Erin R. Applebaum

Erin has dedicated her career to seeking justice for people harmed during air travel. As a partner in Kreindler’s aviation practice, she represents the interests of passengers severely injured or killed in general aviation accidents and commercial airline disasters. Erin is considered by many in the aviation community to be a foremost authority on litigating claims governed by the Montreal Convention, the international treaty on commercial air travel. 

In addition to her personal caseload of Montreal Convention accidents, Erin’s major cases at Kreindler include the Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 catastrophic engine failure and the Liberty Helicopters doors-off tour helicopter crash in the East River. For the past five years, Erin has played a key role in Kreindler’s fight against Boeing in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302/737 MAX litigation. She was selected by the court as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 cases and has been instrumental in the victims’ families’ effort to overturn the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) between Boeing and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Erin is a regular speaker at aviation conferences on topics ranging from recent developments in aviation law to the prosecution of foreign air crashes. She teaches a highly regarded CLE course, “Montreal Convention for Plaintiffs’ Lawyers: Representing Passenger Personal Injury Claims Arising on International Flights.”

Erin frequently contributes insight on a variety of aviation-related topics to media outlets and has published numerous articles concerning the legal rights of passengers injured or killed during international travel. Her contributions have been featured in the prestigious McGill University Annals of Air and Space Law and the International Comparative Legal Guides (ICLG). She has given interviews on aviation topics to every major media outlet, including the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, the Seattle Times, Reuters, and NPR. Erin was the featured guest on the Airplane Geeks podcast to discuss the ongoing saga involving Boeing and the 737 MAX. 

Erin currently serves as Co-Chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Air and Space Law Committee and as a vice chair of the American Bar Association’s Aviation and Space Law Committee. Erin is a graduate of the 2018-19 class of the ABA’s Leadership Academy, an honor bestowed upon only 20 young attorneys nationwide. She also participates in a mentorship program through her alma mater, offering guidance to current Brooklyn Law students who demonstrate an interest in plaintiffs’ litigation or aviation law.

Erin earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science in 2007 from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida and her Juris Doctor in 2010 from Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, New York. She is a native of Florida, where she currently lives with her husband and two young children.