Captain's log: Space no longer the final frontier as star lawyers trek to London

Space Law: International agreement needed 'before collisions start', warns leading lawyer

Black holes and floating debris in space will be the focus of debate at an unprecedented meeting of lawyers, academics and industry figures next week.The first UK conference for the European Space Agency's European Centre of Space Law (ECSL), sponsored by City firms Allen & Overy and Field Fisher Waterhouse, will primarily address the problem of space junk - such as discarded rocket parts and redundant satellites - for the private commercial operator.The potential of an international agreement to deal with space junk, which presents a collision hazard to space vehicles, will be mooted.There will be representatives of a further ten law firms, including Simmons & Simmons, Bird & Bird, Linklaters, Norton Rose, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Holman Fenwick & Willan and Baker & McKenzie.Tony Ballard, head of telecoms at Field Fisher Waterhouse and chairman of the conference, said: 'The 1967 Outer Space Treaty says there is a duty not to contaminate, but what are national administrations doing about it? The whole thing has not yet been looked at, but it ought to be before the collisions start.'Allen & Overy associate Joanne Wheeler, UK secretary for the ECSL, agreed that it was about time the UK took a lead in examining space policy, prior to the government's publication of its space strategy next year.'The conference is a great idea because we have done nothing in the UK on this issue for six years,' she explained.

'We thought: "Let's rejuvenate the subject and find a topic which will be of real interest to practitioners".'Ms Wheeler said space as an area of law is becoming increasingly important, with more European Union countries such as Holland and France now looking to implement legislation mirroring the UK's 1986 Outer Space Act.She said there were few space law specialists, naming Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as others with dedicated space lawyers.

The International Bar Association has a space law committee, with 150 members in 52 countries.Mr Ballard said lawyers have a vital role to play in making governments face up to their responsibilities when it comes to activities in space.

'Lawyers are the guardians of the law, and it is their job to raise their hands and say: "There is this treaty in place, now what are you going to to about it?", 'he said.Paula Rohan