About

Tara Mitchelltree

Tara is a smart, caring attorney who truly enjoys helping “the little guy” where there is an imbalance in power, such as the landlord/tenant relationship. She has represented tenants who have been lead poisoned, burned, plagued by vermin, harassed and coerced into leaving their homes by predatory landlords who cared more about their profits than they did about the health and safety of their tenants. Her dedication to protecting those who have been wronged has helped dozens of families improve their living conditions while staying housed. She strives to keep families in their homes rather than seeing them displaced by greedy landlords who refuse to make repairs until after low-income tenants have moved out.

Tara is a native of Maryland. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. After her admission to the New York State Bar, she spent years in insurance defense and coverage before moving to California. Tara passed the California Bar while she was clerking for the late Hon. Arthur Alarcon on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and then found her way to habitability law. After seven years at another firm where she fought for tenants’ rights, Tara has joined Shakhnis Law as Of Counsel. She and Philip Shakhnis now stand together to advocate for those who have been injured from living in substandard conditions, including carbon monoxide poisoning, cockroach, bedbug and rodent infestations, childhood lead poisoning, water and sewage intrusions, chronic mold growth, ceiling and wall collapses and lack of heat.

Vision