Tessa brings an unwavering commitment to her clients in the broad spectrum of cases that is family law.  She will advise you on best strategies to protect your marital or separate property business in a divorce case, help you navigate through a restraining order, and coordinate with experts such as forensic accountants, child custody evaluators, professional mediators, educational experts, and vocational evaluators. Fiercely protective and deeply experienced in DVRO cases, she knows how to fight for safety and stability while navigating the legal terrain with calm, confident command.

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Tessa is proud to be a Certified Family Law Specialist, a designation earned through a rigorous process that includes passing a second bar exam focused solely on family law, demonstrating significant depth and breadth of experience, completing extensive and ongoing legal education, and being positively evaluated by judges and fellow attorneys familiar with her work. In short? It means you’re hiring a lawyer who has gone the extra mile — and then some — to master this field.  One of Tessa's proudest accomplishments is the fact she passed the Specialist exam and the post-examination application before she even met the minimum five years of required experience (upon being accepted into the "special club" and realizing they had let her in a month early, she decided to simply not tell anyone for a month until she'd met that five year mark).

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She earned her B.A. from California State University, Sacramento, where she repeatedly appeared on the Dean’s Honor Roll, and went on to graduate from McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific, where she received Top Honors in Trial Advocacy. Since 2011, Tessa has handled all aspects of family law across Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Shasta, and Tehama Counties, and continues to serve clients throughout El Dorado and Sacramento Counties with precision, compassion, and a drive for results.