Drone Law and Policy

Drone Law and Policy describes the drone industry and its evolution, describing the benefits and risks of its exponential growth. It outlines the current and proposed regulatory framework in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe, taking into consideration the current and evolving technological and insurance landscape.

This book makes recommendations as to additional regulatory and insurance initiatives which the authors believe are necessary to achieve an effective balance between the various competing interests. The 23 chapters are written by global specialists on crucial topics, such as terrorism and security, airport and aircraft safety, maritime deployment, cyber-risks, regulatory oversight, licensing, standards and insurance.

This book will provide authoritative reference and expert guidance for regulators and government agencies, legal practitioners, insurance companies and brokers globally, as well as for major organisations utilising drones in industrial applications.

Anthony A. Tarr is Senior Consultant, Clyde & Co, Brisbane; Director, Robyn Ashton Consulting Pty Ltd; formerly Vice Chancellor, University of the South Pacific; Dean & Professor of Law, Indiana University – Indianapolis; Dean & Sir Gerard Brennan Professor of Law, The University of Queensland, and Dean & Foundation Professor of Law, Bond University; author of ten books/treatises including Insurance Law in New Zealand and Australian Insurance Law.

He has been Chairman, Managing Director or Non-executive Director of various commercial and resource sector companies; formerly Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Law Society; Director of the Indiana Bar Foundation and Chairman of the Fiji Law Reform Commission.

Julie-Anne Tarr is Senior Consultant, Clyde & Co, Brisbane, and Professor of Commercial Law, Queensland University of Technology. She has held professorial and senior executive roles in the United States, South Pacific and Australia including at Indiana University, University of the South Pacific, the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, and Queensland’s Litigation Reform Commission. Specialising in insurance and risk management, emerging technologies and complex contracting, she has authored six books/treatises including Disclosure and Concealment in Consumer Insurance Contracts and The Laws of Australia Insurance. She has published more than 100 articles and law reform reports and is the Insurance and Transport Editor for the Australian Business Law Review.

Maurice Thompson is Senior Equity Partner, Clyde & Co, Melbourne and Perth. He is Founder and Chair of Clyde & Co’s International Drones Group, and he has been engaged by insurance majors, corporates, governments and regulators to assist in compliance, policy creation, registration, regulation and insurance policy wordings with regard to drones. Maurice also heads Clyde & Co’s Australian "Energy, Marine, Natural Resources Group" and the firm's Australian "Aviation Group". He is a member of the firm's Global Executive.

He qualified in 1992 and has 28 years of experience advising clients in the shipping, offshore oil and gas, resources and mining, commodity trading, aviation, insurance and ports industries both domestically and internationally.

Jeffrey Ellis is Partner, Clyde & Co, New York. He focuses his practice on aviation, insurance, products liability, commercial, litigation and appellate matters. Jeff represents airline carriers in connection with the various liability and regulatory issues confronting the aviation industry on both the domestic and international fronts. He represented the interests of United Airlines in the litigation arising from the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He also represented the interests of Delta Air Lines in the Swissair/Delta Flight 111 crash, Continental Airlines in the Air France Concorde crash, Delta/Northwest in the litigation arising out of the Underwear Bomber incident, General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) in product pre-emption litigation and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in drone pre-emption litigation.