Peter J. Plocki
Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Litigation and Enforcement
Peter J. Plocki joined the Office of Litigation and Enforcement in the Department of Transportation’s General Counsel’s office in 1991 and has been the Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Litigation and Enforcement since September 2009. In this capacity, Mr. Plocki oversees and assists in the development of the Department's litigation positions in a wide range of forums including the Supreme Court, the lower federal courts, and other federal administrative agencies, provides legal advice to senior Department officials, and assists in the management of the litigation office’s staff attorneys.
The substantive areas of concentration during his tenure with the office have included federal preemption of state law, constitutional aspects of the Department’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs, cross-border transportation issues, rail and motor carrier safety, and environmental law. He works closely with the Department of Justice and the Department's Chief Counsels' Offices in representing the Department in federal court and has personally briefed and argued cases for the Department in U.S. circuit courts of appeals around the country.
From September 2016 through April 2019, Mr. Plocki served on a detail to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as the Special Advisor to the Secretary for WMATA Safety Oversight. In that capacity, Mr. Plocki coordinated FTA's direct safety oversight of the Washington area's Metrorail subway system and helped stand up the new regional safety oversight agency, the Metrorail Safety Commission.
Prior to joining the General Counsel's Office at the Department of Transportation, Mr. Plocki spent over eight years in law firm practice in Washington, D.C., where his practice included litigation, administrative law, and corporate work for energy and transportation clients. Mr. Plocki is a member of the Supreme Court Bar and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. He received his Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University, where he was Executive Editor of the Journal of International Law and Economics, and his undergraduate degree with honors from Swarthmore College. Mr. Plocki has received numerous awards from the Department, its operating administrations, and the Department of Justice, including the Secretary's Gold Medal Team Award and the General Counsel’s Award for Exceptional Performance, and was named the Federal Bar Association's 2022 Transportation Lawyer of the Year.
