Gates Aviation

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Sean Gates is a solicitor and senior partner of Gates Aviation as well as the law firm, Gates and Partners, which is a specialist aerospace law firm.

Mr. Gates has been nominated in numerous legal review publications as a leading aviation lawyer worldwide.

Mr. Gates specialises in disaster management and preparation as well as liability and insurance as it relates to aerospace clients. He has represented a number of airlines and their insurers in relation to numerous aviation disasters including in relation to the British Airways accident at Heathrow in 2008. Mr. Gates has also spent considerable time in connection with the criminalisation of aviation disasters including representing members of the Cypriot Airline Helios who are currently being prosecuted in Cyprus and Greece for manslaughter following the 737 accident near Athens.

Mr. Gates set up Gates Aviation with Ron Lindsay and others because of the perceived need for airline clients in particular to be supported by industry leaders in a number of different disciplines including risk and safety management and in order to provide small to medium sized airlines with the best possible expertise in these areas to ensure the safety and security of their operations.

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Ron has many years of front line management and senior management experience in the commercial aviation industry. Ron held a number of senior management positions within BA, including appointments in operations and maintenance planning, business development, customer service and operations, emergency planning and business continuity, ground operations compliance and corporate security.

Ron dealt with a number of corporate incidents, both complex and routine. He was also responsible for launching 'business continuity' as a business discipline within the company and for developing robust emergency plans spanning a range of one hundred and sixty five airports in eighty five countries, many with their own cultural issues and complexities. He was responsible for compliance and policy development related to ground safety and security within all ground operations areas of the business.

As Head of Aviation Security in the post-9/11 security environment, his responsibilities included a complete review of security measures applied to the airline's global network and covered development of appropriate aviation security policy within the company which aimed to deliver UK and host state compliance with regulatory requirements; the provision of timely security advice and guidance to operational departments; auditing of line station and line management performance; and compliance with the required security measures.

With two other Partners, Ron launched the business in 2006 and has been privileged to undertake many complex projects on behalf of a number of prestigious clients and a range of smaller organisations. The diversity of such projects has been both challenging and stimulating and has spanned industry disciplines, from emergency planning, through operational and aviation security projects to purchasing of aviation fuel and aircraft.

In 1992, Ron was awarded the M.B.E. in H.M. the Queen's Birthday Honours List for "services to aviation".

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Captain Jo Gillespie recently joined Gates Aviation from the position of Vice President – Flight Safety at Emirates Airline in Dubai, with responsibility for operational safety oversight of more than 100 aircraft, 2000 pilots and 13,000 cabin crew. He was also a qualified Type Rating Instructor (TRI) in the mixed fleet flying (MFF) environment of the A330/A340 fleet. His thirty years experience as a pilot have encompassed military service, general and business aviation, and worldwide scheduled and charter airline operations, and included over fifteen years of aviation safety management. He has been actively engaged in accident and incident investigations, flight data analysis, safety management and air safety reporting programmes, introduction and development of report management and safety information systems and the promotion of safety improvement throughout the industry. Jo has for several years been chairman of the Gulf Flight Safety Committee and is a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Flight Safety Foundation, as well as being a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

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Her responsibilities have included the start up and development of the British Airways Business Continuity Management and Risk Management process to maturity worldwide.   She was responsible for the emergency plans of British Airways’ franchises, alliances and subsidiaries.  She has written, designed and delivered training courses and emergency exercises for both emergency planning and business continuity on a worldwide basis. 

Victoria has a huge amount of practical experience including successfully planning relief flights for refugees in Kosovo in 1999; playing a key role in the contingencies for the Heathrow Terminal 1 Fire and Cabin Crew Strike in 1996; and later as part of the Crisis Management Team during the events of 9/11 and Air France Concorde crash amongst other aircraft incidents.

Victoria’s practical experience is complimented by salient training including the Home Office Advanced Emergency Planning Course and Practical Response to Disasters. She is also a member of the Business Continuity Institute.

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Adosh specialises in private equity and corporate commercial law including mergers and acquisitions, financing and re-finance issues, insolvency and private equity investment. He has extensive expertise in a wide range of international investment deals and contracts. On behalf of various companies, he has handled commercial issues relating to setting up business, including the establishment of an international corporate structure. Adosh is retained by a number of international investment organisations, SME's and businessmen.

Adosh has handled over twenty four UK and international venture capital deals and divestments, the largest of which was valued at US$130mm, acting for primary investor as investor hiring external counsel and as legal advisor to investor, including all due diligence, advice on investment and joint venture documents. He has advised on more than thirty other private equity/turnaround investment deals with transaction values of between US$0.5mm to US$20mm each. Adosh has worked on various acquisitions and disposals of private companies, including high profile brand names ranging in value from a few hundred thousand pounds to several hundred million pounds.

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Aoife has extensive experience in corporate, asset finance and commercial law.  She has advised both nationally and internationally on financings, securitisations, takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, reorganisations, listings, commercial contracts, and joint ventures.  She has also worked at a leading offshore firm in the Cayman Islands where she advised on structuring and implementing local and international securitisations, asset financings, mutual fund and unit trust schemes, establishing complex corporate structures with worldwide tax-effective outcomes. 

Aoife also advises clients on aircraft finance, commercial aviation and regulatory issues including aircraft and fleet acquisitions and disposals, financings, airline start-ups, licensing applications and ancillary issues.  She has a particular focus on the specialised private and corporate jet market.

Aoife sits on business aviation industry committees in the UK and is a regular contributor to trade and industry publications, conferences and seminars

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David specialises in Asian-Pacific aviation liability and insurance matters for insurers and airlines. His practice also includes advising airlines on regulatory issues, commercial disputes and related transactions and has been resident in Singapore for the past ten years.

David has handled many of the major Asian air disasters of the past decade including the Korean Air MD-1 1 accident in Shanghai; the Singapore Airlines SQ006 in Taipei; the Air China accident in Busan, Korea; and the Garuda Solo, China Northern Airlines Dalian and China Eastern Yunnan Baoutou accidents. Many of these accidents involved the review of airport procedures and air traffic services and the assessment of liability in relation to subrogation action. Previously when practising in London, David was involved in a number of high profile aviation cases and accidents. David leads the Gates and Partners regional office in Singapore.

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Joanna specialises in travel law and litigation including package travel regulations and tour operating/aviation regulatory issues.  She also deals with disaster management and has been involved in managing the aftermath of the 2005 Helios Airways crash outside of Athens.  In the commercial law sector, Joanna advises on commercial aviation, aircraft operating leases, rotables agreements and aircraft purchase and leases.

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Mark advises airlines and their insurers on liability issues including passenger and third-party injury and property damage, delay, denied boarding, cargo, subrogation and hull claims.  He is able to draw upon his experience working for a major low-cost carrier in the USA, and for a major UK carrier (on secondment).  Mark also advises on coverage and regulatory issues and acts directly for airlines in cases of prosecution for breach of animal import regulations.  In his general aviation liability work, Mark's experience as a private pilot gives him a unique perspective.

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