Tara Patel

Tara is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Students’ Civil Rights Project. She litigates high-impact cases at the trial and appellate level aimed at creating a more equitable education system.

Before Public Justice, Tara served as an appellate attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, combatting discrimination in the workplace. She also previously litigated at the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, where she worked on a wide range of issues affecting the DC community, including housing and disability discrimination, employment discrimination, courtroom access, and use of excessive force and unlawful searches.

Tara clerked for Judge Ronald L. Gilman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Before her clerkships, she served as a litigation and pro-bono associate at a global law firm.

Tara graduated, magna cum laude, from University of Michigan Law School, where she served as Managing Editor of the Journal of Race & Law, represented youth in the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic, and was a semifinalist in the Campbell Moot Court Competition and winner of the First-Year Moot Court Competition. Prior to law school, she worked at the Education Advisory Board, where she advised university executives on strategic fundraising and student affairs initiatives and developed campus climate surveys to help higher education institutions understand the prevalence of and attitudes toward sexual harassment and assault on campus. She received her B.A. in political science from Northwestern University. Tara is a member of the District of Columbia bar. She is also admitted to practice in six U.S. Courts of Appeals and three U.S. District Courts.