From major aircraft accidents to satellite risks to corporate financing, leasing arrangements, government contracts and commercial and regulatory matters, Locke Lord covers a wide range of issues affecting the aviation industry today. Our aviation and defense lawyers have provided assistance to the aviation industry and its insurers and suppliers for more than 50 years. We provide services related to product liability, airline, aircraft lessors, airport and general aviation. We have extensive experience handling litigation, mediations and arbitrations. Our lawyers also have experience with aircraft acquisition, sales, financing, leasing, regulatory compliance and risk management for aviation transactions.
With offices strategically located across the United States and in London and Hong Kong, we can meet our clients' needs across the globe. We have almost limitless international 'reach' through our comprehensive international network of correspondents and contacts. Locke Lord has the ability to deal with matters that touch and concern countries throughout the world, seamlessly, through one firm.
Defense and Government Contracting
The United States and its allies spend hundreds of billions of dollars annual on products and services. Our team of experienced professionals can guide you through every legal issue domestically and abroad. This area, though complex offers an excellent area for business growth. We have experience in areas such as contracting, finance, compliance, offsets, novations, teaming, work for private parties (WFPP), cooperative research and development agreements (CRADA), 8A contracting, Truth in Negotiations Act (Tina), False Claims Act and Qui Tam, Intellectual Property and Data Rights, General Services Administration (GSA), Claims and Protests and Subcontract Flow through clauses. Our clients include large prime government contractors, start-ups, manufacturers, universities, and suppliers. We understand the business of government contracting and offer tailored solutions for your business.
We have experience in Government transactions around the globe including the UK, Turkey, France, Italy, Greece, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, The Netherlands, and Germany. We have established entities, partnerships and strategic alliances which involve our deep knowledge of global anti-corruption sustainment and export/import.
Product Liability
Manufacturers work hard to develop and market effective, safe products. When their products are attacked, we guide them through the complexities of product liability. We work quickly to protect the products' reputation and minimize the disruptions claims can cause. Our experience and background enable us to work with in-house counsel, product designers and engineers to develop defenses that take maximum advantage of the product research and development. We are equipped to defend against product liability claims in all jurisdictions. However, because of our extensive experience, we can help you prevent or reduce product liability claims by providing advice on product quality control, document retention and accident investigation objectives and techniques. Our experience includes:
- Product integrity reviews and loss prevention training
- Drafting and evaluation of product literature
- Contract interpretation
- Accident investigation
- Investigation of potential design defects and construction flaws
- Product recalls
- Representation for National Transportation Safety Board investigations and public hearings
- Multi-district litigation for mass tort and punitive damages claims
Airlines
Our lawyers have experience handling major airline cases throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We have an established practice that handles all aspects of corporate finance and governance in the airline sector including M&A, joint ventures, buy outs, privatizations and disposals. In addition, airlines from other regions and their aircraft lessors may be sued in U.S. courts, despite the flight, passengers and incident often having little or no connection to the United States. We are recognized internationally as a leading firm in defending non-U.S. airlines and their aircraft lessors. Our lawyers advise on numerous types of airline contracts including: commercial procurement and outsourcing, IT contracts, IP arrangements, agreements with travel agents and other distribution arrangements (GDS/CRS), fuel supply, MROs, groundhandling and numerous operational issues in the United Kingdom, Europe and Africa.
We also advise airlines on the operation of aircraft including licensing of flight crew; noise and emissions; numerous operational issues; and registration and deregistration.
Our experience includes:
- Commercial transactional work
- Crisis management and communications
- Accident investigation
- Leasing contract interpretation and defense of lessors from claims of negligent entrustment
- Multi-district litigation for mass tort and punitive damages claims
- National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigations and hearings
- International Air Transport Association (IATA) arbitration
- Embarking or disembarking accidents
- Ground handling incidents and cargo and baggage claims
- Hull claims, including surface and engine damage
- Federal, state and international regulatory compliance, including Warsaw and Montreal Conventions and the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations
Airports
Locke Lord has experience representing airports and entities concerning their legal liability for accidents, security, regulations and air traffic control matters that arise at the world's airports. We advise operators, airport "clubs", investors, funders, airport companies, civil aviation authorities, airlines, suppliers, franchisees and contractors in relation to a variety of matters. We work with both privately owned and government controlled airports and provide an array of services, which include:
- Liability assessment
- Real estate matters such as airport lettings and leases and hangar rent reviews
- Contract review and dispute resolution
- Commercial contracts with airlines and suppliers to airports
- Defense of airport premises accidents
- Airport wrap-up
- Regulatory advice on issues such as slots, competition, environmental, handling, and airport terms and charges
- Litigation, arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution
- Regulatory compliance and International Civil Aviation Organization recommended practice
General Aviation
We have long handled a wide range of matters involving general aviation. Our experience includes:
- Fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft
- Reciprocating and small turbine aircraft engines
- Industrial aid operators
- FAR Part 135 operations
- Flight schools
- Maintenance, repair and overhaul operators
Aircraft Transactions
Federal law limits the registration of aircraft to individuals and entities recognized as "citizens of the United States" a term that excludes many partnerships. The sometimes murky federal regulations also limit the ability of operators of general aviation aircraft to obtain reimbursement from persons who fly on their planes. The acquisition or leasing and disposal of aircraft often involve complex federal income tax considerations. Aircraft also can be tempting targets for property tax collectors, but careful adherence to state tax laws sometimes can reduce this tax. Use of a corporate shell or a single-asset LLC to own an aircraft can unexpectedly render the owner a commercial operator, requiring strict compliance with the same detailed safety regulations that govern charter operators. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in heavy fines and in the loss of insurance coverage.
Our lawyers can assist you with all these issues. We have extensive experience in all aspects of business aircraft, including acquisitions, sales, financings, leases, tax-free exchanges, owners in management and operations arrangements, FAA regulations issues, methods of U.S. aircraft registration for non-U.S. persons and all related federal, state and local tax aspects. Our clients include corporations, limited liability companies and other types of organizations, their executives, and individuals who recognize the time savings that an ownership interest in a jet can achieve. We also represent banks, aircraft lessors and creditors' committees. Our experience includes:
- Buying, selling, financing and registering corporate aircraft of all sizes
- Leasing (tax leases, capital leases, leveraged leases, synthetic leases)
- Saving millions of dollars in sales/use tax and in ad valorem taxes through the use of creative vehicles
- Dealing with a myriad of competing considerations in Part 91/Part 135 compliance
- Establishing time-sharing and joint ownership agreements
- Participating in fractional interest programs
- Importing and exporting aircraft
- Negotiating management, consulting, service and broker agreements, hangar and facilities leases and other ancillary contracts
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
The Aviation Practice Group at Locke Lord remains at the forefront of advising and protecting the interests of leading aerospace industry participants – including all manner of aircraft and component part manufacturers, aircraft owners and operators, lessors, airlines, airports, and their insurers and reinsurers. In line with its long standing tradition, Locke Lord has been examining the proposed integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), inclusive of the particular vehicles (UAVs or "drones") and their operators, into U.S. airspace and has been actively assisting commercial and insurance clients on the developing legal and regulatory issues in this exciting and fast-changing area. As a full-service law firm with a broad base of experience assisting all manner of aerospace companies and market professionals, Locke Lord's aviation group is uniquely suited to advise clients in the continually emerging UAS market.
Intellectual Property and Trademark
Our Aviation and Defense lawyers are able to call on the experience of our well-regarded Intellectual Property practice when the need arises. Because of our depth in key technologies, we have earned a reputation for delivering practical, cost-effective, business-driven solutions in a wide range of sectors. Clients turn to us for complex prosecution, sophisticated transactions and difficult litigation involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, licensing and domain names.
- Prepared and prosecuted volumes of patents directed to aeronautical and aerospace technology including retractable landing gear systems for fixed and rotary wing aircraft, variable displacement fuel pumps for gas turbine engines, aircraft engine control systems, fuel injectors and atomizers for gas turbine engines, metallurgical coatings for aircraft engine components, aircraft antiicing and de-icing systems, imaging systems for airborne surveillance, inertial gyroscopic navigation systems for orbital spacecraft and the petal deployment architecture for the next generation space telescope
- Litigated a copyright infringement case relating to the proprietary technical drawings for the fuel control system used on the Huey helicopter
- Software disputes regarding weapons systems
- Patent litigation related to the engine control system used on the Chinook helicopter and the engine health management system used on the Blackhawk helicopter
- Various disputes regarding IT framework agreements
- Numerous trade mark applications and renewals, as well as brand protection and trade mark opposition work