James M. McIsaac Of Counsel
James M. McIsaac has a wide-ranging background in law, government, and aviation matters. Mr. McIsaac focuses his practice on Government Contacts, Compliance and Regulatory Matters, and Transportation and Aviation matters.
Prior to joining LKK Law LLC, Mr. McIsaac was Of-Counsel at a Chicago-based government-facing boutique law firm where he assisted clients with preparing responses to RFQs and bids, bid protests and disputes, MBE/WBE/DBE compliance issues as well as numerous other matters involving state and local government contracts, leases and concessions.
Mr. McIsaac served as Associate General Counsel for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. At the Authority, Mr. McIsaac advised the Authority on various procurement issues, including protests, disputes, concessions and construction contracts, and negotiated inter-agency agreements, drafted leases and prepared settlement agreements.
Prior to his tenure at the Authority, Mr. McIsaac was the Managing Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel for the City of Chicago’s Department of Procurement Services. In this role, he was responsible for managing legal issues for City of Chicago procurements administered by the Department. He advised on a broad spectrum of legal matters, including interpretation of contractual terms, disputes and protests, diversity certification, regulatory and compliance issues, employment, ethics, settlements, legislation, rules and regulations, media responses and risk avoidance.
Mr. McIsaac formerly served as Assistant Commissioner for the City of Chicago’s O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP) where he managed the Legal / Procurement group, a team charged with the responsibility of procuring architectural, engineering, design, and construction contracts for the massive redevelopment of O’Hare airport.
Prior to joining the OMP, Mr. McIsaac spent five years in the City’s Law Department in the Municipal Prosecutions Division, starting as a prosecutor in the Drug and Gang House Enforcement Section before attaining the position of Senior Counsel.
Before coming to the City of Chicago, Mr. McIsaac was an attorney in Bank One’s Litigation Group.
Representative Experience
- Routinely counsels clients in the preparation of proposals, bids and compliance plans.
- Represented clients in the preparation of bid protests and contract disputes. Also represented clients in defense against protests from competing vendors
- Assisted clients in defending adverse actions from contract owners and agencies, including termination and default actions and inspector general investigations.
- Reviewed contracts and subcontract agreements in order to obtain more favorable terms for clients.
- Drafted contract templates and other forms for clients to use.
- Drafted and negotiated inter-governmental agreements between transportation agencies.
- Broad experience with government procurement processes, including the procurement of construction, A&E, aviation concession and rental car leases.
- Assisted clients with compliance matters, including putting together successful compliance plans as well as defending against government allegations of under-utilization of subcontractors.
- Assisted clients with the submittal of Freedom of Information Requests as well as assisting them with limiting production of documents when clients are the target of a FOIA request.
Admissions
- Illinois
- New York
- Virginia
Education
- DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, Illinois, J.D.
- Northeastern University, Chicago, Illinois, Bachelor of Arts