Transportation Law Definition
Goods and passengers are carried by various modes of transport that may be regulated by international treaty, federal, provincial, and/or municipal law. The provision of regulatory compliance and due diligence advice to providers and users of carriage services often raises nuanced issues, such as which regulatory body might have legislative jurisdiction over a particular carriage undertaking, or in the case of a dispute arising from the loss, damage or delay to cargo in domestic or international transit what law governs and the appropriate forum for the adjudication of the dispute.
The Transportation Law field involves various industry sectors of specialization: trucking, bus lines, aviation, maritime, railway, and pipelines. The range of specialized sector advice has in fact grown with the increase in regional and global trade, and with it, the desire for the more efficient transit of goods and passengers. In the carriage of goods we have seen the evolution of intermediaries engaged in facilitating the delivery of cargo such as freight forwarders, load brokers, freight consolidators, “3PLs” / “distribution network” service providers, warehousemen, and customs brokers who offer transit related services beyond the conventional clearance of goods.
In addition to having acumen in the substantive law associated with the above areas, Transportation Lawyers offer services tailored to different stages of the supply and distribution chain and carriage of passengers. Transportation Lawyers provide advice in the formation, sale, and acquisition of companies, having specific regard to the transportation and corporate regulatory framework in which they operate. Contracts of carriage are drafted and vetted with the competing interests in mind from the point of view of shippers of goods, passengers, intermediaries and carriers. As alluded to above, those involved in cargo claims require representation in arbitration or court proceedings, and supply chain participants are often called on to defend court actions arising from transportation accidents. Cargo claims and casualty driven litigation is conducted both in the courts of the various provinces as well as in certain cases in the Federal Court of Canada.
