Florida Lawyer News Services | Robbins Equitas

Why is one of the nation’s leading aviation law firms boycotting the NBAA convention?

ORLANDO, Florida- For several years, the aviation law firm of Robbins Equitas exhibited at the annual NBAA convention. The firm’s attorneys, often garbed in wigs and robes for the event, doled out free legal advice to hundreds of NBAA members.  They were the only lawyers who did so.

Regrettably, they will be sorely missed this year. The firm says that it is boycotting the 2009 convention.  Here is why:

Each year, the NBAA selects attorneys and other experts to host seminars and educational events during the annual convention. Topics include aviation ownership structures and transactions, aviation taxation, new and changing regulations, human resources, risk management, insurance, and much more.

Since 2006, Robbins Equitas, has asked the NBAA for permission to participate in these seminars.  Oliver J. Janney, Esq. (footnote) and J. Christopher Robbins (footnote) each volunteered to speak, host, or participate in panel discussions.

The firm did not expect to have this opportunity as a matter of right.  Indeed, it expected the NBAA to make decisions on the basis of merit.  Yet as the only law firm in the country that consistently showed loyalty and dedication by exhibiting at the convention, it expected the NBAA brass to consider our requests to participate in good faith. They did no do so, the firm says.

After three years of letters, phone calls, and conversations with NBAA staff at the conventions, the firm’s partners have concluded that neither merit, nor experience, nor education, nor skills much matter.  The firm even tried money. It offered to speak for free (NBAA charges for these events).  When that didn’t work, it tried the opposite approach: on the theory that the NBAA’s idea of a qualified speaker might be one who stroked a large check.  It tried that, too.

At the 2008 convention, a partner at the firm says he thinks he may have finally received an honest answer to the question: “How does the NBAA choose its speakers?” One of the NBAA employees we spoke to over the past three years indicted that it might come down to “who you know.”

One of the best aspects of the aviation industry is that the sky – not social status or who you know – is the limit.  New aircraft, trend setting products and services, start-up companies, and emerging technologies succeed (or fail) on their merits.  That’s the way the free enterprise system works.

So this year, instead of paying thousands of dollars to shuttle, feed, and house half a dozen of our lawyers and staff to exhibit, the firm is instead going to hold a three-day open house at its Orlando office.

Just as in previous years it will offer free legal advice and assistance on any issue the community might have.  The firm will have its books and databases ready, and will be able to answer most regulatory questions that fall under Part 121, 135, or 145.  The firm is also going to have private tutorials for on how to structure transactions, lien aircraft, creditors’ rights when aircraft owners file bankruptcy, trends in products liability laws, and much more.

The firm’s Orlando office is just minutes from the Orange County Convention Center.  It will have fresh pastries, a catered lunch and open bar throughout the day and evening.  A driver will be available to pick you up and take you back to the convention at your convenience.

Please RSVP by emailing at crobbins@aviation-law.org or calling our Denver office: (720) 254-9110.  As always you can Chris anytime if you have a legal matter to discuss.

FOOTNOTE Mr. Janney is Harvard Law School graduate with 38 years of experience.  He was general counsel of RKO General when it owned Frontier Airlines.

FOOTNOTE Mr. Robbins is a former law clerk to a federal judge, a professor of law, and published author on a variety of aviation law and aviation insurance issues.

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