Aviation and Aerospace Law .

Aviation and Aerospace Law

Have you ever wondered who “owns” air space? What will happen someday when we start consistently traveling in outer space and colonizing other planets? Who would take care of laws relating to this air travel? If you’re the type of person who enjoys thinking about theoretical questions in constantly evolving areas, aviation and aerospace law may be for you.

Two hundred years ago, no one would have imagined that we would need aviation lawyers to help with disputes about air travel. So, what might be going on up in the air two hundred years from now? The United States could look like a scene straight out of The Jetsons for all we know!

It is important to realize the extent to which aviation and aerospace law involves international matters. If you have no interest in dealing with other countries, you may find it harder to get a job in this practice area. However, there is certainly something to be said for working with a more local group to keep noisy airports from disturbing the slumber of residential areas.

Did you always want to be an astronaut growing up? You may find it slightly easier to use your law degree to work in the aerospace area instead. However, with the rather limited opportunities available in it now, you will still likely have to have a top-notch scientific background to land one of these jobs.

Education and Background:

Because this is such a niche area, you probably should take some courses in this area of law if your school offers them.

If you are not already enrolled in a law school and are interested in this area, you may want to consider going to the University of Mississippi School of Law. According to the school’s website, “The National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, is the nation’s leading – and only – law school for the study of both air and space law. The Center offers a concentration in Air and Space Law” (Air and Space Law Concentration).

If you are already enrolled in a law school, your best chance to get into this practice area may be to go to the University of Mississippi Law School to get an LL.M. in Air and Space Law. The website states, “It is the first and only LL.M. program in the U.S. offering a combined air and space law postgraduate law degree at an ABA accredited law school” (Air and Space Law Program Overview). So, unless you want to go to one of the schools outside of the US with such a program, this looks like your best option.

The other alternative, particularly if you want to focus on the even newer and rapidly developing area of space law, is to get an LL.M. degree in space, cyber, and telecommunications from the Nebraska College of Law. If you want to work for SpaceX, this is the way to go! Note: they only enroll 8-10 students in the program per year (Prospective LL.M. Students). Your previous academic, extracurricular, and work experience must have shown you to be an absolute star (pun intended) for you to get into their space program.

If you want to continue your education even further to rise to the absolute top of the space law practice area, Nebraska Law also offers a J.S.D. in space law. Note that there are very strict entrance requirements into this program – to learn more, visit their website.

One final consideration about entering this practice area is that already having a military background or having an intention to go into the military may correlate well with the type of work you may be performing.

Getting a job:

If you want to focus on aviation law, you may consider getting a job with an airline or working for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). You could also work for a law firm that represents pilots in FAA enforcement actions. Although a niche area, there are sufficient jobs in this area if you have a strong background. Airplanes have been around for a while, so it isn’t as newly developing as space law is! Currently, job opportunities in space law are extremely scarce. If working for SpaceX is a dream of yours, note that at the time this was written, not a single legal position was open for the company (though plenty of engineering, programming, management, and other various positions were open). Market demand for this type of legal work will likely increase dramatically in the next few years, however. In a Tweet on July 18, 2019, Elon Musk reported that Starhopper, a prototype of the SpaceX Mars-colonizing spacecraft, came out fine after being engulfed in flames. He said, “Yeah, big advantage of being made of high strength stainless steel: not bothered by a little heat!” (@elonmusk)

With the likelihood of us inhabiting Mars increasing every day with more and more sophisticated technology, there will probably be a need in the very near future for many more aviation and aerospace lawyers.

Average salary:

Flying Magazine states that the salary of an aviation attorney is, “in line with other fields of law,” but also notes that pay varies widely with geography; it says in Washington D.C., aviation attorneys earn a yearly total of about $219,000 on average (Wynbrandt).

There is not enough data about space law to give an average.

Would you like this practice area?

Strengths/weaknesses: You need to be strong in science for this practice area. You also need to be able to think outside the box about new problems and considerations that no one may have ever had to address before. If focusing on technical aspects and small details have never been your best skills, this may not be the area for you. If STEM was always your strong suit growing up, this may be the perfect area for you.

Likes/dislikes: If you like analyzing complex problems, figuring out the way things work, and using a theoretical perspective, aviation and aerospace may be a good choice. If you dislike routine and rules, great! If you are the type of person who likes to follow a more predictable pattern and gets stressed out when thinking about “outside of the box” theorizing, don’t choose this practice area.

Consider whether these articles interest you:

Coercive Diplomacy in the Skies (Almond and Garcia)

“The world is experiencing a gradual yet decisive shift toward a new paradigm in international relations—one that is based on muscular sovereignty and assertive nationalism. International trade is increasingly subject to geopolitics. In the realm of international air transport, this shift has come in the form of coercive diplomacy involving civil aviation.” Read more

DOT’s Regulation of “Unfair or Deceptive Practices”: Reform Is Urgently Needed (Kneisley)

“In the fall of 2017, Southwest Airlines was locked in an intense battle for the patronage of California air travelers. The stakes were high: California is the nation’s largest air travel market, generating 134 million domestic passengers annually, more than a quarter of the total U.S. market.” Read more

Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Federal vs. State Power to Regulate Drones (Connot and Zummo)

“The U.S. Constitution established a unique form of government involving a division of powers between the federal government and the states. The advent of new technologies, however, has challenged the allocation of regulatory power between federal and state governments. A litany of groundbreaking technologies—steamboats, railroads, airplanes, automobiles, telecommunications, the Internet—has raised tough questions about a long-standing debate: whether a single national body of federal law or a mix of differing state laws would better advance the public interest. Now, drone technology is poised to be one of the fastest growing industries in U.S. history, with the potential to revolutionize commercial activity as well as the public’s perspective of robotics and autonomous systems. In doing so, drones raise similar questions about the appropriate balance between federal and state regulation.” Read more

Aviation and Aerospace Attorney Spotlight:

Abby Bried is the co-chair of the Aviation and Aerospace practice for Jenner & Block. Before working for Jenner & Block, she worked for a couple of different airline companies. Overall, her advice for law students thinking about working in this practice area is to read about the issues in the industry news. She also says get involved in the ABA Air & Space Forum; they offer scholarships.

Abby’s interview:

Q: How long have you been a lawyer?

A: 26 years

Q: Where did you go to law school?

A: William Mitchell College of Law – Minnesota

Q: What practice area(s) have you practiced?

A: I practice regulatory now, but previously I was general counsel for international operations of a major airline and I practiced all areas of the law.

Q: What size is your firm?

A: 500+

Q/A: Describe an average day at work…

Do you go to court? No – but I often go to government agencies

Do you work with others?  Yes

Do you talk on the phone or write emails?  Both

Do you draft documents? Yes

Do you manage others?  Yes

Do you deal with difficult people? On occasion

Q: Did you practice in any other practice areas before deciding on this one?

A: I wanted to be an aviation lawyer since I was 16.

Q: How many hours a week do you typically work?

A: 50-60

Q: What do you like most about your job/practice area?

A: Always new issues – often high profile

Q: What do you least like about your job/practice area?

A: Challenging economics sometimes as the aviation business is tough; also regulatory work is difficult to put a value on – you often can solve a million-dollar issue with one hour of work, but you are paid only for an hour, and the value you provide to the client is so much more.

You will be a happy and successful aviation and aerospace lawyer if you work for an aviation company with good people and help build it into a successful global company.

– Abby Bried

Conclusion:

Did you know that no one can own the moon, and no one can militarize it? If the thought of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the Moon Agreement of 1979 fascinates you, you should be an aviation and aerospace lawyer!

Banking

(and Finance)

Law

There are many regulations that banks must follow; these help ensure fair and transparent banking practices. Banks have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, creating more of a need for banking lawyers. Banking lawyers represent either a bank (the one lending money) or the borrower. The goal is to ensure fair and well-negotiated contracts for both parties; this means banking lawyers must be excellent communicators.

Some important banking laws you should read are:

• Banking Act of 1933
• Right to Privacy Act
• Dodd-Frank Act of 2010
• USA Patriot Act
• Bank Secrecy Act
• Community Reinvestment Act of 1977

If you can’t get through these acts without falling asleep, you might want to consider an area of law other than banking law. If, however, regulations that reduce risk for banking customers is a fascinating area to you, read on.

Education and Background:

Having a background in finance or a related field (accounting, business, tax, actuarial, economics, math) may help you better understand the day-to-day work that a banking lawyer does. However, on-the-job experience is the most important thing!

Many schools offer an LL.M. degree in banking/finance law. If you are looking to focus your practice area, this may be a smart option to accelerate your career.

Getting a job:

Most large banks hire in-house counsel, but you can also work for a law firm that provides services to banks. Another option is to work for the government creating banking laws. This is also an area of law that correlates well with lobbying if you want to represent an organization advocating for change.

Average salary:

Banking law is an extremely profitable area but varies dramatically depending on the bank/company you work for. Working for a large bank will yield a salary far above the average lawyer’s salary.

Would you like this practice area?

You should be very detail-oriented so that you pick up on the fine print. You should also be good at communication and negotiation; you will have to frequently talk to clients and the other side. If you are the type of person who likes pro/con lists and weighing benefits and drawbacks, you will find this useful in advising your clients about whether a deal is in their best interests. There is also a massive amount of banking information and regulations out there, so the better you are at memorizing and analyzing large quantities of information, the better suited you are for banking law. If you prefer to be more behind-the-scenes, banking law is a good alternative to other areas of law that require more court appearances.

Consider whether these articles interest you:

$480M settlement with Wells Fargo shareholders OK’d by judge (Ward)

“A San Francisco federal judge late Tuesday granted preliminary approval to a $480 million class action settlement between Wells Fargo and shareholders who alleged they were harmed by the bank’s unauthorized accounts scandal. Plaintiffs alleged securities fraud, claiming that Wells Fargo executives inflated stock prices by claiming it had great success convincing clients to sign up for additional accounts and services. In fact, the bank created millions of accounts without customer authorization, the Los Angeles Times reports.” Read more

Congress Needs to Sync Banking Laws, Legal Pot Financing (Hagedorn)

“On Tuesday, the Senate Banking Committee is hearing testimony around the question of whether the federal government should give legally operating cannabis businesses access to the banking system. Because pot is still illegal at the federal level, most banks will not offer services to legitimate, professionally run companies that operate in compliance with state and local cannabis laws. As a result, most of these businesses operate on a cash-only basis, creating significant business challenges, public safety concerns and incentives to circumvent tax laws as well.” Read more

Federal banking law preemption in the post-Dodd Frank world: A review of significant developments (Omer)

“Federal preemption has long been a battleground in U.S. banking law. In the years leading to the financial crisis of 2008, federal and state bank regulators regularly sparred over preemption issues, particularly with regard to various interpretive letters and regulations in which the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (the “OTS”) asserted that federal law preempted state legal requirements. The financial crisis led to criticisms of the broad preemption approach taken by the OCC and OTS and to changes in the statutes permitting federal banking law preemption via the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd Frank”) of 2010.” Read more

Conclusion:

If you are good at picking out details while sorting through massive amounts of information, and if you don’t mind dealing with constantly changing regulations in a highly regulated environment, banking law may be a good fit for you.

Bankruptcy Law

With a downturn in the economy comes more people forced to file for bankruptcy. Thus, the people who actually do better when the economy is bad are bankruptcy lawyers. A bankruptcy lawyer may represent a person (consumer bankruptcy lawyer) or a corporation (commercial bankruptcy lawyer); often, lawyers choose to specialize with one or the other, but they can do both. A bankruptcy lawyer might work for a client filing for bankruptcy and assist with reducing debt load. Or, a bankruptcy lawyer may work for a creditor; in that case, the lawyer would try to get as much of the money owed as possible for the client.

To read some bankruptcy laws and see whether they interest you, visit this website.

Education and Background:

Having a strong financial background is helpful for bankruptcy law. Related backgrounds such as accounting, business, tax, actuarial, or math may also transition well.

If you take a class in law school on bankruptcy, you will quickly find out whether the extensive paperwork and number-crunching involved is for you.

After you finish law school and start working in bankruptcy law, if you focus on representing people rather than companies you might want to join the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA).

If you represent companies, you may want to consider joining the Commercial Law League of America.

Getting a job:

You should look to the economy to determine whether working in bankruptcy law right out of school will be profitable. Bankruptcy lawyers are in particular demand in periods of economic decline, but there is always some demand for them. Many bankruptcy lawyers are “generalists” and bankruptcy is just one area that they practice. If you are a consumer bankruptcy attorney (you help people, not businesses), you may end up working in a “bankruptcy mill”. This is a small bankruptcy firm with just a couple of lawyers but many more support staff (who deal with the majority of the paperwork). In that case, you may be mainly supervising a fleet of paralegals, since they are the ones primarily working with the clients to gather necessary information for filing a case.

Average salary:

Bankruptcy lawyers make $113,000 on average, but the private sector is higher paying than the public sector (Bankruptcy Lawyer Careers).

Would you like this practice area?

Because a bankruptcy lawyer’s main task is gathering relevant paperwork to file, you must be extremely organized. You must be able to understand what your client needs and represent that accordingly. If you a quick reader and are good at picking out what information is important and what is not, you may be well suited to this area. However, if you prefer more interpersonal relationship building and communication in your job, you may get bored going through financial document after financial document. This is also a very fast-paced area, so if you prefer larger, more complex cases you may not enjoy the speed at which cases proceed.

Consider whether these articles interest you:

Will Filing a Business Bankruptcy Get Rid of a Personal Guarantee? (O’Neill)

“When you agree to sign a personal guarantee, you become personally responsible for a company debt and must pay it if the company isn’t able to. Because it’s your obligation—not that of the organization—a business bankruptcy brought in the name of the company won’t get rid of the personal guarantee (at least not in most cases—read about how it works with sole proprietors below).” Read more

Impounded vehicles can’t be held after drivers file for bankruptcy, court says (Sanchez)

“Thousands of Chicago motorists may be able to get their cars and trucks out of city impound lots immediately after filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy following a federal appeals court ruling that the city could no longer hold onto the vehicles. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the city’s aggressive strategy, aimed at discouraging motorists whose vehicles had been impounded over unpaid tickets from filing under Chapter 13, violated the basic protections of bankruptcy, and the city was doing so mostly to generate revenue.” Read more

Possible $30B tab for California wildfires spurs utility company to elevate GC, prepare for bankruptcy filing (Weiss)

“The Pacific Gas & Electric Co. announced plans to file for bankruptcy protection Monday as it informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that its possible liability for California wildfires in the last two years could exceed $30 billion. The announcement came hours after PG&E announced that its CEO, Geisha Williams, was stepping down…” Read more

Conclusion:

This area of law primarily involves paperwork. You need to know whether you are the kind of person who prefers paper or people.

Business Litigation (General)

Dustin Dodgin works for Klein DeNatale Golder practicing, “all fields that involve business.” He says he is a “general practitioner” because he works in a very broad practice area helping businesses with any legal problems they have, but he also is a “specialist” in each of these areas. Those who want to work in many practice areas listed in this guide may want to be general Business and Commercial Litigators like Dustin.

Q: How long have you been a lawyer?

A:  Since 2006

Q: Where did you go to law school?

A:  University of San Diego Law School

Q: In what practice area(s) do you practice?  If more than one, what’s the percentage of each?

A:   I have a broad practice area; I practice all fields that involve business. I practice anywhere from small matters to class actions for litigation. I practice in front of state agencies. I also do transactional work and business counseling.

Q: What size is your firm?

A:  35

Q: Describe an average day at work…

A:  No day is the same, but I typically start with emails and phone calls around 7 am. I’m not necessarily at the office until 10 because I’m “in the field”. Depending on the day, I might also start in court or on a court call. Most days are filled with meetings with clients and associates. I’m also on the phone a lot. I’m usually home by 5:30-6 and then spend time with my family. 9pm-1am is like my second shift where I do my drafting and transactional work.

Q: Do you deal with difficult people?

A:  Not necessarily. I usually can tell from the consults whether it is someone I want to work with. Sometimes business owners are upset by how employees take down their company with ridiculous claims, though.

Q: What makes your day-to-day work different from that in other practice areas?

A:  The variety; being a generalist requires that you provide a specialist approach in many different areas. That makes it intellectually challenging and exhausting. It is also very interesting, and no day is the same.

Q: Did you practice any other practice areas before deciding on this one?

A:  No. A lawyer in my firm was my mentor; I was a summer law clerk for this firm. He took me under his wing pretty early.

Q: How many hours a week do you typically work?

A:  I have no idea; it’s kind of a lifestyle! It’s a lot of hours, but it’s also somewhat social for me (like when I talk to clients). If I had to guess… about 80 hours.

Q: What do you like most about your job/practice area?

A:  Helping people. I work with people every day and I like helping people solve their problems.

Q: What do you like least about your job/practice area?

A:  I’m one of maybe a few lawyers who loves everything about my job.

Q: You would be a happy and successful lawyer in this practice area if you…

A:  … put in all the hard work upfront and don’t coast in the first couple of years.

Q: What advice would you give students interested in learning more about being a lawyer in your practice area?

A:  You should contact lawyers and have lunch with them. Just see what their day is like. It can sort of serve as networking, but really it is just finding out more information, and people like to talk about themselves.

My practice area isn’t for everybody, but it is extremely interesting and intellectually challenging. It is stimulating when you are jumping from project to project. If you get bored easily, you would love this work.

– Dustin Dodgin