David Beddow
1625 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC, 20006
Phone: +1-202-383-5362
Fax: +1-202-383-5414
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Ben Bradshaw
1625 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC, 20006
Phone: +1-202-383-5163
Fax: +1-202-383-5414
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Robert Siegel
400 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90071
Phone: +1-213-430-6005
Fax: +1-213-430-6407
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Mark Wood
400 South Hope Street
Los Angeles, CA, 90071
Phone: +1-213-430-6220
Fax: +1-213-430-6407
PROFESSIONALS
- Related Practices
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Aviation
O'Melveny's leadership and experience in strategic, regulatory, litigation, project development, airport/airline financing, labor/employment, and legislative matters in the aviation industry is internationally recognized. We have handled domestic and international aviation issues involving government and private sector clients for more than 40 years. Our lawyers have been involved in many precedent-setting changes in the airline industry, starting with the first major airline acquisition following the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 through recent mergers, consolidations, and spin-offs, as well as developments in international and domestic alliance relationships. We draw upon our lawyers' substantial experience in corporate, labor, tax, international trade, antitrust, ERISA or pension benefits, litigation, antitrust and related areas to provide comprehensive legal assistance to airlines, airport authorities, financial institutions, and other aviation-related organizations seeking to maximize their business opportunities within the regulatory framework. We help clients pursue their business strategies and solve their problems creatively in an ever-changing regulatory and legislative setting.
Practice Strengths
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Antitrust
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Our lawyers also represent airlines in antitrust matters. We counsel clients on mergers, acquisitions, alliances, and Hart-Scott-Rodino filings, as well as complex litigation involving antitrust claims. We have antitrust lawyers in our U.S. and overseas offices, providing global reach in this area.
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Class Actions, Mass Torts, and Major Commercial Disputes
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Our attorneys defend clients in civil and criminal investigations and complex state and faederal jury trials involving major airline disasters. We handle a wide variety of private aircraft accident litigation, contractual disputes, antitrust litigation, and major consumer disputes. O'Melveny attorneys also represent clients in litigation resulting from regulatory matters, for example, in the seminal Supreme Court decision on aircraft noise regulation.
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Financing Airport Development
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Since the mid-nineties, our attorneys have assisted with the development and/or financing of over 50 airport projects for more than 35 airports in nine countries, with an aggregate value approaching $20 billion. We have helped to structure development arrangements and financings for new airports, passenger terminals, fuel storage and delivery systems, cargo buildings, maintenance hangars, flight kitchens, and other air- and land-side facilities. Through these and other assignments, our attorneys have developed a broad, deep, and "real" knowledge of virtually all techniques of airport project finance, and have pioneered new and innovative approaches and structures. We are also actively engaged in the field of airport privatization, advising both governmental agencies and private firms in the strategic placement of airport assets with the private sector. The firm has represented governmental entities in the United States and various bidding groups in connection with airport privatization projects in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere.
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Labor and Employment
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Over the past two decades, we have developed what we believe is the largest and most experienced practice in the United States representing airlines in all aspects of labor relations and employment law. Our practice includes:
- Advising airlines on strategy in union organizing campaigns
- Representing carriers in representation and carrier interference cases before the National Mediation Board (NMB)
- Litigating against unions, employees, and the NMB under the Railway
Labor Act (RLA)
- Collective bargaining, both as strategic advisor to the carrier's labor relations officials and as chief negotiator
- Conducting arbitration cases before the carrier's System Board of Adjustment
- Advising carriers on labor relations and employment matters
- Litigating individual and class action employment cases in state and federal courts
We have attorneys with significant RLA and airline employment experience in all of our domestic offices. Over the past decade, we have been involved in many of the most significant court decisions issued under the RLA, and we have twice prevailed in judicial challenges to representation decisions of the NMB, something no other firm has done.
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Representing Airlines, Financial Institutions, and Other Aviation Interests
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For the past 25 years, we have represented a wide variety of aviation clients in major transactions and other initiatives that have changed the shape of the industry, including:
- The first post-deregulation merger
- The first international route sale
- The first foreign carrier investment in a US carrier
- The first creation of a spin-off shuttle operation
We have participated in literally hundreds of aviation regulatory matters involving many governmental agencies including the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), U.S. Departments of State, Justice, Agriculture, and Commerce, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Trade Representative, the Environmental Protection Agency, various state attorneys general, the European Commission (EC), and the U.K. Department for Transport.
We provide advice to aviation clients on safety, operations, citizenship and foreign investment, antitrust and competition, environmental matters, licensing, advertising, customer service, alliances, bilateral rights, and enforcement matters Our attorneys monitor the DOT and FAA dockets, as well as the Federal Register and legislative developments, to identify applications, rulemakings, pending legislation, and other actions that may affect our clients' interests and operations. We have recently drafted legislative proposals and prepared congressional testimony for senior management at major U.S. airlines involving:
- Foreign and Domestic Airport Access
- Slot Regulations
- Airline Industry Competition
- Airline Alliances
- Air Service to Smaller Communities
- Passenger Rights Initiatives
- US - UK Air Services
Our attorneys also consult with US and foreign government representatives about air transportation agreement negotiations and access to foreign countries for US carriers. We help airlines formulate positions and develop strategies regarding such negotiation and access, and have substantial knowledge about the rights and restrictions set forth in various international air transportation agreements.
We also counsel financial institutions that provide collateral-backed financing to airlines and airports and have acted as special aviation counsel to those entities in several transactions involving several billion dollars over the last several years.
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