Mr. Wilson served over 14 years as the District General Counsel for the Florida Department of Transportation, District Four, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has particular expertise in administrative proceedings, road and bridge construction, government procurement and contracting, employment disputes, joint development of public transportation systems, eminent domain litigation, Sunshine law and public records law. He has worked extensively with all levels of government including city, county, state and federal, as well as with local water management districts and port authorities. In addition to handling state and local government matters, Mr. Wilson was responsible for the day-to-day management of the District legal office for five South Florida counties.

Mr. Wilson’s legal experience also includes legislative and administrative rule drafting on matters affecting public and private clients. He has served as legal counsel to government entities on competitive selections of goods and professional services. He also managed all litigation and transactional legal work for Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties. He provided legal services to the State transportation agency on all phases of developing major transportation facilities, including financing, planning, public involvement, environmental assessment and permitting, engineering design, surveying and mapping, right-of-way acquisition, construction and maintenance.

He has served as special counsel on railroad and commuter rail matters, intermodal transportation projects, design-build construction projects and joint development projects with private developers. During his 14-year tenure as General Counsel, his office acquired the properties necessary to build Interstate I-595 in Broward County and all other State transportation corridors in the five-county area. He also managed the legal review of all District agreements, contracts and real estate conveyance documents. He was responsible for an estimated $15 million annual operating and litigation budget. Over the years, Mr. Wilson has provided legal services on several major transportation and real estate development projects. Part of his legal responsibilities have included managing and directing the work efforts of over 70 different expert witnesses and consultants for these projects, including financial analysts, real estate appraisers, civil engineers, traffic engineers, drainage engineers, architects, land planners, CPA and market analysts.

Mr. Wilson and his wife Cynthia, live in Plantation, Florida, with their children, Amber, Andrew and Austin.

Mel Wilson's Resume