Brent Fowler

Full Profile

Brent started his legal career in 2017 at a boutique aviation law firm in Sydney, Australia where he gained experience advising insurers in a range of litigated aviation disputes involving personal injury, property damage and policy coverage issues. Brent has appeared in the Local Court, District Court, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in New South Wales. He has taken cases to trial ranging in length from a few hours up to eight days.

Brent moved to London in 2019 to join Clyde & Co where he has quickly gained international experience in proceedings throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Brent has a private pilot license and he has been flying light aircraft since he was 15. He has a special interest in litigation involving general aviation. He has represented operators of hot air balloons, microlights, fixed-wing aircraft, crop dusters, helicopters, kit aircraft, business jets, gliders, drones and flying schools.

Brent is a member of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the European Air Law Association.

Experience

• Acting for numerous defendant airlines in proceedings involving turbulence, heavy landings, catering trolleys, food and sickness complaints, slip and falls, hot beverage spills, items falling from overhead lockers, airside busses and passengers with reduced mobility
• Attending an eight-day trial as instructing solicitor for a defendant ground handler who successfully argued that they were the ‘agent’ of an airline which alleviated the ground handler of all liability
• Assisting in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 and MH370 incidents
• Assisting in a subrogated recovery claim involving the total loss of an Embraer ERJ-190LR in Portugal
• Assisting in Indonesian proceedings involving a runway collision between a Boeing 737-800 and an ATR 42-600 in Jakarta
• Acting for a defendant airline in a cargo claim involving damage to an Aston Martin mid-flight
• Acting for a defendant pilot in a jet-blast incident that caused significant damage to an airside property
• Acting for a defendant engineer after an aircraft lost power and crashed shortly after take-off causing significant injuries to the pilot
• Acting for the family of a deceased pilot in complex proceedings involving seven defendants after an aircraft wing separated mid-flight
• Acting for a defendant helicopter pilot in proceedings commenced by three passengers who suffered significant injuries in a helicopter crash and subsequent fire
• Acting in a subrogated recovery claim involving a mid-air collision between two gliders
• Making a successful application to summarily dispose proceedings brought against a flight training organisation for causing aircraft noise and trespass
• Providing coverage advice to insurers regarding Aviation Personal Accident, Aircraft Hull, Aircraft Liability and Hangar Keeper Liability policies
• Attending a five week jury inquest as instructing solicitor for the aircraft manufacturer into the death of a professional footballer Emiliano Sala who died in a plane crash in the English channel