Everyone loves a holiday and for many, the reason they get up in the morning is so they can step off the work treadmill and step onto a secluded beach or sophisticated boulevard. But for Anthony Cordato, principal of Cordato Partners in Sydney and author of Australian Travel & Tourism Law, one person's holiday is another person's work, and that's how he likes it.

"I have been practicing for 35 years. And you know why? Because I can get out of bed every morning and still look forward to going to work."

Whether it's a case involving a bus crash in Egypt, a boat collision in Thailand, a traveller upset by the fact his waistline dictates he must purchase two plane seats instead of one, or passengers claiming Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) was sustained during a flight, travel law is certainly an area in which curious cases arise.

"It really is interesting work," says Cordato.

Travel and tourism law makes up approximately one third of Cordato's practice, with the other two thirds being dominated by property and commercial work.

Cordato considers it to be a curious anomaly that despite the huge numbers of travelers in transit, there is a disproportionately small amount of legal claims.

"If you think about it, there are [millions] of people who travel every day, and you really would only see a dozen or so claims arising from that," he says.

Cordato believes this is largely due to the fact that those in the travel industry are acutely aware of the tight regulations in place and its inherent importance to the industry.

"If you stuff things up in the travel industry, people tend to die," he says.

For the most part, Cordato deals with slip and trip claims - a good proportion of which occur on airplanes - and generally his firm represents clients in the travel industry, though he does occasionally take on plaintiff cases.

"It is always good to see it from the other side too," he says.

Cordato sees travel law as an area which transcends many different legal concepts, with claims against travel companies ranging from "stress and disappointment" associated with a cruise liner sinking, passengers tripping over strip lighting in an airplane, or tour operators assuring German tourists it is safe to swim in crocodile infested billabongs in the Northern Territory.

But for Cordato, the greatest joy for him is engaging with clients and their businesses in a very personal way - something he sees as resting firmly in the domain of small practices.

"I love the client interaction, and dealing closely with their businesses," he says.

"You can get that in the big corporates, but not to the same extent."

And for those of us who dabble in the business of travel purely for pleasure, Cordato has one piece of advice.

"Avoid aisle 'C' [in an aircraft]," he laughs.

"If a bag is going to fall, this is where it generally lands."

Claire Chaffey

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