Regulatory counsel for crewed and uncrewed aviation. We handle FAA certification, drone and advanced air mobility compliance, and aircraft transactions with the precision the airspace demands.
Every registered drone has had to broadcast Remote ID since March 2024, a Part 107 operator needs a waiver to fly beyond visual line of sight, and the Part 108 rule the FAA proposed in August 2025 would replace those waivers with operating permits and certificates. The regulatory facts of a flight program change between funding rounds, and so does the authority it needs.
Beneath the operating rules sits an ownership test. An aircraft on the US registry must be owned by a citizen, which for a corporation means a citizen president, a board at least two-thirds citizen, and 75 percent of the voting interest in citizen hands; the usual answer for a foreign owner is a non-citizen trust with a US trustee, and the usual mistake is a funding round that quietly crosses the line.
We advise operators, manufacturers, and the investors behind them on the authority an operation requires and the deal that funds it, and we represent certificate holders in matters before the FAA when a letter of investigation arrives. Where a filing turns on airworthiness engineering, we coordinate with the technical consultants the submission needs.
Counsel on the certification an operation requires, including Part 135 air carrier and commercial operator authority, operating specifications, and the certificate management that keeps an operation airworthy and compliant.
Commercial drone counsel on Part 107 operations, remote pilot requirements, remote identification, and waiver and authorization applications for operations outside the standard rule, including BVLOS.
Regulatory and corporate counsel for eVTOL, drone-delivery, and autonomous-flight ventures, covering the certification pathway, airspace integration, and the financing structures these emerging categories rely on.
Purchase, sale, lease, and finance of aircraft and fleets, with the purchase agreements, FAA registry and title work, security interests, and ownership structures that hold a high-value asset cleanly.
Airspace access and waiver strategy, from LAANC and controlled-airspace authorizations to operation-specific waivers and the documentation that supports a request the FAA can grant.
Representation in matters before the FAA, including enforcement actions, certificate actions, and civil penalty proceedings, and comment and engagement on the rulemaking shaping the unmanned and air-mobility space.
The FAA's October 2024 powered-lift rule created the operating and pilot-certification framework for eVTOL aircraft, a new category of civil aircraft beside airplanes and helicopters, and lets early operations run under a special federal regulation for ten years. A developer's certification pathway, investor deck, and launch date all answer to that document.
Part 107 covers a drone under 55 pounds flown within visual line of sight, below 400 feet, and over people only in the categories the 2021 rule allows; anything else needs a waiver, an exemption under section 44807 for heavier aircraft, or a Part 135 certificate to carry property for compensation.
An FAA case usually opens with a letter of investigation, and a notice of proposed civil penalty gives the respondent 30 days to pay, to submit information, or to request an informal conference or hearing. The agency's compliance program favors corrective action over sanction for an inadvertent violation, but only where the correction is documented.
Title and liens on a US aircraft are recorded at the FAA Registry in Oklahoma City, and for airframes and engines of Cape Town size the international interest is registered in Dublin. Registration now runs seven years rather than three, and closings still run through an Oklahoma City escrow so both filings land in order.
Technical airworthiness, type-certification, and certain registry submissions call for registered consultants and technical professionals. Where a matter requires it, we coordinate with the appropriate technical counsel and consultants.
An air carrier certificate is issued to an entity and does not pass with the aircraft, so a buyer of a Part 135 operator buys the company, inherits its operations specifications, and must tell the FAA who its key management personnel are. Asset deals do not work here, and diligence reads the ops specs first.
Before anything is filed, we reduce the flight program to its regulatory facts (aircraft, airspace, payload, crew, line of sight) and identify the exact authority it requires: Part 107 as written, a waiver beyond it, or Part 135 certification. The concept of operations drafted here is the document every later filing answers to.
Waiver and exemption petitions rise or fall on the safety case. We assemble the operational risk assessment, mitigations, and procedures with the client's technical team, frame each so the FAA can grant what is asked, and sequence LAANC and controlled-airspace authorizations around it.
Granted authority comes with conditions, and conditions are where enforcement begins. We build the compliance program around the certificate's own terms on recordkeeping, remote ID, crew currency, and ops specs, and we track the rulemaking so a shift in a BVLOS or air-mobility pathway is seen before it surprises the operator.
When a letter of investigation or proposed civil penalty arrives, the response protects the certificate first and resolves the allegation second, with a timely reply, corrective action the agency can credit, and a negotiated resolution before a certificate action hardens. The file built in the three stages before this one is the defense.
In aviation, the certificate is the company, and everything we file has to hold up the day the FAA asks about it.
The authority an operation needs and the deal that funds it. On the regulatory side that means Part 107 compliance and the waivers beyond it, Part 135 certification for carrying property or passengers for compensation, and the certification pathway for powered-lift and other new aircraft under the FAA's 2024 rule. On the transactional side it means aircraft purchase, lease, and finance, with the citizenship test, the Oklahoma City registry, and the Cape Town filings done in the right order. When a letter of investigation or a notice of proposed civil penalty arrives, we represent the certificate holder in matters before the FAA.
Yes. We counsel commercial drone operators on Part 107 compliance, remote pilot requirements, waiver and authorization applications, and beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations, and we advise crewed operators on Part 135 and related certification. Where a filing requires a technical airworthiness submission or a registered consultant, we coordinate with the appropriate technical counsel and consultants.
Advanced air mobility is the shorthand for eVTOL air taxis, drone delivery, and autonomous aircraft operating in low-altitude airspace. Until October 2024 there was no operating rulebook for powered-lift aircraft; the FAA's final rule that month supplied pilot-certification and operating requirements and a ten-year special regulation under which the early operators will fly. The remaining gates are type certification of the aircraft, the operator's Part 135 certificate, and airspace integration at specific vertiports. We advise developers and the investors behind them on that sequence and on the corporate and financing structures built around it.
Yes. The sequence is predictable: a letter of investigation inviting a response, then either a compliance action, a warning notice, or a notice of proposed civil penalty, and the notice gives you 30 days to reply, pay, or request an informal conference or a hearing. A certificate action goes to the National Transportation Safety Board on appeal, and an emergency order takes effect immediately. We answer the letter of investigation with the operator's own records, pursue the compliance-program resolution where the violation was inadvertent and corrected, and defend the certificate where it is at stake.
Aircraft are high-value assets with their own registration, title, and lien regimes. We handle acquisition, sale, leasing, and finance of aircraft and fleets, from the purchase agreements, FAA registry and title work, and security interests to the ownership structures that hold the asset, and we coordinate tax and cross-border counsel where a transaction reaches across jurisdictions.
Yes, on the structuring and transactional side. An aircraft moving between registries must be deregistered before it can be registered abroad, which under the Cape Town Convention is what an irrevocable deregistration and export request authorization, lodged with the FAA at closing, is for. Foreign ownership of a US-registered aircraft is routed through a non-citizen trust, and the reverse, a US owner on a foreign registry, turns on that country's own citizenship and airworthiness rules. Our London and Dubai offices operate through partner firms, and we engage locally admitted aviation counsel in about 51 jurisdictions where a foreign authority's rules apply. The FAA-specific work is US work.
Buy-side and sell-side M&A, covering diligence, structuring, and negotiation for acquisitions that bring an aviation or technology operation onto the balance sheet.
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Explore →Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
One partner is accountable for the whole matter, and you have that partner's direct line. Chicago, London, and Dubai work to the same standard.