Expert in airline regulations lands at Patton Boggs

A former Transportation Department official is joining the aviation practice at the law and lobby firm Patton Boggs.

Naveen C. Rao most recently worked at the firm Jones Day, but once had a hand in U.S. aviation policy as the counselor to the assistant secretary for Aviation and International Affairs at the Transportation Department.

“Despite deregulation more than thirty years ago, few sectors of the national economy must comply with more complex regulation than aviation,” Rodney Slater, a partner at Patton Boggs and former secretary of Transportation, said in a statement.

{mosads}Rao will serve as counsel in the firm’s Washington office, advising clients on “regulatory matters before the FAA and DOT, competition and antitrust concerns, environmental law, labor and employment issues, and corporate transactions, including diligence advice,” according to a release.

The hire is a boon for K Street’s top earner, which took in $42 million in lobbying revenue in 2012. It boasts Air France as a client, in addition to several municipal air transport hubs.

Patton Boggs has lost more than a dozen partners nationwide this year and suffered a round of layoffs last fall, but leaders of the firm say their business remains strong.