Speakers
Frederick (Rick) Alimonti
Frederick P. Alimonti founded ALIMONTI LAW OFFICES, P.C. in March of 2001. "Rick" Alimonti is a licensed pilot and has been active in aviation, insurance, and product liability throughout his career. He is a past chair of the ABA Section of Litigation's Aviation Committee and has just been reappointed to this position.
He has lectured worldwide on aviation law and liability. Mr. Alimonti handles all phases of litigation through trial and has briefed and argued before the U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Alimonti Law Offices is an accredited CLE provider in New York and has also administered courses in Texas and Georgia for both attorney and insurance credits. Mr. Alimonti's courses on ethics and conflicts-of-interest continues to be in high demand. Rick recently moderated the "Ethics Panel" at the ABA's Aviation Litigation Committee's annual CLE meeting in June 2007 in New York. Mr. Alimonti founded this annual program in New York in 1995, where it has become an institution.
Philip Bass
Philip is a partner in the Clyde & Co aviation department in London. His main area of practice is aviation liability claims. Philip holds a private pilot's licence and has an IATA Diploma in Air Law.
He founded Beaumont & Son's Singapore office in 1992 and was managing partner of Beaumont & Son in London between 2000 and 2004.
He acted as airline representative for a major Asian carrier in the IATA discussions on the Inter-carrier Agreement on Passenger Liability, and is a past chairman of the Aviation Committee of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association and a current member of a number of legal and aviation industry bodies.
Gillie Belsham
Gillie Belsham is a tenacious broadly-based commercial arbitration and litigation practitioner with the emphasis currently on energy & offshore work and aviation. To this she has added specialist defendant personal injury expertise. This she uses on large cases involving multiple deaths as well as smaller highly delicate ones, where she is known for her sensitive, constructive but firm handling of her clients' interests, particularly concerning matters of reputation, where she is also published.
She leads the Aviation team at Ince & Co and the non-marine Crisis Management team. She also increasingly finds that she is consulted in a strategic role for other industries, such as hotel and transport, for her understanding of and flair for the confluence of liability, reputational and commercial issues.
Gillie speaks business French and has industry links with the US (especially US Gulf), Paris and Sweden.
Prof Graham Braithwaite
Professor Graham Braithwaite is Head of the Department of Air Transport at Cranfield University. He has worked extensively in aviation safety management, human factors and incident / accident investigation since he gained his PhD from Loughborough University. He is Director of the Safety and Accident Investigation Centre at Cranfield University and has delivered training courses around the world to clients from airlines, safety regulators, ATC providers, military, investigation agencies and airport operators.
Jerry Flaxman, QBE Aviation Claims Manager & Business Development Manager
Jerry has 35 years' experience in aviation and insurance comprising: 7 years as an aircraft engineer, 12 years as Claims Director of the Willis Aviation Claims Department, 5 years as Managing Director of Willis Inspace Division (Willis' specialist Space Insurance Division), 2 years as a self employed Aviation Insurance Consultant, 2 years working as Aviation Business Development Manager for a major London city law firm, 3 years as Aviation Claims Director for Allianz London and the last 4 years as Claims and Business Development Manager at QBE Aviation.
Jerry is an active member of the International Union of Aviation Insurers (IUAI) Claims Study Group, the IATA Airline Risk & Insurance Management Working Group and the UK Flight Safety Committee. Jerry has managed a number of high profile aviation disaster claims to effective resolution during the course of his career including managing a number of the major airline, products and space claims.
Arthur W Hankin
Arthur Hankin is a partner with Blank Rome LLP, and concentrates his practice in commercial and tort litigation with substantial emphasis upon matters and contracts arising from: aviation, product liability, insurance coverage-listed as national trial counsel and panel counsel assigned to major claims for many carriers, environmental exposures, professional negligence, med-mal defense, E & O defense, contracts defense of manufacturers. Mr. Hankin is listed in Best's Directory of Recommended Insurance Attorneys and Adjusters. He is certified as a mediator by the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and is actively involved in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings. Mr. Hankin is national trial counsel for two major insurance companies, and he has successfully tried to verdict over 100 cases. He has been a licensed pilot for over 40 years. Mr. Hankin was an invited speaker at the SMU Air Law Symposium. Mr. Hankin has received the highest possible rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Ricardo M. Martinez-Cid
Ricardo was born June 13, 1976, in Miami, Florida. He earned his undergraduate degree in only three years at the University of Miami (B.A. cum laude 1997) and his Juris Doctorate at Yale Law School (J.D. 2000) where he was the William S. Beinecke Scholar. While a law student, Ricardo was a director of Yale's renowned clinical program. He served on the Board of Directors of the Latino Law Students Association, and was an editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. Before joining Podhurst Orseck, Ricardo served as a law clerk to the Honorable James Lawrence King on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He joined the firm in 2002 and was named a partner in 2006.
Although much of Ricardo's practice involves personal injury, wrongful death, and product liability cases with a focus on aviation litigation, he also handles admiralty and commercial matters. Ricardo has represented victims of many commercial aviation disasters including GOL Flight 1906, Brazil, 2006; Comair Flight 5191, Lexington, Kentucky, 2006; Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101, Miami Beach, Florida, 2005; Helios Airways Flight 2U522, Cyprus, 2005; Tropical Air Flight 1301, Haiti, 2003; Scandinavian Airlines Flight 686, Milan, Italy, 2001; TAESA Airlines Flight 725, Mexico, 1999; and Silk Air Flight MI 185, between Jakarta and Singapore, 1997. He also handles numerous general aviation cases including fixed wing and rotary aircraft.
Ricardo has authored and published work for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's Aviation Section. The Miami Herald, the Sun-Sentinel, and the Daily Business Review have interviewed and quoted him with reference to aviation law and his trial successes. Currently, he is Co-Chair of the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the American Bar Association. He has lectured for various bar organizations and on the faculty of the Al J. Cone Trial Advocacy Institute for the past two years.
Ricardo speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese
Dr Simon Mitchell (Technical Programme: Forensic Services)
Dr Simon Mitchell, Aviation Director, RTI ltd has worked in the aviation industry for over 20 years; experience and expertise that includes 5400 professional helicopter flying hours , combined with doctoral research into accident cost analysis and the economics of safety.
As a professional pilot, he has direct operational experience in all the key helicopter industry sectors: military flying as an officer for the Royal Navy, in the offshore oil support role for Bond and CHC, as a police pilot for the London Metropolitan Police Service, and as a corporate pilot and safety manager for Starspeed Ltd. He has managed helicopter operations in Monaco, the French/Swiss Alps, and the Caribbean.
As an academic, he has papers published on the perception of safety and its associated economic impact, and on systems for analysing the costs of accidents. He continues an association with Cranfield University Safety and Accident Investigation Centre, as a visiting fellow and as course director for the safety management professional and academic courses; he lectures on the framework of safety management systems, integrating safety management within business management, value of safety management, accident cost analysis, regulatory and market safety controls, safety data and analysis.
Joseph R. Reynolds (Technical Programme: Forensic Services)
Joe Reynolds P.E., MEWI is the founder and president of RTI Group, LLC with offices in Maryland and California, now specialising in aviation and utilities forensic investigation services. Joe is also the founder, chairman and CEO of the London based UK firm Reynolds Technological Inquiries Ltd., a consultancy of leaders in the technical analysis of transportation and utilities accidents and failures resulting in major claims and litigation. Joe is internationally recognised as a forensic engineer expert witness, and is an authority regarding the investigation and analysis of aircraft accidents, fires and equipment failures, systems reliability research and safety analysis, as well as forensic investigation and safety education.
Tim Scorer (Lawyer Panel: Chairman)
Tim specialises principally in aviation claims and aviation insurance disputes, litigation, arbitration and mediation for Ince & Co. He handles a wide range of aviation interests including aircraft operators and pilots, aircraft manufacturers, airlines, flying displays, airports and aerodromes, certification authorities, helicopters, gliders, microlights, hang gliders, parachuting, and balloons.
He represents and assists in claims involving the interests of aviation industry organisations and the domestic and international aviation insurance market which provides coverage for them. He advises on contractual, insurance, and aviation regulatory matters and represents clients in litigation, arbitration and mediation, as well as Fatal Accident Inquests and in relation to aviation criminal cases. He has participated in numerous mediations covering a wide variety of disputes in the aviation legal environment.
Drawing on his professional and practical experience, he is a lecturer/speaker on a wide range of legal issues affecting the aviation industry, particularly airworthiness, airport operations, carriage by air, air operations and aviation legal liabilities generally, at courses, conferences, seminars and symposia. For more than thirty five years, he has been closely involved in the General Aviation industry both professionally and socially. Having qualified as a private pilot in 1972 and accumulated over 1200 hours in single engined aircraft, Tim is able to bring a high degree of technical and practical knowledge to his work.
Kathryn Ward
Kathryn is an Associate at DLA Piper and specialises in post-accident legal liability, particularly relating to passenger, cargo, baggage and product liability claims on behalf of airlines, airports, groundhandlers, product manufacturers and their respective insurers, as well as general aviation claims. Kathryn has wide experience in both domestic and international litigation and has handled claims arising out of incidents and accidents in the UK, Europe, South America, Asia and Africa. Kathryn also represents product manufacturers and airlines in international arbitrations as well as alternative forms of dispute resolution, such as mediation and direct negotiation. She is a fluent Spanish speaker and much of her work focuses on Latin America through DLA Piper's Air Law Alliance.
