About Tara S.
Tara S. Evans built a career that sits at the intersection of mental health and the criminal justice system. Her path is not linear. It threads through social services, probation work, program management and private practice.
She completed a Bachelor of Arts in psychology at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1989. In 1995 she entered the Ph.D. program in forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She returned to SUNY Buffalo for law school and earned her J.D. in 2005.
Her first professional roles were in public service. In 1998 she worked as an adult protection caseworker for Erie County Social Services. That role involved investigating vulnerable-adult concerns and coordinating with community agencies. She joined the Erie County Probation Department in 2001 as a probation officer, supervising individuals in the community and helping manage conditions of supervision.
Evans moved into legal practice later in the decade. In 2008 she was an associate at Chelus, Herdzik, Speyer and Monte. Two years later she took on a leadership role at the Center for Community Alternatives as Erie County Program Director of Client Specific Planning. The position combined case management, individualized planning and coordination with courts and service providers. In 2011 she began practicing under the name Tara S. Evans, Esq.
Her background in forensic psychology and hands-on work in social services inform how she approaches cases. She often works on matters that require understanding of mental health assessments, supervision frameworks and community-based supports. That experience gives her familiarity with the practical realities that clients and courts face when addressing reentry, supervision and protection issues.
Evans is licensed to practice in New York and is admitted to the Federal Circuit. She has handled matters across administrative and court settings and has experience interacting with probation departments, social service agencies and forensic evaluators. Her clients have included individuals navigating supervision conditions and people seeking planning around complex care and protection concerns.
Since opening her practice she has maintained a portfolio that blends litigation, planning and coordination with service systems. She continues to represent clients in New York and before the Federal Circuit, handling criminal justice-related matters, reentry and client-specific planning, and cases that raise forensic-psychology issues.
