Lisa Ellman co-chairs the firm’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Group and is a leading public policy lawyer in our Government Regulatory practice group, with a focus on domestic drones and other emerging technologies. Throughout her career, Lisa has worked to bridge the sizable knowledge gap between government policymaking and business innovation. Lisa has held a variety of positions at top levels of the Executive branch at the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In a series of presidential appointments, Lisa led work on high-priority policy initiatives for the Obama administration on issues spanning from open and transparent government to domestic use of UAS. Most recently, she led DOJ’s effort to develop policy that would govern the use of UAS in the United States. She also represented DOJ in the federal interagency process considering UAS-related policy issues that are shared across departments and agencies.
Lisa arrived at Hogan Lovells from another law firm and co-leads the Hogan Lovells UAS group, a “one-stop shop” for UAS manufacturers, operators and users. The UAS group provides nuts-to-bolts assistance for businesses entering the dynamic UAS marketplace and assist firms to succeed in the uncertain regulatory environment. Lisa has counseled businesses and trade groups in industries ranging from newsgathering and television production, to aerial photography and energy, to precision agriculture and insurance, to higher education, drones technology, and real estate–and everything in between.
Lisa is a highly sought-after expert and regularly appears at events and in the media to discuss the latest developments in drones law and policy. In November 2014, Lisa gave aTEDx talk about “polivation” – a new approach to balancing the needs of innovators and policymakers to enable society to make good use of new technologies, including commercial and private drones, in a way that wins the public’s trust and serves its interests. In March 2015, Lisa delivered her “Privacy in the Age of Drone Fever” talk at the 22nd Annual South by Southwest Interactive Festival, focusing on the benefits that drones provide and what to do about legitimate fears that drones will invade privacy. Lisa’s opinions are often featured in publications and news broadcasts such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated Press, Fortune Magazine, Crain’s New York Business, NBC News San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg News Radio, HuffPost Live, and others. In February 2015, Lisa was featured in Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” series for her efforts to develop policy to govern drone use in the United States.
Why Drones Are Dive-Bombing the FAA
Session Description: UAVs, more lightly regulated in most other countries, will soon be all around us, checking crops, inspecting bridges, delivering goods, aiding law enforcement, gathering news. How do we shepherd this coming autonomous flock? Ellman: So we’ve heard a lot today about how policymaking can be reactive and bureaucratic and slow and technology moves […]
Conferences
Policy 15
Techonomy Policy aims to bring a higher level of dialogue to the confluence of technology innovation and government. The need for the tech industry and Washington to better understand, engage and productively work together is crucial to the future of economic progress and social cohesion in our tech-enhanced, digitally-enabled times.
