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Overview

With a focus on trademarks, marketing and promotions, Tara’s practice is a perfect fit for her background in the law and public relations.

As an undergraduate with law school plans studying public relations, marketing and psychology, Tara was introduced to trademark law in a media law course. She knew instantly that this was a combination of everything she loved and everything she wanted to do, and she immediately decided to focus her eventual law career on trademarks.

Tara helps clients understand and identify trademarks and other intellectual property. When these assets are unregistered, she creates custom strategies for protection of these marks on the federal and state levels and counsels clients through the application process with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Tara also has experience working with international trademark portfolios and liaising with foreign counsel. Once marks are registered, Tara assists with maintenance and enforcement, monitoring the marketplace and taking action to assert client rights against unauthorized third-party users.

Tara works with clients of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, across a wide spectrum of industries. She’s enthusiastic about the opportunity to represent clients from fields as diverse as aviation, healthcare, technology, manufacturing and cannabis, and she loves diving in and learning as much about a business and its industry as possible.

Alongside her trademarks work, Tara devotes a substantial portion of her practice to promotions and is the firm’s lead attorney on these matters. She assists a variety of companies, including a major airline, with sweepstakes, contests and promotional giveaways, and she also assists nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit arms of various corporations with similar work to support their missions. Tara helps clients understand the myriad legal risks present in these activities and works with them to design promotions that comply with a patchwork of state and federal laws. She provides balanced legal advice that helps clients accomplish their promotional goals in ways that accommodate legal requirements as well as their own risk tolerance.

Tara prioritizes education for clients: she works frequently with non-attorney business and marketing professionals, and she aims to ensure that these clients grasp the legal issues at hand and understand why she provides the advice she does. She routinely presents formal trainings on trademarks and promotions and takes the time to explain legal nuances to clients one on one. Tara’s practice involves highly esoteric legal concepts that are often unfamiliar even to in-house counsel at client companies, and she has spent years honing the craft of communicating these ideas in easily digestible ways. Tara’s goal is for clients to see their work with her as a true partnership as she helps them protect their intellectual property, accomplish their marketing goals within the confines of the law, and grow their businesses.

Industries

Services

Recognition

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America
    • Intellectual Property Law, 2023-2025
  • Missouri Bar Pro Bono Wall of Fame, 2019-2021
  • 2018 Top 100 St. Louisans You Should Know to Succeed in Business, St. Louis Small Business Monthly

Education

  • J.D., Drake Law School
    • with honors
      • Drake Journal of Agricultural Law, Junior Staff, 2011-2012, Editorial Board, Note Editor, 2012-2013
  • B.A., Pepperdine University
    • Public Relations and Psychology

Admissions

  • Missouri
  • California
  • North Carolina

Professional Memberships and Certifications



*Contact Tara to set up an in-person consultation by appointment in the St. Louis office.
2024 Pro Bono Contributor

“Think about your practice and the kind of niche that you want to carve out for yourself at the firm.”

Outside the Office

Tara stays current on pop culture and spends time with her family.

Tara is a self-proclaimed “media junkie,” keeping up to date on movies and TV shows, especially fantasy dramas, murder mysteries and documentaries. She also enjoys Game of Thrones, Disney and Harry Potter trivia. She sets an annual reading goal for herself of 14 to 18 books and has yet to fall short!

Mostly, however, Tara loves to spend time with her husband and their toddler, Nora. The family particularly enjoy taking walks outside, reading books—usually Dr. Seuss—and playing with their Labrador mix, Boone.

Community Leadership

Tara gives back by providing pro bono trademark and copyright counseling services to clients in need.

Tara works with both Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts (VLAA) and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. At VLAA, she helps artists across all disciplines start their small businesses. She provides assistance with product or company name protection and general intellectual property counseling, including running clearance searches, and helping artists to complete and file trademark applications with the USPTO. At Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Tara conducts entity formation and trademark counseling services for general small business owners. She enjoys helping entrepreneurs get the legal assistance they need to allow them to do the work they love.

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