Wilkinson Stekloff Adds Tamarra Matthews Johnson as Partner

Matthews Johnson is latest high-profile addition to top boutique trial firm

WASHINGTON – Wilkinson Stekloff today announced the addition of Tamarra Matthews Johnson as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. In just 18 months, Wilkinson Stekloff has grown to nearly 40 lawyers, and quickly established itself as the leading boutique trial firm in the country.  Matthews Johnson, an experienced litigator at both the appellate and trial level, joins the firm as partner. Throughout her career, she has tried complex civil and criminal cases, and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Tamarra is the firm’s tenth partner, and seventh former Supreme Court clerk.

“I could not be more excited to re-enter private practice as a partner of Wilkinson Stekloff,” said Ms. Matthews Johnson. “I’m thrilled to be able to call such an impressive group of trial lawyers my colleagues—and the firm’s innovative approach to trying cases is a great fit for me.”

“Tamarra is a superstar in every way,” said founding partner Beth Wilkinson. “We are truly fortunate to have built the type of practice and firm culture that allows us to attract a talent like Tamarra, who is an accomplished trial lawyer in her own right and has an engaging personality to go along with her intellectual firepower.”

Tamarra has a strong record of criminal litigation experience, having served for more than a decade as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA), and most recently as Deputy Chief in the Criminal Division in the Northern District of Alabama. Tamarra has litigated scores of complex white-collar criminal matters, as well as high-profile public corruption cases. As an AUSA, she was lead prosecutor and trial counsel in several high-profile fraud cases resulting in the forfeiture of millions of dollars in money and real property, and the longest prison sentences handed down for white collar crime in the district’s history. She tried corruption cases against several elected and appointed officials, including a sitting Alabama State Senator and the sitting Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. In addition, Tamarra served as the National Security/Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council Coordinator for the Northern District.

Founded in February 2016, Wilkinson Stekloff has quickly distinguished itself as the preeminent boutique trial firm in the country, earning accolades as “Boutique Law Firm of the Year” in 2017. Wilkinson Stekloff has won several decisive, high-stakes victories, including full defense verdicts for Bayer in the first two bellwether trials in the multi-district litigation involving Xarelto, and winning summary judgment for Georgia Pacific in an antitrust class action alleging over $10 billion in damages. The firm has attracted a diverse and energetic collection of the brightest legal talent in the country, boasting a lineup that now includes six former federal prosecutors, two former federal public defenders, seven former Supreme Court clerks, and numerous former appellate and district court clerks.

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