Tamarra Matthews Johnson > Wilkinson Stekloff > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile

Tamarra Matthews Johnson

(202) 847-4020 tmatthewsjohnson@wilkinsonstekloff.com

Career

An accomplished first-chair trial lawyer who has won multiple cases before juries and provided strategic counseling on high-stakes matters, Tamarra consistently delivers favorable results to clients as a Partner at Wilkinson Stekloff. She made her career as a litigator at the trial and appellate levels, in complex civil and criminal cases, and has represented and counseled corporate clients involved in a range of industries, from pharma to energy, and manufacturing to sports.

In 2021, Tamarra stepped away from her role as Partner to join the Justice Department as Counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland. For nearly two years, she served as the Attorney General’s counselor on matters involving the Justice Department’s criminal enforcement work, advising and working closely with senior leadership and a variety of components on some of the most sensitive policy issues facing the Department. Tamarra also acted as the Office of the Attorney General’s liaison for the Criminal Division, the Justice Department’s law enforcement components, the Bureau of Prisons, state and local law enforcement, and the Executive Office of United States Attorneys.

In 2023, Tamarra returned to Wilkinson Stekloff and continues to focus her practice on high-stakes trials and providing strategic advice to clients in a range of industries. Tamarra currently represents a major chemical manufacturer in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) products liability multi-district litigation in the District of South Carolina, and represents the NCAA in lawsuits brought by current and former student-athletes challenging, under the Sherman Act, NCAA rules limiting the level of athletics-based financial aid and benefits that student-athletes may receive.

Prior to her time with the firm, Tamarra served for more than a decade as an Assistant United States Attorney, litigating hundreds of white-collar criminal matters. Tamarra tried multiple public corruption and fraud cases to juries. She served as lead prosecutor and trial counsel in complex fraud cases that resulted in large monetary recoveries and the longest prison sentences handed down for white-collar crime in the District’s history.

Tamarra held the position of Deputy Chief in the Criminal Division with primary responsibility for supervising major fraud and corruption matters, and before that served as the National Security/Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council Coordinator, charging the first material support case in that District.

During her tenure as a federal prosecutor, Tamarra received the Justice Department Director’s Award for Superior Performance, and the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s Honor Award for Fighting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.