David J. Hatem is a nationally recognized attorney whose practice specializes in representing engineers and architects and advising professional liability insurance underwriters on project-specific insurance matters. David teaches Legal Aspects of Civil Engineering at Northeastern University Graduate School of Engineering and has continuously served as counsel for the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA) since 1988. He has authored and edited numerous articles and publications in his field, including:

• Project-Specific Professional Liability Insurance on Design-Build and Public-Private Partnership Projects in North America: A Path Forward (2022); 
• Public-Private Partnerships and Design-Build: Opportunities and Risks for Consulting Engineers, Third Edition, ACEC (Hatem, D.J. and Gary, P. 2020); 
• Subsurface Conditions: Risk Management for Design and Construction Management Professionals (1998); 
• Design-Build Subsurface Projects, Second Edition, Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc. (G. Brierley, D. Corkum, and D. Hatem, 2010); 
• Megaprojects: Challenges and Recommended Practices, ACEC (D.J. Hatem and D. Corkum, eds., 2010). 

Most recently, he was a member of the writing committee for Geotechnical Baseline Reports Suggested Guidelines, ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice No. 154 (R. Essex, 2022); and served as a legal reviewer/resource for Geotechnical Baseline Reports: A Guide to Good Practice (CIRIA C807, 2023).

In Canada, David is a member of the Tunnelling Association of Canada and presented a paper entitled “Should Geotechnical Baseline Reports be the Universal and Exclusive Contractual Basis for Subsurface Conditions” at the October 2021 TAC Conference, as well as “Early Contractor Involvement: Rethinking and Recalibrating Delivery Methods for Subsurface Projects” at TAC’s September 2023 Conference.