O’Melveny serves as a trusted advisor to the transportation industry, with more than 50 years of experience counseling clients around the world on critical business and legal matters, ranging from billion-dollar strategic transactions to successful advocacy before US courts and international tribunals.
Our group combines broad and deep knowledge of every industry segment—land, air, and sea transport and logistics—with a track record of success representing clients in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States.
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Automotive
- O’Melveny works with automotive companies and industry investors around the world on a wide range of matters, including billion-dollar-plus financings, innovative M&A deals, and high-stakes litigation brought in courts across the United States.
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Aviation
- O’Melveny maintains a leading aviation practice, with accomplishments that include: Spearheading the first post-deregulation merger of US airlines, and playing a decisive role in virtually every significant ownership change since; assisting on more than 50 airport projects in the last two decades—representing more than 35 airports in nine countries, and an aggregate value of nearly US$20 billion; brokering the first successful international route sale under US regulatory authorities; prevailing before the US Supreme Court in the case that produced the court’s seminal ruling on aircraft noise regulation; successfully handling numerous “bet the company”-scale labor, employment, and union-related cases in federal district and appellate courts across the United States; and negotiating and structuring the first-ever attempted privatization of a US airport.
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Port Projects
- O’Melveny has participated in the development, financing, and sale of many significant port projects. We have advised on infrastructure development and expansion, rail line acquisitions and consolidations, operating agreements, tax matters, issues of public law, tidelands, regulatory approvals, environmental matters, land use, and project development and finance. Recent work includes representing the Port of Oakland in the first-ever long-term concession of a US port terminal facility.
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Rail Projects
- O’Melveny counsels rail line operators, users, and affected communities on all aspects of transactions related to rail line consolidation, expansion, and development. When representing a group of local transportation agencies in the acquisition of existing railroad rights-of-way for Southern California’s commuter rail system, we negotiated complex shared-use, construction, and development agreements, provided advice regarding issuance of tax-exempt bonds, and worked closely with, and testified before, government agencies to address public issues.
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Road Projects
- O’Melveny has substantial experience adapting project financing structures to the distinctive requirements of toll road, bridge, and related projects for developers, investors, and lenders. We have thorough knowledge of the underlying economic aspects driving these projects, including the contractual arrangements and permitting issues that can pose challenges.
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Sea Vessels
- O’Melveny litigators have handled some of the world’s largest maritime disputes, including the high-profile representation of Exxon in matters relating to the Valdez oil spill as well as shipbuilding disputes and arbitrations arising out of ship sale and purchase agreements and charter contracts. On the transactions side, we have structured a number of complex capital-raising and financing transactions involving shipping interests.
