Profile

Timothy M. Ravich is an associate professor in the Department of Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida. Before joining academia, Dr. Ravich practiced as a commercial trial lawyer with top AmLaw 100 firms, earning the distinction of Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated litigator and Florida Bar Board Certified Aviation Lawyer (1 of only 50). He also served as the President of the Miami-Dade County Bar Association, the largest voluntary bar association in the state of Florida. As an academic, Dr. Ravich’s teaching and scholarship broadly center on legal and policy questions in “frontier” areas of science, technology, engineering, and medicine (“STEM”). In particular, he focuses on the regulatory environment related to emerging transportation and communications technologies such as drones and advanced air mobility. He has authored several books in the area of technology and law and served as the Principal Investigator on various law-centered projects sponsored by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He also has introduced several classes into the university curriculum in the areas of aviation law, law and technology, and cybersecurity. He created a Law and Technology Certificate program, and is the recipient of several college and university teaching awards. As an administrator, Professor Ravich is responsible for the overall management and supervision of one of the largest legal studies programs in the nation.

• Aviation and Space Law; Civil Procedure; Technology and Law

J.D., cum laude, University of Miami School of Law

Professor Ravich’s scholarly agenda explores key questions of if, when, and how regulators should either promote or constrain the development of disruptive technologies. By focusing on advances in mobility and aviation—unmanned aerial vehicles (“drones”) and urban/advanced air mobility particularly—Professor Ravich’s work has explored: (1) how innovations associated with the Internet of Things (“IoT”) moniker stretch traditional principles under the common law, Constitution, and international law; (2) whether and how devices that are a part of the IoT should be regulated; (3) which authority, if any, among local, state, federal, and international authorities is best positioned to regulate IoT technologies; and (4) whether and how government interventions or market-borne dynamics best advance technological innovation and consumer welfare while preserving traditional conceptions of contract, tort, property, criminal, and constitutional law.

Professor Ravich is an internationally recognized expert in his field. His research has appeared in leading law journals such as the Columbia Business Law Review and William and Mary Business Law Review. He is the author of COMMERCIAL DRONE LAW: DIGEST OF U.S. AND GLOBAL UAS RULES, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES (American Bar Association 2017) and his treatise on aviation was published with West Academic in 2020.

His scholarship is widely cited by other scholars and practitioners in respected publications such as the Michigan Law Review, Stanford Technology Law Review, Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, American Business Law Journal, and Georgetown Journal of International Law, and he is often sought out as a subject matter expert by print, online, and radio media, including TechCruch, Christian Science Monitor, China Central Television, HUFFPost, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, National Public Radio, the Atlantic, and NTV (Russia). Professor Ravich also serves as a peer-reviewer for several entities, including the editorial board of the Annals of Air and Space, Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University.

• Aviation Law; Emerging Technology (IoT, AI, Drones, Autonomous Vehicles)

• Principal Investigator, Update of Compilation of FAA/DOT Airport Legal Determinations, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, Transportation Research Board, Airport Cooperative Research Program, 2018-20224
• Principal Investigator, Evolving Law on Airport Implications by Unmanned Aerial Systems, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, Transportation Research Board, Airport Cooperative Research Program, 2017
• Research Fellow, UCF College of Health and Public Affairs Faculty Sponsored Research Support Initiative, 2014

• UCF Teaching Incentive Program ("TIP")
• UCF College Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
• Martindale-Hubbell® AV-Rated
• Super Lawyers® Florida
• Florida Bar Board Certified in Aviation Law
• University of Miami Law Alumni Association Leadership Award

• American Bar Association, House of Delegates
• Florida Bar, Chair, Aviation Law Committee
• President, Dade-County Bar Association
• Chair (Interim), UCF Department of Legal Studies
• Downtown Interdisciplinary Research Initiative, UCF College of Community Innovation and Education
• UCF Faculty Senate