About Allison
Allison McCarthy built a law career that runs between courtrooms, classrooms and private practice. She earned a J.D. from the University of Iowa in 2009 after completing a B.A. in International Studies at the same university in 2007. Earlier study included time at The Catholic University of America in 2003. Those years shaped the practical grounding she carried into her first legal jobs.
She began her post-law school work as an associate at Cole & Vondra PLC in 2010. That role gave her early exposure to firm practice and client work. In 2013 she served as a judicial law clerk at the Supreme Court of Iowa. The clerkship put her inside appellate decision-making and offered sustained experience with legal research and written advocacy.
In 2015 her résumé shows two distinct roles: an associate and West Des Moines office lead at Vondra & Malott, PLC, and a spell as a public defender for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy. Those positions reflect time on both sides of criminal practice—public defense in Kentucky and firm-based representation in Iowa. She returned to the academic side of law in 2020 as a clinical teaching fellow at Drake University Law School, supervising students and helping translate courtroom practice into classroom instruction.
Also in 2020 she founded McCarthy Law, P.C., taking on the responsibilities of owner and lawyer. Building a small firm required moving from practitioner to manager, overseeing cases while setting the firm’s operational course. The firm is listed in West Des Moines, where she had previously led an office, tying together her experience in both metropolitan practice and institutional roles.
McCarthy is admitted to practice in Iowa and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She maintains membership in the State Bar of Iowa. Those credentials reflect a career spent largely inside the regional courts that handle many of the matters she has worked on, from trial dockets to appellate filings.
Her record shows a mix of public-sector representation, appellate exposure and firm leadership. She balances courtroom experience, teaching and firm management. Her current practice focuses on litigation in Iowa and in the Eighth Circuit, where she handles matters that proceed through trial and on appeal.
