Tricia Dunlap

During her first career as a high school teacher, Tricia earned national recognition as a James Madison Fellow and National Board Certified Teacher.  After surviving a wrenching divorce and multiple floods in 2003, Tricia convinced reluctant local officials to pursue a Hazard Mitigation Program grant that bought out her home and three other chronic flood properties.  That two-year odyssey, and a shove from a dear friend (more here), launched her into law school in 2008 as a 40-year-old single mother.  She graduated from the University of Richmond School of Law in the top of her class and joined McGuireWoods shortly afterward.

On September 1, 2015, she launched Dunlap Law with a mission to help small business owners thrive.  Started without a single client and no outside capital, Tricia’s passion for helping business owners has drawn over 400 clients to the firm which now has five attorneys.  Her biggest priority is building the firm’s culture centered on empowerment, education, and empathy with one another and with clients.  Tricia is still a teacher.

Tricia’s expertise centers on corporate law.  She helps companies and individuals navigate: fiduciary duties, shareholder rights and corresponding corporate obligations, boards of director decision-making or conflict issues, and corporate officer responsibilities.  While her experience includes successfully litigating corporate law claims – both direct and derivative – she prefers working through issues without going to court.  One of her happiest professional moments came after helping five shareholders work through conflict and mistrust that developed during the pandemic.

If you can’t find Tricia at the office, try searching the unspoiled temperate rain forests of West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands.  From age 17 to 20, Tricia lived in Knoxville while attending the University of Tennessee.  There, she lived in an 1840’s-era log cabin and fell in love with Appalachia.  Today, Tricia and her husband Kenny have a blended family of five fantastic adult children.  They are fortunate stewards of 163 acres of mountain forest and meadowlands.  They participate in local historic preservation efforts, West Virginia’s Golden Winged Warbler program, and pollinator conservation efforts while they thoughtfully develop the land for their retirement home and as a refuge for future generations.

Education:Loyola University of ChicagoBachelor of Arts, Political Science Cum Laude, 1991University of MarylandMaster of Arts, American history, 1998James Madison FellowshipUniversity of Richmond School of LawJuris Doctor Cum Laude, 2011Law Review Articles Editor, Vol. 45Moot Court Board, 2010-2011Robert R. Merhige, Jr. FellowOtto M. Stanfield ScholarshipClerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Hannah Lauck, summer 2009Research assistant, former Virginia Governor (now U.S. Senator) Tim Kaine

Recognition:Virginia “Go To” Lawyer – Business Law, Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly, December 2020Legal Elite, Virginia Business, 2017SuperLawyer: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 Memberships:Virginia State BarDistrict of Columbia BarWest Virginia State BarWomen in VentureMetro Richmond Women’s Bar AssociationRichmond Bar Association, Business Law SectionVirginia Bar Association, Business Law SectionAmerican Bar Association, Business Law SectionNational Association of Women Business OwnersVirginia Mountain/ Valley Lawyers’ AllianceInternational Association of Privacy ProfessionalsMetropolitan Business League

Featured In:Flood Policy Seemingly in Vain, Richmond Times-Dispatch, A-1 (Nov. 7, 2003)Rising Tide Startups podcast, Feb. 2021P.O.W.E.R.ful Women Speak, SonaBank Newsletter, Feb. 2018The Smart and Savvy Business Exit podcast, December 2020Team Gavel, Tingen Williams podcast (Apr. 2021)‘That whole chunk of our business was gone’: Grove Ave. menswear shop untied 9-year trademark battle, Richmond BizSense (Oct. 11, 2018)Founder Sues Impact Makers for $18M, Claiming He Was Forced Out, Richmond BizSense (May 16, 2019)Settlement Reached in Impact Makers Dispute, Richmond BizSense (June 18, 2019)Founder and Former CEO of Impact Makers Files Lawsuit Claiming He Was Wrongfully Forced Out of the B Corp Business, Richmond Times-Dispatch (May 15, 2019)