New York – August 6, 2025 – National law firm Wilson Elser announced today that Thomas (Ted) Dunlap, formerly with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, joined the firm as Of Counsel based in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
Dunlap will help lead emergency response support for one of the firm's transportation clients and provide high-level crisis management and emergency response consultation for clients in several key practices, including Transportation, Aviation & Aerospace, Admiralty & Marine, and Product Liability, Prevention & Government Compliance.
At the NTSB, Dunlap was Senior Advisor to Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg, and later served under current Chair Jennifer Homendy. He assumed a multifaceted role, advising Board members with respect to every aspect of agency business, including the review, analysis, and approval of investigative products such as reports, safety alerts, and recommendations, as well as agency policy and reports to Congress in matters involving aviation, maritime, pipeline, railroads, and trucking.
After his appointment at the NTSB, Dunlap worked at FMSCA in the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he served as Team Lead of the Passenger Carrier Division.
"This is good news for our clients across several of Wilson Elser's practice areas," said David Goldhaber, cochair of the firm's national Transportation Practice. "As an authority on transportation regulation, and safety, with significant experience in all aspects of NTSB investigations, Ted will be a great resource on litigation, regulatory, and counseling matters for the firm, and key to helping clients achieve better outcomes in dealings related to federal investigations."
While at the NTSB, Dunlap had a key role on a range of matters where he participated in the Board's Go-Team dispatches, advising the Board members on-scene on crisis communications, team coordination, government relations, and accident investigation. These included a ship collision that resulted in a bridge collapse; a commuter train collision with a box truck; an oil & gas ship that capsized off the U.S. coast; the collision of a truck with a passenger van carrying a college sports team; and an airport runway overrun by a passenger jet that landed in a river.
"Joining Wilson Elser is a tremendous opportunity," said Dunlap. "Having worked for the government on transportation-related investigations, this is a refreshing chance to advise and engage clients once more on these kinds of issues."
Before joining the NTSB, Dunlap was General Counsel and Director of Client Relations and Development at an engineering firm that consulted on transportation-related matters. Earlier in his career, he was a litigator in private practice, concentrating on civil litigation, transportation, and insurance coverage matters.
Dunlap received a J.D. degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law and a B.A. degree from East Carolina University. Among his professional appointments, he served as Aviation Steering Committee Chair of DRI, and as Director of the Attorney Division of the Aviation Insurance Association.