Tara J. Mooney

Tara is Of Counsel in our Fairfax office.  Her practice is focused on white collar criminal defense, litigation, employment law, and defending employers and carriers against workers’ compensation claims in Virginia and the District of Columbia.  She is an experienced trial attorney and has successfully litigated thousands of cases.  Tara has completed 61 jury trials and over 1,000 bench trials in her over 20-year career.

Prior to joining Ford Richardson, P.C., Tara served as Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney for Prince William County, Virginia, where she supervised and lead the violent crime unit and the juvenile offender unit.  Prior to that, Tara served as a Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for Stafford County, Virginia, and an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County, Virginia.  In her career as a prosecutor, Tara prosecuted major felony offenses including murder, rape, robbery, arson, and abduction.  She also prosecuted drug distribution, embezzlement, conspiracy, fraud, perjury, income tax evasion, aggravated malicious wounding, aggravated sexual battery, firearms offenses, domestic assault and battery, felony child abuse and neglect, vehicular manslaughter, and felony driving under the influence.

Tara also served as an Assistant County Attorney for Fairfax County, where she worked in the personnel unit, focusing on employment law, torts and workers’ compensation cases.  Tara provided advice and legal counsel to Fairfax County agencies relating to employee discipline and termination.  She also represented Fairfax County before the Virginia Employment Commission regarding claims for unemployment compensation.  She successfully defended Fairfax County in a federal lawsuit involving allegations of employment discrimination and alleged violations of The Americans with Disabilities Act.  Additionally, Tara served as a Judicial Law Clerk in the 31st Judicial Circuit, Law Clerk to The Hon. Herman A. Whisenant, Jr., Circuit Court Chief Judge, in Manassas, Virginia.

Tara believes in giving back to the community.  She served as a full-time Notre Dame-AmeriCorps volunteer in a not-for-profit law center prior to entering law school.  Tara now serves on the Board of Directors for Notre Dame Mission Volunteers, the nonprofit organization which oversees Notre Dame-AmeriCorps.  Tara is a lifelong Girl Scout, and has volunteered her time to lead Girl Scout troops both while in college and during her legal career.  Tara has served as a judge in the American Bar Association’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) Competition.  Tara volunteers to speak to students about the law and leads court tours for students at the Fairfax County Courthouse.  Throughout her 20-year career, Tara has served as a mentor to youth, young lawyers and aspiring lawyers in Virginia.  In 2023, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors appointed Tara to serve on the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Citizen’s Advisory Council (CAC).  In 2023, Virginia Lawyers Weekly recognized Tara on their annual list of Influential Women of Law. The Influential Women of Law award honors outstanding women lawyers and judges who are making a difference in the legal profession, their communities and our Commonwealth.