Airports today face mounting pressure to address air service, congestion, security, competition and financial management. Yet they must tackle these problems within the significant constraints presented by their relationships with the federal and state governments, neighboring communities, airport users, and tenants. Solving these problems, and others presented by the operation and development of airports, often implicates a panoply of legal issues, including compliance with federal obligations; land use, noise and environmental concerns; collateral commercial development; public finance; national security; and day-to-day legal issues connected with operating what are essentially large businesses serving as public utilities. The firm provides a wide range of creative legal services to address these issues in their larger context.

The firm's airports practice is characterized by a comprehensive, creative and strategic approach that comes from a deep understanding and knowledge of the industry and its needs. Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers include a former General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation; a former FAA legislative counsel and General Counsel to the National Commission to Ensure a Competitive Airline Industry; and a former in-house counsel to three of the nation's largest air carrier airports and one of the country's largest general aviation airports.

Among the wide range of matters where the firm's lawyers have provided advice and representation, before and since joining Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell, are airport siting; expansion and redevelopment; airport proprietors' rights in setting fees, accommodating users, and regulating on-airport conduct; security programs; First Amendment issues; financing airport development and operations; airport use and access regulations; airfield safety; noise regulations and budgets; minimum standards; rules and regulations; agreements between airports and neighboring governments concerning environmental impacts and development issues; land use compatibility planning and regulation; tenant leases; and litigation over these and other issues in both administrative and court proceedings, including the United States Supreme Court.



Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell's lawyers have served as counsel to numerous airports - large and small - in connection with the development and implementation of comprehensive noise management, mitigation and abatement programs. The firm's lawyers frequently advise clients on strategies for implementing noise rules and on developing programs for preferential runway use, noise abatement departure procedures, and related voluntary noise abatement programs. The firm's lawyers have also provided continuing counsel to airport proprietors, local governments and community organizations on the noise impacts of aircraft flight tracks and routes, on minimizing the impacts from changes in flight tracks and routes, and on modifications of flight tracks and routes for noise management purposes. Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers have assisted in noise compatibility studies under FAR Part 150 at airports throughout the country.

The firm's lawyers have been leaders in the area of noise rules before and after enactment of the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 (ANCA) and its implementing regulations, 14 CFR Part 161. The firm represented an airport proprietor in the adoption of the nation's first noise rule adopted pursuant to ANCA, and later in the successful defense of the noise rule in administrative proceedings, state court and federal court. The firm successfully represented another client in seeking an exemption from ANCA to allow continuation of longstanding noise rules.

The firm also represents municipalities and other local governments affected by airport operations in negotiations and litigation over management and mitigation of airport impacts, and the equitable allocation of the burdens and benefits of airport development. The firm's representation of these government clients has called upon the firm's lawyers' expertise not only in airport legal issues but also in related matters such as land use regulation, local government law, Constitutional law, and federal and state environmental programs.



Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers counsel airports on the environmental, noise and land use issues associated with major facility expansions, runway extensions and collateral development projects. The firm has represented some of the largest airports in the world in comprehensive master planning for long-term capital improvements and has provided comprehensive counsel for commercial, primary hub airports and general aviation airports in the planning, approval and implementation of development and infrastructure projects.

The firm's lawyers have been actively involved in the planning for most of the new commercial service airports built in the United States in the last generation. This work has called upon expertise not only in airport planning and in compliance with federal law but also expertise in drafting intergovernmental agreements, land use planning, compliance with state and local environmental regulations, public finance, contract negotiation, and, more generally, navigating the myriad legal hurdles that face complex public sector projects.



September 11, 2001, fundamentally changed the way the federal government and airports approach security matters. In recent years, the firm's lawyers have assisted proprietors in addressing their complex public safety and airport security imperatives. The firm has assisted in drafting security regulations, in developing improved security requirements, and in revising airport rules, regulations and minimum standards to address heightened security demands. Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers have also worked to ensure that airports opting out of the federal security screening program are immune from liability for doing so, and have advised airports on the serious potential liability arising from participation in the registered traveler program. The firm's lawyers have worked with airports to resolve Letters of Investigation issued by TSA alleging security violations and have helped general aviation airports develop meaningful security programs in this emerging but largely unregulated area.



Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers have significant experience helping clients address air quality issues. The firm's lawyers have provided strategic air quality advice regarding airfield improvements, airport landslide projects, airport access roads and collateral development. These representations have included providing counsel on general conformity regulations, transportation conformity regulations for landside development, NEPA, CEQA and other state environmental reviews, state and federal permitting requirements, and emerging air toxics and diesel particulate issues. The firm's lawyers also have litigated airport-related conformity issues in federal court. The firm's lawyers are regular speakers and authors on cutting-edge air quality issues associated with airports and have written one of the key reference guides on airport air quality.



Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers have considerable experience and expertise in advising and representing airports on a wide range of First Amendment issues. These include successfully arguing in the United States Supreme Court that airports can constitutionally prohibit non-commercial solicitation in their terminals, in part because terminals are not public fora; defending the constitutionality of banning newspaper vending machines in terminals; and defending the constitutionality of an airport chapel used for religious services. The firm's attorneys have also advised airports on the restrictions they can constitutionally impose on commercial advertising.



Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers represent clients in the structuring of airport rates and charges programs, negotiations with carriers and fixed base operators, and the structuring of financial arrangements with neighboring governments. The firm's lawyers have worked both inside and outside of government to help formulate federal policies, legislation, and regulations on Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs), permitted uses of airport revenues, and airport rates and charges. The firm's lawyers have litigated state and federal cases and administrative proceedings on rates and charges programs, revenue diversion, PFCs and local taxation issues, and have negotiated agreements and litigated disputes with airlines and fixed-base operators over lease and use agreements and rates and charges. For example, Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers have represented the affected airport or Airports Council International - North America in every DOT fast-track rate case that has proceeded to a hearing. The firm's lawyers have also worked with airports to resolve Part 16 proceedings with FAA concerning landing fees, settled informal investigations concerning revenue diversion, and helped obtain PFC approvals for airport projects in the face of vehement objection by air carriers or other parties.



In addition to representing airport proprietors, the firm's lawyers have developed a national reputation for assisting local governments and community organizations who are affected by airport operations. This work has given Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers an essential balance and objectivity in providing counsel on controversial airport-related issues. As a result of this diverse practice, the firm's lawyers have gained insight into the perspectives of all sides in contentious airport development debates, which is of great value to airport and non-airport clients alike. The firm's lawyers have represented clients in many of the most important and complex airport development projects in the nation; litigating numerous airport expansion cases, negotiating precedent-setting noise regulation and land use mitigation arrangements, and drafting economic development agreements between airports and their host communities.



Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers have worked closely with airport proprietors and communities to maximize the economic development potential of collateral airport lands, doing so in a manner that accommodates long-term airport land use, safety and revenue needs and the policies and goals of airport neighbors. These projects have involved a broad range of disciplines, including land use and planning law, environmental review and regulation, federal grant restrictions and regulation, local government law, and financial issues. The firm's lawyers have advised a major international airport on the transfer and redevelopment of an adjacent military base under the base closure laws; assisted the redevelopment agency for a closed military base in a strategy for attracting aviation-related development; represented the private developer who is responsible for the redevelopment of the former Stapleton International Airport in Denver; assisted in the cleanup and redevelopment of former airport property; and have advised clients in planning for optimizing development value and compatible land use objectives in collateral land development.



In the legislative and regulatory realm, airports and their trade associations have relied upon Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers to assist in developing and advocating the policy interests of the airport industry. These matters have included legislation, regulations, and policies concerning PFCs, rates and charges, use of airport revenues, airport access, and noise; securing favorable FAA interpretation of specific airport obligations; advising clients on structuring programs to comply with federal regulatory and grant assurance requirements; promoting legislation and regulations concerning passenger service; environmental streamlining; supporting applications for international route transfer; and securing Congressional hearings on airport development cost overruns. Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers are no strangers to Congressional policymaking and funding process and represent many clients in securing favorable attention and treatment from Congress and in obtaining federal funds for specific projects.



Lawyers at Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell frequently represent clients in airport-related litigation, either as a strategic tool or in the defense of a client's actions. The firm integrates litigation planning into its strategic counsel on all airport matters where litigation appears to be even a remote possibility. The firm's lawyers have represented clients in some of the most important and precedent-setting cases in airport law, including acceptable methodologies for setting airline rates and charges, the respective powers of airports and host municipalities to control land use, the authority of airports to control access to their facilities, banning solicitation of funds in airport terminals, the ability of airport proprietors to fund innovative capital projects, and the environmental and regulatory requirements for airport expansion projects. The firm's lawyers have successfully defended several airports in tort and inverse condemnation actions over the impact of airport operations on nearby property owners. The litigation handled by the firm's lawyers has occurred in a wide variety of forums - from the United States Supreme Court and many federal appellate and district courts to state courts at every level, as well as federal and state administrative agencies and tribunals. Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell lawyers are comfortable in all phases of litigation from pre-filing planning to discovery and complex motions practice to trial and appellate briefing and argument. Recognizing that litigation is always costly and often uncertain, the firm's lawyers are always alert to settlement opportunities and have successfully negotiated litigation settlements for clients that have achieved the client's objectives while saving untold dollars in avoided litigation costs.



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