Michael Drobac, senior policy advisor at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, is also executive director of the Small UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] Coalition. He said: 'Almost every firm has a drone practice. I’m not sure every firm has a drone client.' The Small UAV Coalition includes Amazon - which is testing drone delivery - among its members. 

Older drone teams

Jones Day, Reed Smith, Cooley and Wiley Rein are among the US practices that now have drone teams. The Global Legal Post reporting six months ago on the drone teams set up by other firms including LeClairRyan, McKenna Long & Aldridge (now merging in with Dentons), Hunton & Williams, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, Morrison & Foerster, Hogan Lovells, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Holland & Knight. 

Amazon relocates trials

However, the US has fallen behind Europe on its preparations for drone regulation - to the extent that Amazon is abandoning the US as a base for its drone trials and is expected to relocate them to Europe. Source: Bloomberg