Don Hainbach joined the firm of Garofalo Goerlich Hainbach PC in March of 1989 and became a principal in 1990. He retired from the firm and the practice of law in 2024. Over Don’s 35 years with GGH, his practice emphasized representation of international passenger and cargo carriers.
Don joined the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) immediately after his graduation from law school in 1979. He first worked in that agency’s Bureau of Domestic Aviation and Antitrust Office and later in the CAB’s Bureau of International Aviation. During 1984, Don served as Executive Assistant to CAB Member Diane K. Morales.
Don had been engaged in private practice since 1985. He represented clients before all U.S. Government agencies having jurisdiction over aviation issues, including the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the Department of Agriculture. Don also assisted carrier clients obtain landing permits from local airport authorities, represented carriers defending enforcement proceedings before the DOT, FAA, TSA and CBP, assisted carriers participating in aviation regulatory rulemaking proceedings, represented clients before the U.S. Court of Appeals, and represented U.S. airports as well as U.S. and foreign air carriers. He also counseled foreign government and carrier clients regarding bilateral aviation negotiations and the U.S. sanctions regulations administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Don served on the FAA’s Part 129 Aviation Rulemaking Committee (2007-2008) and was a member of an FAA-sponsored delegation to Moscow in 2007 that conducted a seminar for carriers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (comprised of the former Soviet Republics).
Don earned an A.B. degree with honors in Economics from Brown University in 1976. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1979. He holds an AV (highest) rating from the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and was admitted to the Bars of the District of Columbia and the State of New York. He was a member of the Forum on Air and Space Law of the American Bar Association and of the International Aviation Club of Washington, D.C.
202-776-3976