An aviation law career....

[FlyinHeel]

Wondering if anyone could help me out--

I'm a freshman Business major at UNC with intentions of going to law school.

I'm also a private pilot with intentions of getting my IFR, commerical, etc.

Ultimately, I'd like to mesh the 2 careers together. I've never met anyone in aviation law, and was wondering if someone could give me the general rundown, etc. of the field.

[wxwatcher]

Look for the web site for the California Pilot's Association. There should be an email address listed for their president, Jay White. Until he got really involved with that group, he was one of the better known aviation lawyers in CA.

Jerry

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Comments and opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

[wxwatcher]

Fotgot to mention, Jay was normally wiloing to discuss aviation law as a career with anyone interested. He should be a good source for you.

Jerry

[tomhorn]

If you want to practice aviation law, then take lots of Federal Administrative law classes in law school, since 90% of aviation law is federal government regulatory and agency practice. There are a few lawyers out there that specifically practice Aviation Law, but most are just regular old run of the mill federal regulatory lawyers, since most aspects of the practice are virtually the same as any other regulatory agency law and as long as you're going to learn that stuff, which BTW is excessively boring in most peoples' book, you might as well not limit the application of that knowledge to one narrow area. In other words, unless you think you can successfully build a practice in avaition only, you might as well do essentially the same thing in the areas of energy, utilities, trucking, rail transport, admiralty, etc.
Not to discourage you, but if you love aviation, working in that area of the law has a great deal of potential to help you to grow to hate it. I believe it is generally a bad idea to try to work in an area where you find personal joy, since it eventually becomes just a lot of work and you begin to detest it. That's just me though and some folks can handle that duality, but it is something for you to consider.

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Tom Legg
Lake N616RW

[MartyTaxLawyer]

forget law school--just fly

[Denny of Oakland]

As stated previous most aviation lawyers are general run of the mill. I have been in the NTSB court with many lawyers that practice other things and aviation as a side job so to speak. I have found they do not really know Title 49 very well and are not current on the regulations. This is a disservice to their clients to say the least. I know a couple of full time aviation lawyers that started out working for the FAA as an attorney and after several years went out on their own.

If aviation law us your goal I would suggest talking to the legal department at your regional office and discuss it with them. The FAA is always looking for new lawyers since there seems to be a lot of turn over. And the knowledge you will learn will serve you well if you decide to practice on your own.

I am not an lawyer, but talk with them a lot.

Just one man’s opinion.