Mr Sean Gates, speaking at Aviation Outlook China 2010

Mr Sean Gates,
Senior Partner
Gates and Partners

Sean Gates qualified as an English solicitor in 1972. After 30 years of experience in defending several of the world's major aviation cases, Mr Gates with Partners Adosh Chatrath and Dan Soffin established Gates and Partners, a boutique aerospace law firm. Growth to date at Gates and Partners has been swift and significant. According to independent research conducted by Legal Media Group for its Euromoney Expert Guide for 2008, Sean Gates received more individual nominations than any other aviation lawyer worldwide and the second highest number of nominations for any lawyer in all practice areas. Mr Gates specializes in aerospace insurance, reinsurance and liability issues including disaster management and preparedness, and insurance coverage and policy issues. He has acted for airlines and their insurers as lead counsel in respect of numerous aviation disasters and regularly represents international carriers and their insurers on a variety of issues. He is currently heading up the defence team for of Helios in Greece and Cyprus following the 737 crash near Athens, GOL following the mid-air collision in Brazil in 2006 and Santa Barbara Airlines in connection with the ATR accident in Venezuela in 2008. He also advises BA on issues arising from the Boeing 777 accident at Heathrow in 2008. Over the past several years Mr. Gates has increasingly focused on risk management and the criminalisation issue as part of disaster management. As legal adviser to the International Union of Aviation Insurers (IUAI), Mr Gates represented the IUAI at the diplomatic conferences giving rise to the Montreal Conventions on Surface Damage 2009 and on passenger liability in 1999. The lawyers at Gates and Partners bring decades of experience to the firm, and have developed internationally recognized practices. In addition to senior partner Sean Gates, the aerospace team includes partners Dan Soffin, Paul Freeman, John Korzeniowski, Neil McGilchrist, Vanessa Leigh and Joanna Kolatsis who together specialize in aerospace liability, insurance, reinsurance, regulatory issues, general aviation and alternative dispute resolution. Adosh Chatrath leads the commercial team, and closely collaborates with the aerospace team to enable Gates and Partners to offer commercial advice to its aerospace clients. Gates and Partners was established in 2003 and now numbers 12 partners and 22 lawyers

Appearing:

8 July 2010 | Conference Day Two

1.30pm

Airline risk management - from a legal perspective

What is risk in an airline business?
Transfer of risk – overview of key contractual issues in code-sharing agreements, ground handling agreements, insurance agreements and coverage issues
Key risk management strategies in the protection of airlines’ corporate brands, handling claims and the media
Identifying the current trends and factors that may affect an airline’s operations

Mrs Ping Cairns,

Solicitor,
Gates and Partners

Mr Sean Gates,

Senior Partner,
Gates and Partners

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