Tara A. Walker

Here’s why you’ll enjoy working with her.

Tara practices in all areas of labor and employment law, providing counsel and representation to employers throughout northern New England. Tara has a strong litigation background with experience in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies involving:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Title IX of the Education Amendments Act
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• The Rehabilitation Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
• The Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA)
• The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
• Unfair competition and misappropriation of trade secret laws

In her broad management-side labor and employment practice, Tara advises employers on all aspects of employment issues in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act leave and the CARES Act, including the Paycheck Protection Program and other stimulus measures.

Prior to joining Bernstein Shur, Tara was the former Legal & Policy Director of the ACLU of Alaska, where she created and managed a full legal docket from scratch, while simultaneously crafting and managing a lobbying program on the federal, state, and local levels as their chief lobbyist. She now leverages her years of experience as a successful communicator to advocate on behalf of employers, providing thoughtful, balanced advice—all while keeping the mission on its course.

In her former life, Tara was:

• Chair of the New Lawyers Section of the Maine State Bar Association and the Maine and Vermont Representative to the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association
• Legal and Policy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska
• An associate at a local Maine law firm
• Law clerk to Justice Joseph M. Jabar for Maine Supreme Judicial Court
• An intern at a nonprofit organization in Moscow to make elections in Russia secure and fair
• A volunteer English teacher for the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO)

When Tara isn’t working, she is…

Serving on the Boards of Directors of  LearningWorks and Smooth Feather Youth and the Social Services Committee of Portland Community Squash. She also spends her time training to through-hike the Long Trail.