Ride the Lightning

Drone Lawyers Are Flying High!

April 23, 2015

Yes, you may groan at the title of this post. It really is remarkable how quickly large firms have developed drone specialists. OK, they really call this practice UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) but let's face it, it's much cooler to call yourself a drone lawyer. You can cadge a lot of drinks off of something that sounds that glamorous.

Bloomberg BNA published a post on this subject and it is a fun read. The insurance company AIG has received federal approval to use drones to survey disaster areas, police in Northern India have said they will use pepper-spray drones for crowd control and the Wall Street Journal reported about a farmer who uses drones to herd sheep. That I want to see.

There are so many drones that law firms are launching practice groups to help clients manage the patchwork of rules in this area, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the European Aviation Safety Agency, the United Nations and other international civil bodies.

What does a drone lawyer do? Typically such practices blend aviation, intellectual property, insurance, privacy, product liability and regulatory issues.

Companies seeking exemptions under Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act include BNSF Railway Co., Arizona Public Service Co. and Dow Chemical Corp. The FAA has approved 99 exemptions, including 30 during March 29-April 7. As you can imagine, many had help from lawyers.

Where can you find a drone lawyer? Try Jones Day, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, McKenna Long & Aldridge, Reed Smith and Wiley Rein.

As I said in a lecture just today, lawyers who succeed in the new legal landscape are those who find open space in the horse race. Drone lawyers have done just that.

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