offered assistance whenever asked and without whose help this project would have never become a reality.

The following individuals gave generously of their time and expertise: Marc Poulos, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting; Liz Nadeau, International Union of Operating Engineers; Chris Burger, International Union of Ironworkers; and Terry Yellig, Sherman, Dunn, Cohen, Leifer and Yellig.

We also wish to thank the many individuals working in the field who tested and reviewed this site. This site is better because of their input and we deeply appreciate the time they took to assist us. 

Primary Authors

Nina Fendel, Author and Editor-in-Chief

Ms. Fendel is an attorney and legal educator specializing in helping non-lawyers to understand the law, and creating legal resources that provide practical, comprehensive and up-to-date information to attorneys and others, in a wide variety of legal specialties. She has worked for the California Department of Industrial Relations, The Painting and Drywall Work Preservation Fund, Legal Services Foundation, and with many unions and labor/management groups.

Patricia Gates, Author and Legal Counsel 

Ms. Gates, of counsel at Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld (Alameda, California), since 1999, first developed her expertise in the areas of prevailing wages and public works in the 1980s. She worked as legal counsel to the Department of Industrial Relations from 1978-1981 where she specialized in public works and headed a labor/management organization founded by construction unions and contractor associations, aimed at enforcing prevailing wage law (Painting and Drywall Work Preservation Fund 1981-1988). Ms. Gates was the co-author of the original Public Works Manual in 1984 and supervised its revision in 1987. She represents labor management compliance organizations, unions and underpaid workers in cases involving wages, hours and working conditions in federal and California courts.

Staff

Andrea Don, Ms. Don is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Law, and has been a member of the California Bar since 2003.

Kerianne Steele, Ms. Steele is a Shareholder attorney with Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld. She is a graduate of the UC Davis, School of Law, and Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she majored in Labor Studies. While in law school, Ms. Steele served as President of the UC Davis, School of Law Labor and Employment Law Committee. She worked as a law clerk for Weinberg, Roger and Rosenfeld from June 2005 until 2007 and was instrumental in early efforts to create this web site.