Tara E Steinnerd

I’m incredibly grateful for the professionalism and steady guidance I’ve received from Tara. She is knowledgeable, responsive, and truly focused on the best interests of my case for my child and I. During the most difficult, and vulnerable time of my life, she provided clarity, answered my many quest...ions, and provided strong advocacy on my behalf. I highly recommend her.

I hired Ms. Steinnerd for a child support case and her passive aggressive behavior towards me before, during, and after trial were appalling. It was obvious during court she not only didn't go through all my documents but she didn't even notify me that I would be taking the stand until 10 minutes be...fore I entered the court room. Ironically, she did call me that morning to ask me a question and even then, did not inform me I would be taking the stand that afternoon. What attorney doesn't prepare their client for trial?? In addition, she was incredibly nasty towards me during the trial and treating me like an adolescent when in fact her behavior needed to be checked. While waiting in the lobby for the judge to make the final decision she had the audacity to blame me for the trial's outcome, told me I was argumentative, was unprepared for trial, and did not go through all my documents. The way she treated me was appalling, from this experience I was able to keep a cool head despite her snatching my own cell phone out of my hands when I tried to calmy explain something to her and all the while blaming me for her faults. Her exact words, "You expected me to run the numbers for you didn't you"? Yes, ma'am that would have made a lot of sense instead of looking foolish in the court that day. If you added up the numbers from my ex-husband you could have done the same for me, and that's how I found out you didn't open the attachments provided. Not only did I not want to go to trial, but I consistently told her I did not want the support lowered. My child support was lowered because of documents I clearly told her I could provide her the year prior, and she didn't want, she didn't go through all of my paperwork, and literally growled at me during trial when she found out information about me that she should have known as I provided her all-necessary documentation way before the trial began. Ironically my neighbor also has her as an attorney and indicated she can be incredibly aggressive when things don't go her way. Remember you are the client and you're paying for her services; no one should be made to feel disrespected or blamed for the outcome of a trial they were unprepared for. You pay your attorney to do their job and in no way, shape or form should you be belittled in front of others for THEIR lack of commitment to the job. Respect should go both ways. I would not hire this attorney or recommend her to anyone as she can be incredibly nasty and disregard what you want as a client. I highly suggest you read the reviews prior to hiring her to represent you.

Tara took on my case during the pandemic. During 2 or 3 occasions when I tried to reach her via phone and email I was presented with an automated message informing me that she was away on travel. Why would you take my case if you planned to be unavailable due to traveling? Ironically she withdraw fr...om my case citing her reason as I was bad at communicating with her when most of the time I could not reach her because she was away. My daughter was awarded temporary custody to her aunt until my pending custody hearing because Tara did a horrible job representing me. It’s obvious by how quick she was to withdraw that she does not care about her clients. Unfortunately most lawyers only care about money and fairfax court unfortunately does not take you seriously if you don’t have legal counseling.

Tara was hired for my child custody case. She sent me a draft of a motion, to which I provided edits, then she filed the wrong version of the motion and charged me for her time “editing”. She later contacted me from her personal phone, which I did not know was her personal number, so when I continued... to contact her on the number with questions because I couldn’t get a response to my emails she very rudely told me to never contact her on that number again, and withdrew from my case without even communicating with me less than 2 weeks from my court date. She has been publicly admonished by the Virginia Bar Association for other professional conduct in 2017. BE WARNED

The first time I was looking for a lawyer, I had three concerns. I was not sure how much the the lawyer would cost me, how much attention would the lawyer give to my case and how often would the attorney would be reachable. Tara Steinnerd exceeded my expectations, her charges were reasonable, she... knew and remembered every detail about my case and I received answers to my calls and emails within the first two hours. Although she had many cases in her hand, she responded quickly and drafted perfect solutions for me. She fought hard for me and defended my case aggressively. I would not hesitate to work with her again even in matters outside her specialties because I just felt that I am in good hands with her. H.