Transportation and Logistics

Ballard Spahr is a national leader in infrastructure law across industry sectors, helping governments and government agencies/quasi-governmental agencies, private-sector investors, and developers to partner with one another to improve mobility in all modes, develop and improve transportation facilities, and keep America moving forward. Our lawyers work with clients on complex projects spanning the project life cycle for port, rail station, bridge/highway, and other public transportation and transit infrastructure. The group brings together attorneys who focus on the specific legal areas crucial to successful transaction and financing structures for infrastructure. We handle financed projects for major lenders and other projects that, for most P3s, involve financing, where we represented the public owner or the private developer/concessionaire. We also handle non-financed infrastructure projects, where we represent public and private participants in progressive and alternative delivery procurements and contracts.

We have counseled clients on every side of these transactions, and we are familiar with the issues particular to the several civil and transportation infrastructure spaces.

• Legislative support
• Project/program procurement
• Project structuring
• Alternative project delivery (APD), including all forms of progressive/pre-development approaches, conventional design-build, CM/GC, and P3/PPP (DBFOM and all variants)
• Asset monetization/“recycling”
• Zoning/land use/environmental
• Project pre-development, development
• Project financing
• Public finance
• Federal investment, policy tools
• Regulatory and tax
• Transit-oriented development
• Dispute avoidance and litigation

Aviation and Aircraft Transactions

We are one of the world’s leading law firms focusing on aircraft transactions for both commercial airlines and business clients around the globe. We counsel clients on all stages of an aircraft purchase, ownership, operations, maintenance and disposal, and negotiate agreements with all types of manufacturers, lessors, lenders, maintenance, and part-out and management companies. A large part of our commercial aviation activity is international, with our attorneys frequently serving as lead counsel for a principal party in the purchase or financing of aircraft. We also regularly act as local counsel for matters involving U.S. and New York state law and Washington state law.

We often advise both domestic and foreign airlines and their financiers on all aspects of U.S. federal tax and aviation law, as well as the implication of U.S. bankruptcy and insolvency laws, and state commercial and tax law. For example, we have assisted with:

• Obtaining required U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) economic authority and Part 121, 129, or 135 operating authority from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
• Purchase agreement campaigns by airlines for large orders for new aircraft and engines.
• Advising individual and corporate aircraft owners and operators on the operating structure for commercial charter—or for private, not-for-hire transportation—to comply with FAA regulations.
• Counseling on parts, maintenance, and modification matters with contract, FAA compliance—including obtaining Supplemental Type Certificates—and financial issues.
• Assisting with lease returns and return condition disputes.
• Negotiating pre-delivery payment (PDP) financings.
• Preparing technical, maintenance, and storage contracts.
• Assisting with passenger to freighter conversions.
• Drafting engine program and service contracts.

Our attorneys also assist business and general aviation clients (purchasers, sellers, and financiers) with purchases, sales, loans and other financing transactions, operating leases, sale leaseback transactions, financing leases, joint ownership and fractional ownership programs, owner-trust arrangements, aircraft completion and custom interior services, service programs, cross-border transactions (including import and export of aircraft to and from the United States and most other countries), management relationships, and charter arrangements. Our transactional work also includes aircraft completion and custom interior services, maintenance matters, and the full range of operational issues.

Our attorneys regularly act as New York and Washington legal counsel for airlines and commercial aircraft lenders and lessors in aircraft acquisitions, and represent commercial aviation clients in disputes with manufacturers.

Over the past 40 years, our aviation attorneys have dealt with all major (and most non-major) makes of general and commercial aircraft, ranging from the full Boeing product line (including Boeing Business Jets) to single-engine private aircraft, including float aircraft. We have handled transactions involving every continent besides Antarctica.

Our team keeps itself on the forefront of aviation developments—including tax, FAA, DOT, and other matters such as unmanned aerial vehicles.

Maritime

We routinely review and prepare maritime contracts to resolve contractual disputes and purchase assets for shipping traffic and large port facilities in the largest maritime industry hubs in the world. We represent high net worth individuals concerning the construction, foreign registration, regulatory compliance, and U.S. documentation of mega-yachts. We routinely prepare preferred ship mortgages and seek enforcement and registration of federal maritime liens on behalf of major financial institutions and businesses with the U.S. Coast Guard, National Vessel Documentation Center, and the Surface Transportation Board. Our maritime attorneys draft and review contracts for the marine shipment and intermodal transportation of cargo domestically and internationally. Our attorneys often liaise with the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection regarding the marine transport of cargo. We represent clients concerning the negotiation of marine salvage contracts, including cargo interests in the location of historic shipwrecks. We routinely provide advice to insurers and vessel interests concerning marine insurance issues.

Logistics

We represent several of the largest logistics companies in the world. We also prepare contracts for shippers and logistics companies, including Non-Vessel Operating Common Carriers, Ocean Transportation Intermediaries, shipping companies, and businesses.

Motor Carrier

We have decades of experience representing freight brokers and motor carriers in transactional matters. Our team possesses the skill and experience concerning interconnecting carrier agreements, intermodal transport, carriers’ duties involving drivers, and all applicable federal, state, and local laws. Our work especially focuses on sale and purchase of assets and equipment.

Aviation and Aerospace Litigation and Regulatory Matters

Our litigators have decades of experience representing aviation businesses in lawsuits and regulatory matters. We work with domestic and international manufacturers, airport authorities, airlines, suppliers, repairers, and operators in all phases of tort and contract litigation. Our work includes multi-district air disaster and class action cases; contract and insurance disputes over sales, repairs, leases, concessions, procurement, and parts; the defense of regulatory enforcement actions; and injury lawsuits. We also have considerable antitrust experience for transportation clients.

Robots, Autonomous Personal Delivery Devices, Delivery Drones, and Self-Driving Modes of Transportation 

We advise on regulatory compliance and business support, and provide patent and trademark support for new equipment and technological advances, including autonomous motor vehicles and the operation of private and commercial drones. Our transportation lawyers work closely with members of the firm’s national Intellectual Property Department to protect innovations through patent protection and the registration of trademarks. We also have significant experience in satellite litigation and space law.

Maritime

We have decades of litigation experience in federal and state trial and appellate courts and routinely appear in administrative hearings before government and regulatory agencies. In addition, team members can provide rapid assistance in the event of a major marine casualty, and vessel arrests, or enforcement of federal maritime liens. Our attorneys have unparalleled experience in all facets of marine litigation, including sinkings, collisions, cargo damage,  defense of personal injury and death claims, longshore claims, passenger claims, marine energy, regulatory disputes, environmental pollution, marina fires,  disputes concerning historic shipwreck recovery claims, unique salvage claims, and the representation of international ocean carriers, major port facilities, cruise lines, and ocean transportation intermediaries. We also represent clients in demurrage and detention claims and in regulatory shipping matters.

Motor Carrier

We have decades of experience representing motor carriers in litigation and regulatory and compliance issues. Our team possesses skill and experience concerning interconnecting carrier agreements, intermodal transport, carriers’ duties involving drivers, and all applicable federal, state, and local laws.

Our work includes DOT compliance, litigation involving collisions and accidents, ERISA litigation, defense of carriers related to the Carmack Amendment, and damage arising out of intermodal transport.

Logistics

We routinely represent logistics companies in complex litigation, including federal court Multi-District Litigation concerning all facets of shipments. Our attorneys have represented one of the world’s largest logistics companies in an MDL.

Railroad and Mass Transportation

We handle the spectrum of railroad and mass transit legal challenges in state and federal courts, arbitrations, and before administrative agencies. Matters which we handle include the following:

• Administrative enforcement and other proceedings
• Asbestos-related claims
• Commercial, personal injury, and wrongful death litigation
• Condemnations
• Construction law claims
• Employment law proceedings
• Environmental claims and regulatory matters
• Freight damage claims
• Federal Employers’ Liability Act claims
• Federal Rail Safety Act Whistleblower claims
• Railroad grade crossing, trespasser, and pedestrian incidents
• Vendor disputes

We have served as national, regional, and local counsel in high-stakes litigation in state and federal courts, including appearances in multi-district litigation, as well as administrative proceedings. Our trial lawyers have vast experience in toxic tort claims for wrongful death, premises liability, property damage, and environmental claims asserted by state, local, and federal agencies. The team is well-versed in the science of asbestos, benzene, talc, chemical spills, and other prominent exposures.

Our attorneys help automotive companies across the country protect their products and their company’s brand. Our team has handled significant class actions, serial warranty claims, government investigations, and the coordination of catastrophic personal injury matters arising from failed recalls, on behalf of automotive manufacturers and component part suppliers. We counsel clients on regulatory and risk management issues related to vehicle development, claims handling, customer and dealer communications, and product literature. We also defend automotive corporations in government and OSHA investigations attendant to litigation, and advise on compliance with California Proposition 65 and related litigation.

We have represented clients ranging from startups and growing businesses to the world’s largest manufacturing companies in product liability matters, including AM General; The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company; Kia Motors America, Inc.; and Subaru of America, Inc.

We represent clients in arbitrations governed by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Arbitration Rules, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association, and in the London Court of International Arbitration.   

We represent clients in numerous institutional and ad hoc arbitrations including arbitration of international disputes across a range of sectors, involving both commercial and public international law issues. Our arbitrations have involved French, German, British, Brazilian, and Canadian entities.

Our real estate lawyers provide a broad range of specialized support tailored to the unique needs of the transportation sector. We advise on negotiating leases and licenses for transportation hubs including major airports, rail stations, and maritime transport, and we ensure compliance with zoning and land use regulations. We work on airport development projects such as the construction hangars, FBO facilities, and other airport improvement projects. We also assist with environmental assessments, Airport Improvement Project (AIP) grants, permits, and eminent domain issues. We work with our Infrastructure Team on the financing and development of infrastructure projects, such as railways, airports, and logistics centers. By offering comprehensive legal guidance, these services help transportation companies manage risks, optimize operations, and achieve their strategic goals.

Technological advances in our increasingly interconnected world continue to shape transportation modes and networks. Today, passengers can know to the second when their bus will arrive, summon a private driver to their doorstep through a transportation network company, and instantly rent a car or bicycle on the street by using their mobile devices. Given the sharp increase in emerging technological advances, even greater change is predicted in the transportation industry. Alternative energy vehicles and the increasing focus on transportation efficiency and innovation at all levels of government will bring legal changes and challenges that will touch every sector of our economy.

Our Transportation and Logistics Team has the skill and experience to assist clients in navigating this new world, whether they are established traditional transportation companies, cutting-edge transportation network companies, part of an emerging industry, or a transportation customer. Our attorneys are knowledgeable about the most current transportation regulations and statutes, and routinely provide advice to corporations, transportation network companies, and individuals regarding the challenges of emerging technology impacting transportation.