Alexander Anolik, Esq.
Anolik Law Corporation

280 Roundhill Road

Tiburon, California 94920

Phone: (415) 673-3333

Fax: (415) 673-3548

Anolik@travellaw.com

www.travellaw.com 

Alexander Anolik, a seasoned trial attorney, is widely recognized as one of the pre-eminent travel attorneys in the world. He is president of one of the largest U.S. law corporations emphasizing the practice of travel law and travel industry litigation, with a travel law support staff including attorneys, consultants, paralegals and industry trained registration assistants in his San Francisco, California offices. 

Mr. Anolik received his Juris Doctor degree from Hastings Law School, San Francisco in 1967. He studied International Law at the University of California, Boalt Hall, and the Academia Internationalis Lex et Scientia, The Hague, Netherlands, in 1971. He is a member of the California and Washington D.C. Bars, and is admitted to practice in several Federal District Courts, U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court. 

His international expertise in “travel law” became widely known to the travel industry when he prevailed in two landmark cases:American Society of Travel Agents v. The Bank of America, 385 F.Supp. 1084 (N.D.Cal. 1974), a case restricting national banks from engaging in the travel agency business; and Foremost vs. Qantas, limiting carrier antitrust immunity.

For Mr Anolik's 2.0 hour DVD or CD, Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Law, click here

Publications

In 1977, Mr. Anolik wrote the first comprehensive text on travel law, The Law and the Travel Industry. It is a guide for travel agents, consumers and attorneys covering basic laws governing the travel industry. The Fourth Edition published in 1995 includes State Travel Promoter and Seller of Travel legal requirements for outside agents. Prentice-Hall has commissioned a revised edition of The Law and the Travel Industry for University use to be published in 2008.  Newly released is Travel 911, a must-have travel guide for today 's travelers.

Mr. Anolik 's new books, The Frequent Traveler's Guide and Traveler 's Rights: Your Legal Guide to Fair Treatment and Full Value (Legal Survival Guides) are now available from Amazon.com and are sold at Barnes & Noble, Borders and most other major bookstores. 

He is the author of a 10 ½ hour cassette album of seminar tapes, Preventive Legal Care™ for Travel Agents, which includes a booklet of sample contracts and forms, as well as a seven-hour seminar tape with syllabi, Outside Sales: Issues & Answers and a four-hour tape with syllabi, Evaluating a Travel Agency. He has also written a training text for colleges and vocational schools titled Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Law, and co-authored a complete agency personnel and procedures manual called A Personnel and Operations Manual for Travel Agencies, that has been incorporated and offered by ARTA (the Association of Retail Travel Agents) as their official members procedure manual. He is co-author of The Official Outside Sales Manual, published in 1992, 1994, 1996, and the Fourth Revised Edition in 1999 that summarizes current state travel laws, distributed by AAA for various agencies. 

Judicial Experience

Mr. Anolik has served as an arbiter for the American Arbitration Association and as part of hearings before numerous travel industry agencies and organizations such as: Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), the ATC (predecessor of ARC), International Air Transport Association (IATA), and International Airlines Travel Agents Network (IATAN). He has served as an arbiter for the San Francisco Superior Court and the Federal Courts in the Ninth Circuit, and as Judge Pro Tem in the San Francisco and Marin County Courts. He has served the State Bar of California as a Docket Judge, Disciplinary Referee, and Probationary Monitor. 

Travel Industry Legal Consultant

He has assisted in appraising, purchasing, selling or merging over 2000 agencies, suppliers, and travel entities. Mr. Anolik has written extensively on this subject, and has been involved in more purchase and sales than any other travel attorney. 

Mr. Anolik has represented Hickory Travel Systems, TIME, Cruiselink, GEM, and Riverside (the consortiums), and the Outside Sales Support Network - OSSN. He has served as Litigation Counsel for National ASTA and counsel for the Coalition of Concerned Travelers in the $458 million Domestic Air Antitrust Litigation and was Co-Plaintiff Counsel in the multi-million dollar carrier "commission cap" case. 

He represents many major travel wholesalers, hotel chains, independent travel agents, and international cruise lines and air carriers. 

Mr. Anolik has been featured on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, and "48 Hours" as well as NBC 's Dateline where he analyzed the travel industry and explained consumer rights. He has assisted in research and has appeared on "Inside Edition" and "Fox News". Mr. Anolik has been chosen to be on the International Advisory Council of the International Board of Maritime Healthcare. 

He has been cited by the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Conde Nast travel magazine, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today and over 100 trade and international periodicals, and has testified as an expert in Federal and State Courts and before various other government entities in the United States and throughout the world. 

He has been legal tourism consultant to private industry and law firms dealing with travel, as well as Travel Law Editor for Travel Agent Magazine, one of the most widely read travel agent magazines in the U.S. He has worked and written for travel magazines around the world. Most recently, he was appointed a Field Editor for Annals of Tourism Research, a social science journal. He has represented mega-travel agencies such as BTI Americas and Carlson Travel Network, nationwide coalitions, and the National Association of Cruise Only Agencies E2 NACOA. He serves as Co-Editor for IFTTA News and IFTTA Journal, published for travel attorneys. 

During the administration of California Governor Edmund G. Brown, Mr. Anolik worked with State Judicial security investigations as liaison between the consular corps and the press in the Governor 's office in San Francisco. 

Mr. Anolik is presently the weekly travel law commentator on http://www.tourstalkradio.com/.  He also serves on the Advisory Board of The Department of Hospitality Management, "Taste of the Bay", of San Francisco State University.

University Professor and Seminars

In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Anolik conducts Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Law seminars throughout the United States and the world on behalf of various travel associations, magazines, universities, colleges and governments. He has served as government travel law consultant to countries such as Israel and Argentina and serves as general counsel for the Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA). 

He previously taught Travel Law at Cornell University, Golden Gate University, the University of Hawaii, and San Francisco State University and San Francisco Law School (www.sfls.edu). 

Travel Security and Safety Instructor

Mr. Anolik has over 30 years of affiliation with security consultation, teaching and implementation of security issues within the travel industry. He has appeared as speaker at security and terrorism conferences and has served as a consultant to security companies and governments in relation to the travel and tourism industry. At present, he serves as the Commander of the San Francisco Mounted Sheriffs ' Unit, and in prior years has served as a Deputy for the Marin County Sheriff 's Posse, and was assigned to Governor Edmund G. Brown as an investigator for the State of California to investigate judicial appointments. 

As the Commander of the San Francisco Mounted Sheriffs Unit, Mr. Anolik has been in charge of instructing terrorism awareness, restraint arrests, detention procedures and Civil Rights as they relate to arrests and detention.  He is a National Rifle Association (NRA) certified Range Safety Officer.  Mr. Anolik has taught subjects ranging from the proper protection of tour, cruise, and air passengers as well as the mutual security duties and obligations owed between the passengers and tour operators.  For over 10 years, travel security has been a continuing part of Mr. Anolik 's travel law courses at San Francisco State University and previously at Golden Gate University.

His work also includes travel industry based consulting for safety, risk management, premises conditions and trivial defects in slip and fall cases, crisis management, and emergency procedures standards.  Travel to / from and entry at international ports including airports, passport, international travel with children, child abduction and application of international treaties and standards. Mr. Anolik is a member of U.S. Department of State International Parental Child Abduction Attorney Network and has regularly assisted with these types of cases.

Professional Memberships

His professional memberships have included the Association of Transportation Practitioners, California and American Trial Lawyers Association; the International Law Association-World Peace Palace, The Hague; the Federal Bar Association; and the International Bar Association section on Travel and Tourism, London, for which he has served as Vice Chairman. He was nominated by the U.S. government for allied membership in the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and his travel law firm was accepted by all participating countries. 

Mr. Anolik helped to form the International Forum of Travel and Tourism Advocates (IFTTA), a multi-national organization providing travel industry attorneys with a forum for the collection and dissemination of data on international travel laws, cases and decisions. He was elected President at the International Conference held in Jerusalem in 1986, and was reelected to this office at the International Conferences held in San Francisco in 1987, Palma de Mallorca in 1988, Athens in 1989, Sidney in 1990, Edinburgh in 1991, and Hawaii in 1993. 

Mr. Anolik is a member of the NorCal Shomrim, a professional organization for Jewish law enforcement officers. 

He is an active, competing member of the U.S. Polo Association, a former California Arena Polo Championship winner, and President of the San Francisco Polo Club. Click image for video.