Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Alumni Profile: Jeffrey Coleman

In CCEEnews, we often hear about you who work in civil engineering-related fields. But many of you don’t work in engineering after you graduate or you move to something else during your career. So, this is the first in what we hope is a long series of how your careers took unexpected turns.

From doing to defending

Jeffrey W. Coleman (BSCE 1976 and MSCE in Structural Engineering 1977) isn't working as a professional engineer anymore (though he’s licensed in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). He’s one of the top lawyers defending them.

He works on liability claims with engineers, architects, and contractors, representing some of the largest architecture and engineering firms in the United States and recently published a book with the American Concrete Institute (where he’s a Fellow): Legal Issues in Concrete Construction.

"Understanding the industry has definitely given me an advantage in my cases. But my civil engineering education helped me become a lawyer in other ways, too. I learned problem-solving, working with people, project management, and conducting research—all skills I use every day as a lawyer."

Fresh out of graduate school, he worked as a structural engineer for Ellerbe Associates in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and served as the architect's field representative during the reconstruction of the collapsed Hartford Coliseum.

He realized through his early experiences as an engineer that few lawyers really understand engineering. So he enrolled in William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul part time and passed the Minnesota bar exam in 1984.

Coleman served as general counsel for Ellerbe Associates and Ellerbe Becket from 1984 through 1988. After two years with a boutique construction law firm, he formed his current firm: Coleman, Hull and van Vliet in Minneapolis.

In 2004, he was recognized (again) as one of Minnesota’s top lawyers by more than 12,000 lawyers practicing in the state. Coleman received SuperLawyer status based on three years of research and surveys conducted by Minnesota Law & Politics Magazine. Coleman also received the Iowa State University Outstanding Alumnus Award in 1993.