Tara litigates employment disputes before state and federal courts and administrative agencies and counsels clients on a broad spectrum of employment issues. She has experience with cases involving defamation, Title IX claims, and employment laws, as well as complex commercial litigation. Tara represents clients in a broad range of industries, including the education sector.
Prior to joining Mintz, Tara served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Judge Angel Kelley of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Earlier, she was an associate at a Boston-based litigation firm. In that role, she handled a wide array of matters involving employment, commercial, civil rights, and criminal defense litigation. In a multi-defendant civil case in federal court, she served as second chair. She also was lead counsel in a four-day evidentiary hearing in a state administrative matter.
She began her career as an assistant attorney general with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where she served in the Trial, Environmental Protection, and Civil Rights divisions.
While earning her JD, Tara interned with the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Parole Division of the Public Defender Services in Washington, DC. She also participated in the Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project. In law school, Tara won several awards and was selected as one of two student speakers at her commencement.
viewpoints
Trump Executive Order Takes on DEI in the Workplace: Practical Considerations for Private Employers
January 23, 2025 | Blog | By Nicole Rivers, Corbin Carter, Tara Dunn Jackson, Danielle Dillon, Michael Arnold, Jennifer Rubin
President Trump has issued a flurry of wide-ranging executive orders intended to shake up the employment landscape. One of those orders, entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Executive Order”), takes aim at non-compliant DEI programs and policies. It also creates a momentous change in the federal contractor landscape by revoking Executive Order 11246, which has, for the past sixty years, served as the foundation for non-discrimination and affirmative action requirements in the federal contracting space. Although the Executive Order’s mandates are vague in many places and raise more questions than they answer, at bottom, the Executive Order appears designed to attempt to effectively stamp out DEI programs and policies in the federal workforce, while putting private sector employers on notice and pushing them to proactively modify, narrow or even end their DEI initiatives. But as we’ll discuss more below, these developments do not compel private employers to rescind their DEI programs and policies entirely; instead, employers should use the Executive Order as an opportunity to review their existing programs and policies to ensure that they (i) continue to align with their mission and organizational goals, (ii) are legally compliant in light of the change in administration, and (iii) whether subsequently modified or not, thereafter are effectively communicated to stakeholders.
Recognition & Awards
Just the Beginning – A Pipeline Organization: 2024 5 Under 40 Legal Professionals (2024)
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly: Excellence in the Law, Up & Coming Lawyer Award (2020)
Involvement
- President, Massachusetts Black Women Attorneys
- Board of Advisors, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (2018 – present)
- Trustee, Massachusetts Bar Foundation (2020 – present)
- Former Board Member, Massachusetts Prisoner Legal Services (2020 – 2023)
- Former Member, Boston Bar Civil Rights Steering Committee (2020 – 2023)