International law firm Morris, Manning & Martin LLP (MMM) is starting a new group that offers legal counsel on compliance, insurance, intellectual property, privacy, litigation, financial and other issues related to the commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
The firm says it already represents several companies in this area, including insurers. Prospective clients for the new practice include manufacturers, logistics and delivery services, news and entertainment media organizations, photographers, farmers and agricultural companies, and real estate companies.
MMM says it has decades of experience advising start-up and middle-market companies specializing in emerging technologies. The most recent additions include offering counsel on 3D printing and the Internet of Things.
“I’d compare it to the ‘Wild West’ days of the Internet, when people built businesses faster than the law could keep pace,” says John Fry, who co-founded MMM’s new drone practice and chairs MMM’s IP litigation practice.
“The issues raised by the huge economic and technological wave touch on a very broad spectrum of legal practice areas that requires an interdisciplinary group of attorneys focused on all possible legal considerations,” he adds.
MMM has offices in Atlanta; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Beijing; and Washington, D.C., and a strategic alliance office in São Paulo, Brazil.
