On any given day, you will find teams of Morrison & Foerster lawyers advising carriers that transport people and goods by air, rail, sea, and truck, and the developers, owners, and operators of ports and other facilities used by carriers around the world.
Our transportation clients are very diverse. They include carriers such as UPS, American Airlines, and Union Pacific, three of the world’s largest international airports, ocean carriers, a major Japanese company engaged in a light-rail transit project, international consortia bidding on a major Latin American bridge project, a private railroad company operating in six U.S. states and Mexico, a major Mexican bank in port privatization, and a bank syndicate evaluating the feasibility of financing a private toll road in Southern California.
Our federal preemption experts have helped shape the broad protections that shield air, motor, and intermodal carriers from state regulation and state-law consumer and competition claims, including the scope of preemption for cargo carriers, which was interpreted for the first time by the Supreme Court.
We advise carriers on mergers and acquisitions and government investigations in the U.S. and across the globe. We also serve logistics providers in vendor and customer contracting for transportation, warehousing, and related services, as well as advise on regulatory compliance and government contract bidding.
We have more than 25 years of experience representing airports with respect to regulatory compliance and litigation relating to airport rates and charges, noise abatement and control, congestion management, airport revenue use issues, privatization, master planning, and incentive programs.
Partners who are former government officials experienced in the transportation sector provide insight and perspective for our clients. One of our partners spent over ten years at the U.S. Department of Justice supervising enforcement in the transportation sector and now represents major airlines in connection with civil and criminal antitrust investigations, including investigations of proposed mergers within the industry. Another former federal official obtained favorable resolution of a significant Department of Justice antitrust investigation into pricing behavior on behalf of a major U.S. railroad. He offers a wealth of industry insight from his years of experience representing railroads and others on competition and economic-regulatory matters before the Surface Transportation Board.