Duane Morris LLP

Duane Morris represents clients in the commercial and general aviation industry, and in the aviation insurance community in the United States and abroad. The core of the firm's Aviation Practice Group is composed of lawyers who are high-time pilots with professional flying experience worldwide. Some of our lawyers hold engineering degrees, and are knowledgeable in aircraft design, manufacture and operation. Members of the group also hold federal commercial pilot certificates with various ratings.

The Group's lawyers represent clients in the United States, Europe and Asia in aviation-related business transactions, including aircraft sales and purchases, airborne shipping and cargo contracts, and all manner of commercial contracts and leases involving pilots, mechanics, aircraft, airlines and air taxi/on demand charter operations.

In addition, our aviation lawyers are knowledgeable in Federal Aviation Administration regulatory matters pertaining to aviation professionals and the flying public, and routinely represent pilots, mechanics and private individuals before the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board for alleged violations of federal aviation regulations, including regulations pertaining to the airborne shipment of hazardous materials.

Range of Services

In addition to representing the aviation community in commercial and regulatory actions, the firm serves as counsel for a major aviation insurance underwriter, representing aircraft manufacturers, owners and lessees, mechanics, fixed-base operators, pilots and mechanics in lawsuits for alleged negligence and products liability arising out of aviation incidents and accidents.

Our insurance coverage practice is enhanced by attorneys who are pilots as well as trial lawyers.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Represented US Airways with regard to legal and lobbying advice in Pennsylvania in the $11 billion merger between American Airlines, Inc. and US Airways Group Inc.
• Counsel to world's largest air cargo developer in lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco arising from planned quarter-billion-dollar air cargo facility at SFO, resulting in a unanimous jury verdict.
• Successfully represented US Airways Pilots Union in contract matters in federal court, Phoenix, Ariz.
• Handled numerous aviation industry regulatory and enforcement matters, including negotiations with the IRS, FAA and other regulatory agencies on issues related to private aircraft ownership, operations, maintenance and piloting.
• Represented commercial air carriers in FAA regulatory matters, customs, taxes, international treaties, compliance with Islamic law and various Homeland Security issues.
• Successfully defended Narco Avionics, an aircraft part manufacturer, in a personal injury case where pilot alleged that damages to his family from a private airplane crash were related to defective products. Jury returned a complete defense verdict after long trial. Heeney v. Mooney Aircraft Corp., et al. (2006).
• Represented owners, lessors and lessees of aircraft in various kinds of bankruptcy-related litigation, as well as replevins and foreclosures on airplanes or airline equipment.
• Handled numerous aviation industry transactional matters, including the negotiation and drafting of agreements regarding fractional ownership of aircraft, operational control issues, time-share arrangements, aircraft wet and dry leases, aircraft management and pilot service agreements, and various corporate jet purchase and sale, ownership and lease arrangements.
• Represented an Irish aircraft leasing company in negotiation of aircraft lease agreements for the lease of two new Embraer aircraft and one used Airbus aircraft to an Albanian airline headquartered in Tirana.
• Represented McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics as part of a team of attorneys in litigation against the Navy arising from the default termination of a multibillion-dollar contract for development and initial production of the A-12 Avenger. Assisted client in defending termination for default based on government waiver of delivery schedule for prototype aircraft. Negotiated termination for convenience claims arising from client's termination of major subcontractors following default termination of prime contract.
• Represented aircraft manufacturer in eight-week jury trial in product liability case arising out of a design defect claimed to cause the in-flight breakup of an aircraft. Verdict for manufacturer.
• Obtained order from a Nevada state court that withdrew a preliminary injunction and allowed the majority owners of an Indian airline to proceed with the scheduled sale of the airline.
• Defended major aircraft, truck, automobile and component part manufacturers and suppliers in high exposure products liability, personal injury and wrongful death litigation, including summary judgments in favor of a turboprop engine manufacturer on a multimillion-dollar aircraft hull claim and in favor of a helicopter manufacturer on multiple multimillion-dollar wrongful death claims.
• Acted for a state airline in a complex arbitration in London, against a Kuwaiti Claimant, concerning ticket commissions.

"In my discussions with Duane Morris leaders, they frequently speak about how diversity within their firm has enabled them to better serve their diverse clients. They understand that investing in diversity is a wise business decision that positions them for the marketplace of the future."

Don Liu
Senior VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Xerox Corporation

At Duane Morris, achieving diversity is paradoxical. By supporting and celebrating the differences of our attorneys - and the individual strengths that they bring - our firm culture expands, fostering creative solutions for our clients. But diversity at Duane Morris does not mean that we have a certain number of diverse attorneys; true diversity means that it is no longer noteworthy to see diverse lawyers leading our practice groups or managing client relationships. Ascending to positions of leadership and greater responsibility and providing the highest levels of client service is simply what is expected of all our lawyers. Diversity is another strong asset that adds to our collective abilities to meet the needs of our clients.

Our vision of diversity at Duane Morris is to realize an environment in which our lawyers' outstanding qualities are not just measured by ethnicity, race, gender and sexual orientation, but more importantly, that our lawyers are remarkable as excellent attorneys above all else. Only then can we celebrate our differences while focusing on the common pursuit of legal excellence which everyone shares at Duane Morris.

To reach this goal, Duane Morris understands that the familiar diversity strategies and policies that most law firms have are needed. Without demanding results from such policies, most law firms are bound to fail in even achieving numerical hiring and retention goals. Duane Morris has been proactive and ambitious in its efforts to improve diversity at the firm, and has set deadlines for reaching the milestones which mark our progress. To create a more diverse law firm, Duane Morris is:

• Committed to strategically increasing our diversity levels, which is currently at 10 percent.
• Bringing together our Diversity Committee and our Hiring and Retention Committee to raise diversity as an important factor in our hiring decisions.
• Dedicated to improving retention by building upon our monitoring and mentoring program for all diverse associates.

Combining new initiatives with our longstanding diversity efforts, Duane Morris has seen increasingly positive results. In the Minority Law Journal's annual diversity survey of the nation's largest 260 firms, Duane Morris continued to improve its regional and national ranking, rising to number 136 of all firms surveyed. Our strides in Philadelphia are encouraging; in a city known for both the racial diversity of its population and the lack thereof in its law firms, Duane Morris is one of only two law firms to exceed the national average of minority partners at all law firms. Additionally, Duane Morris leads all national law firms based in Philadelphia in the number of Latino partners. Nearly 30 percent of all of our attorneys are women, and more than 20 percent of our partners are women.

In our approach to diversity, progress in racial, gender and cultural diversity cannot be measured in numbers alone. Duane Morris has focused our diversity initiatives on both increasing the number of diverse associates and addressing the challenges diverse attorneys face in building lasting careers and rising to senior and leadership positions. While several of our key practice groups are led by diverse partners and female partners, Duane Morris endeavors to create a culture which will foster a deep pool of such attorneys who can then develop into the firm's future leaders. Duane Morris understands that simply hiring diverse associates will not change the diversity of the firm; Duane Morris is working to mentor and retain diverse associates so that our progress in racial, gender and cultural diversity is also reflected at the highest levels of leadership within the firm.

Our progress on gender diversity has been profound. We have no glass ceilings: women hold positions of leadership at all levels of management at the firm. Women lead a number of our key practice groups, including our Energy, Immigration and International practices, and serve on the firm's Executive Committee. The success of our female attorneys at Duane Morris has not gone unnoticed. Barbara Adams was chair of the firm's Finance Practice until her appointment by Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell to serve as General Counsel of the Commonwealth. In 2004, our longtime General Counsel, Gene E.K. Pratter, was approved by the United States Senate and is now a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Our efforts to improve diversity extend beyond our firm's walls. The chair of our Diversity Committee, Nolan N. Atkinson, Jr., recognized the lack of diversity in Philadelphia's legal community and formed the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group. Nolan now serves as the chair of the organization, a consortium of 25 law firms and corporations that commits to employing at least one diverse first-year law student each as a summer associate. From this program, law students of diverse backgrounds gain access to what was once an exclusive legal community, and now have the opportunity to learn and develop their legal careers with experience at Philadelphia's top law firms.

In addition to our involvement in the Philadelphia area, Duane Morris has increased our presence at national conferences and events focused on diversity. We sponsor the Hispanic National Bar Association and its job fair. Duane Morris is also a longtime supporter and sponsor of the Equality Forum, a national gay and lesbian rights organization. Duane Morris continues to sponsor the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and is active in other associations of diverse attorneys including: the Asian American Bar Association of the Delaware Valley; the Charles Houston Bar Association; Cuban Bar Association; Korean American Lawyers Association; National American Indian Housing Counsel and the National Bar Association.

The challenge of improving gender, ethnic and cultural diversity at Duane Morris is an ongoing effort that has the support of the entire firm. Duane Morris has been at the vanguard in supporting gender diversity throughout the firm beginning a generation ago. Our diversity programs are leading to similar success in improving racial and national origin diversity at Duane Morris. But even as we share these examples of Duane Morris attorneys and our involvement in numerous legal events, associations and programs for diversity, our hope is that such examples will no longer be necessary to mention in the future. We hope that through our efforts, and the efforts of other law firms, these stories become so common that they are no longer the remarkable accomplishments they are today, but simply routine aspects of the legal world tomorrow.