Biography: Jamil Soucar
Hello, my name is Jamil Soucar. I was born in Lebanon where I got my Civil Engineering degree in 1983. I’ve been working in the construction industry since; at multiple capacities and positions. Before diving into that, here is a bit of my background.
I come from a very good family background with emphasis on education and good values. At age 13 a civil war started in Lebanon that we lived through for 14 years. I was able to leave to California at age 27. I spent those horrible years of war filling my time with education, sports, family time and music. We had many years of fear and many near death experiences.
I’ve been dreaming of living in the US since I was 14 years old. I grew up in American schools and was influenced by the culture and lifestyle in the US from all those movies and TV shows. Why can’t I live like that? Why was I born here?
I felt that this dream will never come true. So, the frustration grew bigger with time, along with wondering if I will ever fulfil my dream of a good future. My dream was simple, I wanted to have a good life in the US and have a family of my own and do well enough to provide them anything they want. I spent many nights letting out my stress by playing my piano till late night.
When I finally made it to the US, I couldn’t believe it. And now after being here for 36 years, I still get that feeling of disbelief that I’m actually here and that I fulfilled what I used to dream of. God blessed me with a great wife and two incredible children.
You can’t imagine my feeling when I saw the street lights of Los Angeles from the plane approaching the airport. Am I really here?
Everything felt new when I first arrived. It’s like someone erased my knowledge to zero. So, I dove deep into buying books and studying along with working and getting construction experience. I enrolled in UCLA and got their Construction Management certificate. Since then, I assumed positions from superintendent to senior project management positions managing projects for General Contractors and Owners, public and private.
Later in 2003, I decided to take my career to the next level and started my current business, Arc & Line, LLC, offering construction management, claims and expert witness services. Then the 2008 recession hit and I went through a very tough time, even harder than the war. I resisted the pressure to leave self-employment and get a secure job. I thought if I did that, I may not go back to having my own business. Good I did that, because things turned around after a hard struggle and my business did very well.
Most of my projects are public works K-12 projects among other project types, including Residential, commercial, parks, libraries, gymnasiums, restaurants, sports facilities, street improvement and more. As an Owner representative to a public school district, I was the Senior Project Manager overseeing a program of 560 projects over 123 schools from scoping to construction completion.
As an expert witness for over 18 years, I testified in court, mediations and arbitrations including consulting work. The cases included delays, change order disputes, standard of care issues, scope disputes and defects.
With my passion for teaching, I taught construction management, scheduling and claims at Westwood College and construction claims to an international body of students who logged in from 18 countries, on line.
I had a unique teaching style where I didn’t open any text books. I simply explained the material from my real-life experience and asked the students to simply attend and participate in class for their A grade. They lost grades if they got on their phones or computers or if they did not engage in the class discussion. The students loved it and I got voted best instructor for 3 years.
Inspired by this experience of presenting material from real life experience; that is offering theory plus best practices on how to manage real life situations, I authored and published a book titled “Real Life Construction Management Guide from A – Z”.
The book sold nationally and internationally and won two awards at the Los Angeles and New York book festivals, and an Eric Hoffer award. It has good reviews on Amazon.
Being a life long learner, I enrolled in law school 3 years ago, with a goal of becoming a construction lawyer. I will graduate in 2025 and sit for the bar exam in February of 2026. I figured, armed with over 42 years of construction experience, would prove effective for my future work as a construction lawyer. That would not mean I would stop offering expert witness services as well or some consulting work.
In addition to that, I got 2 certificates in mediation from Pepperdine University and Conflict Resolution Institute. I love the mediation process and helping disputing parties reach a resolution. Working as a mediator is part of my career as well.
So, I’m very grateful for all that I’ve been blessed with. I’m literally living my dream. I appreciate the USA. I get my strength from my parents praying for me and being pleased with their caring son. I look forward to a successful career in law as well.
Best wishes to all of you.
