Tara Ford, Senior Counsel, focuses her work on safeguarding the rights of children, youth, and families through impact litigation and advocacy. She served as Interim Directing Attorney of Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law team for more than two years, through March 2026. At Public Counsel, she works across education, special education, health care, and mental health. Throughout her career, she has worked to protect the rights of children and families involved in the dependency system, with the goal of keeping families together. She has also partnered with Native American children, families, and Tribes—litigating cases focused on education, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and voting rights.
Tara has led major litigation challenging systemic failures in foster care and education. Her recent work includes securing and enforcing groundbreaking reforms for children in New Mexico’s foster care system in Kevin S. v. Blalock; advancing a class action in Ocean S. v. L.A. County on behalf of transition-age foster youth experiencing homelessness and instability; securing landmark settlements in Kerri K. v. State of California to reduce unlawful restraint and seclusion of students with disabilities; and Stephen C. v. Bureau of Indian Education, first-of-its-kind case affirming Native students’ federal rights to education in BIE schools and creating a pathway to compensatory education. Across her cases, Tara remains deeply involved in implementation efforts to help ensure legal victories translate into real and lasting change for children, families, and communities.
Before joining Public Counsel in 2021, Tara served as Clinical Supervising Attorney in Stanford Law School’s Youth and Education Law Project. Earlier in her career, she co-founded Pegasus Legal Services for Children, a nonprofit law firm serving children and families in New Mexico, and she later served as its Legal Director. In 2016, she authored Pegasus Legal Services for Children: Taking Stock of a Rebellious Non-Profit Practice in New Mexico, published in the Clinical Law Review. Tara is a child welfare law specialist in New Mexico certified by the National Association of Counsel for Children. Her work has been recognized by the Daily Journal, which named her a Top Plaintiff Lawyer in 2023, as well as by New Mexico Voices for Children, the State Bar of New Mexico, and Parents for Behaviorally Different Children. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and attended the University of New Mexico as an undergraduate.
