February 19 - Airport Law

Airport Law 101

This presentation will cover areas of airport law and management for municipal attorneys including land use entitlements, environmental impacts, and compliance with federal transportation regulations. Additional topics may be presented.

Speaker: Peter Kirsch

Peter Kirsch’s practice focuses on regulation and development of transportation infrastructure and other public sector projects. Peter represents clients ranging from local governments to the private sector and public interest groups in negotiations and litigation over land use entitlements, the environmental impacts of infrastructure projects, and compliance with federal transportation law and regulations. He litigates cases before administrative agencies, numerous state and federal trial and appellate courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He represents airport sponsors and local governments before Congress and federal administrative agencies.

For 30 years, Peter has been involved in the development of airport infrastructure – including many of the new commercial airports in the United States as well as dozens of airport expansions, redevelopment projects, and development of land for non-aeronautical projects. He advises airports on financial matters, regulatory compliance, leasing, land use issues, environmental impacts, and relations with their host communities. He has litigated all of these issues in federal and state trial and appellate courts and in Part 16 proceedings before the FAA.

Increasingly, Peter provides counsel to airports on creative and precedent-setting revenue-generating projects in the development of land and in concession arrangements. Public-private partnerships have become a focus on his practice in recent years, and he has represented both airports and private sector investors in airport management and development projects.
For a wide range of infrastructure projects, Peter advises clients on compliance with federal environmental laws, with a particular focus on the National Environmental Policy Act and on the regulatory strings that come attached to federal funding of transportation infrastructure or use of federal lands.