Peter Barlow is a Partner in the Firm, a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee and Corporate Section Head, and the Leader of the Global Transport Practice at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.
Mr. Barlow’s practice concentrates in the areas of aircraft finance, commercial and corporate aircraft acquisitions and leasing, airline representation, aviation law, and general corporate representation. Mr. Barlow manages SGR’s Austin, Texas office.
Mr. Barlow has represented U.S. and Ireland based aircraft leasing companies in aircraft and engine lease transactions, purchase and lease back transactions, and purchase and novation transactions in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and South America. He has also represented numerous U.S. and foreign commercial airlines and private equity funds in complex aircraft and engine financing and acquisition transactions including Predelivery Payment (PDP) financings, EETC offerings, export credit agency financings, and other asset backed financings and with respect to new fleet acquisitions from Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, and Embraer and new aircraft purchases from Gulfstream as well as numerous used aircraft purchase, sale, and financing transactions involving commercial and corporate jet and turboprop aircraft. Mr. Barlow has represented airlines in numerous restructurings both inside and outside of bankruptcy and lead the Chapter 11 liquidation of Skybus Airlines as its in-house General Counsel. He began his legal career in the Firm’s Financial Institutions Practice doing mergers and acquisitions transactions, including numerous stock and asset purchase transactions in the mortgage banking industry, ‘33 Act public offerings, ‘34 Act compliance work, private placements and general corporate work, as well as Part 135 operators in connection with corporate jet timeshare and fractional ownership programs. Mr. Barlow previously served as General Counsel for Skybus Airlines, where he managed the airline’s legal functions, including operations procurement, financing, and restructuring.
A member of the American Bar Association, Mr. Barlow served as Chairman of the ABA’s Aircraft Finance Subcommittee from August 2009 to August 2012, having previously served as Vice Chairman of the committee from August 2006 to July 2009. He has been recognized as one of the world’s leading aviation lawyers being named to the Who’s Who Legal: Transport 2012-2019, and has also been recognized as one of the world’s leading international business lawyers being named to the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers 2012. Mr. Barlow has also been recognized as one of the top US aviation lawyers by Euromoney, most recently in Euromoney’s 2018 Expert Guides (Aviation) and has been ranked by Chambers USA in 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, and 2023 for aviation (nationwide).
Mr. Barlow received his undergraduate degree in International Business from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin in 1991, where he was a member of the Silver Spurs Honorary Service Organization (1989-1991). He received his J.D. degree from Emory University School of Law in 1995. During law school, he was a Dean’s Fellow (1994-1995), a member of the Bankruptcy Developments Law Journal (1993-1995), Notes and Comments Editor of the Bankruptcy Developments Law Journal (1994-1995), and the elected representative of his law school class to the Student Bar Association (1993-1995).
Other Endeavors:
Mr. Barlow is a co-founder of Silvercar, Inc. (www.silvercar.com), a technology leveraged rental car company that operates an all-Audi fleet. Silvercar began operations in 2012 and grew to 17 locations in the United States before being sold to Audi in July 2017. At the time of its acquisition, Silvercar was the largest buyer of Audi vehicles in North America.
American Bar Association
