John Pate

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Leaders in Law endorses John Pate as our exclusively recommended Aviation Law expert in Venezuela. If you wish to get in touch with John, please use the contact information provided above.

John Pate has been a member of De Sola Pate & Brown since 1981 where he chairs the international corporate and business transactions practice. His principal areas of expertise are in negotiating international business transactions, commercial and corporate law, foreign investment, licensing, franchising, international banking, project finance, commercial aviation and secured transactions.

John is the liaison of the firm with the International Business Law Consortium (IBLC) and L2B Aviation Group, two of the law firm networks of which De Sola Pate & Brown is a member.
John is registered as an International Advisor in Corporate Finance with the Bar Association of Caracas. He is admitted to practice in Massachusetts (1969) and before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Education

John received an A.B. from Brown University (1966) and his J.D. from Boston University (1969). He has also received an M.A. and an M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (1971 and 1972, respectively).

Professional Affiliations

John is a member of the Bar of Massachusetts. He is active in the International (in which he is Vice Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Law Committee) and Business Law Sections of the American Bar Association. He is also a member of the Inter-American Bar Association, the American Society of International Law (in which he is Corresponding Editor of International Legal Materials), the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, the Latin American Studies Association, and the Advisory Committee of the Tulane Latin American Law Institute. John is a Fellow of the Center for International Legal Studies (Salzburg, Austria), a Director of the Entrepreneurial Center for Conciliation and Arbitration – CEDCA, Director and Secretary of the Venezuelan-American Friendship Association – AVAA, Director of the Centro Venezolano Americano – CVA, a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of VenAmCham, and Director and Secretary of the Valle Arriba Golf Club.

Previous Affiliations (in Caracas): Before joining the firm John was a professor of International Business and Latin American Integration at the Institute for Higher Administration Studies (Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración – IESA, 1974-1977), manager of the Andean Integration Department at KPMG (previously Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., from 1977-1978), and director of GRANLAW Consultores (1978-1981).

Publications

Since the 1970’s John has authored a number of articles and given conferences mainly on Venezuelan and Andean business topics. Among some of his more recent publications are the following: “Venezuela: The Law on Secured Transactions” (co-author), in Secured Transactions in International Practice (Oceana) and as “Venezuela: Normas Sobre Transacciones con Garantía” en Trabajos Jurídicos (VenAmCham, Vol. I); “Venezuela: Real Property Security” (co-author) in Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business, 2006 (Kluwer); chapters on Venezuela in Aircraft Finance: Registration, Security and Enforcement, and in Aircraft Liens and Detention Rights (Sweet & Maxwell); and the Venezuelan section in “International Legal Developments in Review: 2005” in The International Lawyer. He is also a regular contributor to Latin American Legal Developments, a monthly electronic newsletter published by the Latin American and Caribbean Law Committee of the Section of International Law of the American Bar Association.

Languages

English and Spanish.

Firm Description:

De Sola Pate & Brown is a general practice, business law firm based in Caracas, Venezuela, the origins of which date back to 1944. Its unique and qualified team of attorneys and counselors offer clients an array of globalized legal services to help promote efficient and successful business ventures in Venezuela and its neighboring countries. De Sola Pate & Brown is an active member of a number of professional associations in Venezuela, Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia, including two international legal networks with member firms in over seventy countries: the International Business Law Consortium and the L2B Aviation Group. Accordingly, De Sola Pate & Brown is one of the leading firms in Venezuela engaged in international business and cross-border transactions, having built a strong reputation after more than sixty years of experience in rendering personalized professional, ethical and cost-efficient legal services.

General Practice Areas

De Sola Pate & Brown primarily works in the commercial and corporate law areas, and has particular strengths in the fields of intellectual property (including trademarks, patents and copyrights), foreign investment, technology licensing, franchising, international banking and finance, secured transactions, capital markets, taxation, complex contract negotiations, aviation, telecommunications, cyber law, environmental regulation, employment law, commercial arbitration and conciliation, civil and commercial litigation (including administrative litigation), and related areas. De Sola Pate & Brown also has accumulated experience in other legal areas over the years, such as insurance, basic industries, customs and international trade, energy, professional sports, entertainment and fine arts.

Our Clients

De Sola Pate & Brown has a strong international orientation and traditionally most of its clients are multinational companies, international financial institutions and other foreign entities, principally from the United States, Europe, Asia and other Latin American countries. At the same time, the Firm represents a number of leading Venezuelan private sector companies and organizations. Additionally, the Firm enjoys close working relationships with many of the leading law firms around the world on behalf of the interests of our mutual clients.
The Firm Today.

De Sola Pate & Brown presently consists of a group of talented attorneys, including partners, associates and counselors, in addition to a number of paralegals and administrative staff to better serve our clients. Most of our attorneys have, or are currently pursuing, post-graduate degrees in various legal specialties. Also, a majority of our attorneys have degrees from prestigious law schools in the United States (including Harvard, Columbia, Boston University, New York University, American, and the Franklin Pierce Law Center) and Europe (including the University of Paris – Sorbonne, University of Barcelona and the University of Pompeu Fabra), and more than half our attorneys have multiple post-graduate degrees. In addition to our professional practice, members of the Firm are active in multiple Venezuelan and international legal and civic associations, holding leadership positions in many of these. Moreover, members of the Firm have been, or continue to be involved in academics, give occasional lectures to business and professional audiences, and author publications on a broad range of legal subjects.

 

Syed Ali Bin Maaz

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Leaders in Law endorses Syed Ali Bin Maaz as our exclusively recommended Aviation Law expert in Pakistan. If you wish to get in touch with Syed please use the contact information provided above.

Education

  • LL.B. (Hons), University of London (External Programme), Pakistan
  • Bar Vocational Course, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • Called to the Bar (Lincoln’s Inn), United Kingdom
  • M.A. International Relations, University of Karachi, Pakistan
  • Diploma in Islamic Economics and Finance, Centre for Islamic Economics, Pakistan

Admission

Advocate, High Court of Sindh

Syed Ali Bin Maaz has extensive experience working on corporate and commercial matters, with a strong focus on aviation finance, mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and financial market transactions. In addition to his experience in the corporate field, Ali also advises in commercial dispute resolution matters and appears before the courts in Pakistan.

Ali acts for major clients most notably in the energy and natural resources and financial sectors. He provides specialist advice in relation to aircraft leasing and aviation financing and routinely advises power sector entities in negotiations of project documents, including fuel supply agreements and power purchase contracts. Ali has also recently been involved with power projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. He has been recognised as a ‘Rising Star’ in Banking and M&A (IFLR).

Firm Description:

Kabraji & Talibuddin is a corporate and commercial law firm in Pakistan with a market-leading and innovative practice focused on project finance and energy, mergers and acquisitions, and dispute resolution.

The firm was formed in Karachi in 1997 by the two name partners who have over 60 years of legal experience between them. Kairas Kabraji is prominently recognised in Pakistan and abroad as one of the country’s leading corporate and commercial lawyers. Salman Talibuddin is independently recognised as a renowned litigation and dispute resolution lawyer who has acted in several high-profile and major disputes.

The firm brings together an award-winning team with diverse experience to provide a full range of legal services. From routine matters to complex transactions and disputes, clients benefit from the team’s collective expertise through continuous and valuable partner involvement in each matter handled by the firm.

 

Gintautas Šulija

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doctoral degree (summa cum laude) from Goethe University Frankfurt on Main. He was a DAAD scholar at the Goethe University Frankfurt on Main.

Prior to grounding the law firm, Dr Gintautas Šulija worked for a leading American law firm in London, focusing on corporate litigation and corporate investigations. During the preceding years before being admitted to the Lithuanian Bar Association he was at a large law firm in Vilnius where he worked on numerous international commercial transactions and other aspects of commercial law.

Dr Gintautas Šulija works in all areas of corporate and commercial law, with particular emphasis on the aviation law. He also advises in relation to the formation of companies, partnerships, joint ventures as well as on structuring a wide variety of complex business transactions.

Member of the Lithuanian Bar Association since 2003.

Aviation Law Practice:

For a number of years, aviation has been the Law Firm’s strongest practice. The managing partner of the law firm has been listed as the single Lithuanian lawyer by the legal directory Who is Who Legal 2015 in the Transport – Aviation finance practice area.We handle the most significant aviation transactions in Lithuania and are often attracted to support the aviation transactions in the CIS region. We are dedicated to providing expert legal services to companies active in the aviation sector. Generally, we work on all matters relating to the trading and financing of aircraft as well as many forms of aircraft lease (dry lease, wet lease, and ACMI) and act as local Lithuanian legal counsel in complex cross-border aviation financing transactions. We also deal with aviation services, aircraft mortgages, and other sector-specific regulations (e.g. EASA) for obtaining an AOC, as well as in investigations undertaken by civil aviation authorities.Over the last years, we, in cooperation with the English solicitors, have been supporting an international lessor during the litigation process at the London Commercial Court; we also advised an airline in a dispute on revocation of the air operator’s certificate, advised airlines on the cancelled and delayed flighs and many other contentous aviation matters. Our industry specific knowledge is relevant to financial institutions, investors, lessors, lessees, airlines, airport companies, service providers and other stakeholders of the aviation industry.

Šulija Partners Law Firm:

We are committed to behaving responsibly, and put our clients’ interests before personal interests. Client by client, we strive to promote excellence, loyalty and trust in client service, and add real value to our clients’ business with pragmatic, solution-driven, and commercially-effective legal advice. We are committed to meet the demands of the constantly evolving legal environment and challenges ahead us. We do not seek to become just a law firm, but rather to be the law firm that is involved in solving of the most sophisticated and challenging legal problems and to work on the most significant business transactions to earn the reputation in the market, to recruit and train the brightest law graduates. Eventually, this would lead us to the top of the legal market, and be a model for the modern legal practice in Lithuania.

Ravi Nath

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Ravi Nath has 24 years of experience in aviation-related laws, including aircraft equipment & facility financing, regulatory and litigation. His clients include major manufacturers, leading banks and financial institutions, lessors and export credit agencies, such as: ABN Amro, AerCap, Airbus, Aircastle, Airlease, Apollo Aviation Management Limited, Avions de Transport Regional GIE, Avolon, AWAS, Bank of America, Bank of China Aviation Limited, BBAM, BNP Paribas, Boeing, Bombardier, China Aircraft Leasing Company Limited, China Development Bank, China Ex-Im Bank, Citibank, COFACE, Dassault, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Aero Space, DVB, ECGD, EDC, ELFC, Embraer, Euler Hermes, GECAS, HKAC, ICBC, ILFC, JP Morgan Chase, Macquarie, Natixis, Standard Chartered, US Ex-Im, Willis Lease Finance Corporation.

His practice includes government regulations, companies, cross-border financing and securitisation.

Mr Nath is a partner at one of India’s oldest legal firms, RNClegal / Rajinder Narain & Co. He was also the president of Inter Pacific Bar Association in 2004. Two of the firm’s other partners were chief justices of the Delhi High Court, and one a president of The High Court Bar Association.

During the last 10 years, Mr Nath has advised on transactions in excess of $15 billion. The Legal 500 stated: “Ravi Nath’s esteemed reputation as an aviation expert puts clear blue water between Rajinder Narain & Co. and its rivals…”

In addition, Who’s Who Legal 2013 has identified him as one of the world’s 10 highly reputed aviation lawyers. He is a frequent speaker at various International conferences and serves on the Legal Advisory Panel of Aviation Working Group.

Mr Nath served as the chair of the Aviation Committee of the International Bar Association and is the editor and author of various books and papers on aviation laws. He regularly advises on major aviation transactions and issues.
Moreover, the Bar Association of India has conferred its highest honour on him. He was invited, along with India’s former finance minister, Mr P Chidambaram, and president of the Bar Association, Mr Nariman, to be a co-author on a book relating to legal aspects of doing business in India.

Mr Nath received his B. Com (Hons) and his LLB in International and Competition Law at King’s College London and in Public International Law at Harvard University. He completed an apprenticeship at erstwhile Sinclair Roche, London.

 

Martin Klemm

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Dr. Martin Klemm, LL.M. worked for several recognised corporate law firms before founding Brenner & Klemm Attorneys in 2012.

Besides a general specialisation in corporate law, including company law, projects & finance, data protection and real estate law, he has a strong focus on all aspects of aviation law and aviation finance. This includes specific issues of aviation law, damages or liability claims pursuant to the Montreal Convention, financing/leasing of aircraft as well as regulatory issues and passenger rights.

Martin Klemm is founder of LawAir, an online news portal regarding aviation law specific issues and member of the Austrian Aviation Association.

Specialties: Copyright law, IP, IT law, Media law, Aviation law, Real Estate law, Projects & Finance, Data Protection law

 

Daniel Aquilina

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Leaders in Law endorses Dr. Daniel Aquilina as our exclusively recommended Aviation Law expert in Malta. If you wish to get in touch with Daniel please use the contact information provided above.

Dr. Daniel Aquilina is the partner heading GANADO Advocates’ Banking Ship Finance team and Aviation team, assisting leading international Banks and financial institutions involved in the financing of Maltese registered vessels and aircraft by perfecting the registration of Mortgages and Security Interests.

In recent years Daniel has also focused on the firm’s Aviation Practice and has advised various financiers, lessors, owners and operators. He was part of the team engaged to develop and draft Malta’s Aircraft Registration Act and was instrumental in Malta’s decision to accede to the Cape Town Convention and the Aircraft Protocol.

GANADO Advocates:

GANADO has a long heritage. Founded originally in Valletta – Malta’s capital city – we trace our roots back to the early 1900′s. Today, we are one of Malta’s foremost law practices.

Having contributed directly over several decades towards creating and enhancing Malta’s hard-won reputation as a reliable and effective international centre for financial and maritime services, we make it our business to provide high standards of legal advisory services in a wide spectrum of international commercial and corporate activities.

The Firm has grown and adapted itself over the years to meet the changing and challenging needs of the international business and legal community. With a team of over sixty lawyers and professionals from other disciplines, supported by a growing complement of committed managerial, administrative and clerical assistants, we are confident of our ability to continue offering excellent client service and legal analysis, pragmatic solutions and attention to detail.

We pursue a philosophy which emphasises both study and pro-activity. We seek to identify trends in the international commercial and financial markets leading to opportunities for Malta once translated into tangible form. It is no surprise that we have been consistently at the forefront of local legislative initiatives and have provoked on several occasions over the years major legislative change in many fields, not least in maritime, ship finance, banking, aviation, trusts and investment services.

We are proud of our strong commitment to fostering education in law and academia. Several of our lawyers lecture regularly at various educational institutions, such as the University of Malta, and are often asked to attend as guest speakers in foreign and local fora. Our “Institute of Legal Studies” organises training sessions and courses for internal and external participants on a regular footing, and all aspiring associates are expected to take up post-graduate studies in pursuit of academic merit.

While we also provide corporate administration and related governance services, we have purposely avoided venturing into non-core legal areas and, particularly, from providing non-legal support services.

 

James P. Kreindler

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James P. Kreindler joined Kreindler & Kreindler LLP in 1983 and became a partner in 1987. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, 1977. He received his J.D. degree from Columbia University in 1980, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar. He began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorneys’ Office.

A specialist in aviation accident and terrorist litigation, Mr. Kreindler took the lead role as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Committee in the Pan Am 103 families’ suit against Libya, which produced $2.7 billion in additional compensation for the families of the Lockerbie victims. Mr. Kreindler played a major role in the litigation against Pan Am arising from the Flight 103 disaster over Lockerbie, Scotland as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Trial Team.

He has played a major role in many notable airline disaster cases, including:

  • the EgyptAir 990 crash on October 31, 1990 (as a member of the Executive Committee of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee);
  • the Swissair Flight 111 disaster near Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998 (serving as a Plaintiffs’ Committee member);
  • and the TWA Flight 800 disaster off Long Island, New York (appointed a member of the Plaintiffs’ Committee).

He is now co-chair of the Plaintiffs’ Committee in the 9/11 Litigation proceeding against financiers and sponsors of al-Qaeda. He currently serves as Chairman of the Plaintiffs’ Committee in the February 12, 2009 Colgan Air crash in Buffalo, New York.

Mr. Kreindler is a frequent lecturer on Aviation Accident Litigation and Terrorism Litigation throughout North and South America and Europe. He is the only Plaintiffs’ attorney, other than Lee Kreindler, asked to lecture at International Airline Transportation Association meetings.

Mr. Kreindler is a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He also has been recently selected by Lawdragon for their latest 500 Leading Litigators in America’s list.

Law Practice:

Kreindler & Kreindler LLP was founded in 1950, and just two years later the late Lee Kreindler was hard at work for the plaintiffs on his first airplane accident case. Kreindler has been at the forefront of aviation law ever since.

Kreindler partners and associates continue the tradition of excellence that has been the firm’s hallmark. We’re best known for our achievements in national and international aviation accident litigation, and the breadth and depth of Kreindler’s experience represents a significant advantage for anyone who needs answers about the causes of an accident or compensation for the resulting losses.

Our firm represents victims of aviation accidents against airlines, manufacturers, maintenance contractors, component suppliers or any other party responsible for the catastrophic consequences of an airplane or helicopter crash.

 

Dr. Mahnaz Mehrinfar

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Leaders in Law endorses Dr. Mahnaz Mehrinfar as our exclusively recommended Aviation Law expert in Iran. If you wish to get in touch with Dr. Mehrinfar please use the contact information provided above.

Education

University of Tehran

BA at Political Science, Faculty of Law

LLM at Int. Relations

American University of Human Science

Doctor in Philosophy in Law.

Areas of practice

Extensive experience in Foreign Investment, International Relations, Airline Affairs, Oil & Gas, Joint Venture Agreements, Mining & Telecommunication Projects, Supply Agreements, International Commercial Contracts, Commercial Agency and Distributorship Agreements.

Author

Ph. D thesis in Private Law “Foreign Investment in Iran” with consideration of Foreign Investment Promotion & Protection Act and its implementing regulation. It is under publication in the Yearbook International Business Law Consortium in Austria.

Various articles published in the Iranian & Foreign Journals.

Experience

Iran Air Former Head of Foreign Legal Claims 1975 – 2000.

International law Office 2000 to date.

Lecturer of Aviation Law in Azad University

Firm Overview:

ILO is a full-service law firm providing multi-lingual (Persian, French, English and Arabic) legal and paralegal services to clients internationally. The firm has extensive expertise in most areas of the law including intellectual property, high technology, business restructuring, corporations, employment, international trade, foreign investment, oil and gas, taxation, work permits, commercial litigation and arbitration.

Background

Apart from our expertise in transactional work, our strong litigation team is well-versed in legal disputes involving commercial affairs, international commercial contacts, international trade, shareholder and joint venture agreements, construction, business restructuring, bankruptcy and other commercial and arbitration cases. ILO also provides English- Persian and Persian-English certified translations.

The ILO was established in 1979. For over 30 years the ILO has been providing quality service to all of its clients. Currently ILO has employed 15 persons while number of employees differ based on the volume of foreign and local commercial activities within the country.

 

Hiromi Hayashi

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Hiromi Hayashi is a partner at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, which she joined in 2001.  She specialises in communications law and regulation and authored the Japanese section of Telecommunication in Asia in 2005.  Her other areas of practice are international and domestic transactions, takeover bids and corporate restructuring.  She was admitted to the Bar in 2001 in Japan and in 2007 in New York.  She worked at Mizuho Corporate Bank from 1989 to 1994, and at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York from 2006 to 2007.
Hiromi Hayashi is a partner at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, which she joined in 2001.  She specialises in communications law and regulation and authored the Japanese section of Telecommunication in Asia in 2005.  Her other areas of practice are international and domestic transactions, takeover bids and corporate restructuring.  She was admitted to the Bar in 2001 in Japan and in 2007 in New York.  She worked at Mizuho Corporate Bank from 1989 to 1994, and at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York from 2006 to 2007.

Mia Wouters

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Mia Wouters graduated in law from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven), obtained a special degree in Maritime and Air Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), a Certificate of Port Sciences from the Universiteit Gent and holds a Masters Degree (LLM) from the Institute of Air and Space Law of the McGill University, Montreal.

 

Mia is a Director of the European Aviation Club, and serves on the Committee of the UK based Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) Brussels Branch. She also serves as an Officer of the Aviation Committee – International Bar Association (I.B.A.).

 

She is one of the founding members of the International Aviation Women’apos;s Association (I.A.W.A.) and a member of various air law associations. In 2006 she was appointed to serve as the Belgian judge to the European Nuclear Energy Tribunal in Paris under the OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency.

 

Mia has broadly published on aviation and aviation related matters such as ground-handling, CRS and passenger rights and has been involved in several reports drawn up for the European Commission.

 

She is regularly requested to be a guest lecturer on aviation law and has addressed several conferences worldwide on air transportation. Subsequent to having been in charge of the practical courses in air law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven) and the Universiteit Antwerpen (ITTMA) Mia is currently an invited professor in Air Law at the Universiteit Gent.

 

Dutch-speaking, Mia also handles files in English and French.

 

In the aviation sector, Mia’s practice revolves around the representation and advising of airlines, insurance companies and loss adjusters, a Computer Reservation System, ground-handlers and other transportation-related businesses before the Belgian courts and the European Commission. She is thus actively involved in the full range of legal issues arising in the commercial, contractual or regulatory field, while focusing on aviation, tourism, competition and e-commerce.