The POWER 30: B.J. Nodzon

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But B.J. Nodzon at Faegre Drinker has been working on supply chain and its tools, automation and robotics, for longer than the virus has been around.

His practice is helping clients with contracts that would affect their businesses, including parts and installation of automation and robotics tools. “We’ve done contracts for installation of robotic arms to move goods around,” he said. There are also robots that clean the warehouses, he said.

“There is a lot of need for those services. Any client who owns real estate and needs to move products around will need service,” he said.

Pharmaceutical companies who manufacture virus vaccines have had to build systems, as have logistics providers who distribute the goods. Moving goods through warehouse or through states has become more challenging, for reasons including a shortage of truck drivers, Nodzon said. Most have made do with temporary help, he said.

The now-familiar delays at the beginning of the pandemic caused by shutdowns, illness and child care are starting to recover and companies have found ways to manage around delays, Nodzon said. The question is finding ways to address those concerns in contracts. Most clients have been able to resolve those issues without litigation by working together to find business solutions to pricing and timing.

“There are two things that make clients happy,” said Nodzon. “Creative and cost-effective solutions.” Many are reviewing their legal budgets, he said.

The biggest challenge to clients right now is that they didn’t have all the resources they needed to handle the pandemic. some needed more people under the circumstances than they had, he said.

Nodzon, and Faegre, have the background the clients need. “One of the biggest values lawyers can bring to the industry is knowledge and expertise. They can offer solutions that clients couldn’t see,” he said.

That industry knowledge allows the client to develop trust in the lawyer and allows the lawyer to offer a range of advice to the client. In addition to automation, Nodzon has been involved in fields including energy, sports, health care, housing and food/agriculture. He also has handled a variety of government contract issues for clients, including bid protests, prevailing wage disputes and claims against the government for unpaid work.

In a completely different arena, Faegre Drinker’s housing court clinic, in which Nodzon is involved, has been quieter than normal, given the eviction moratorium. But the pandemic has also accelerated problems between tenants and landlords, and housing court is going to be a challenge once the moratorium is lifted. It’s going to call for creative resolution between landlords and tenants, he said. “They’re going to have to cooperate with each other.”