About Tessa K.
Tessa K. Muir built a career that moves between public service and private practice. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 2005 and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2008. Those formative years set the tone for a professional path that spans military service, federal prosecution and in-house counsel work.
Her first role after law school was with the U.S. Army JAG Corps, where she served as a captain and lawyer beginning in 2009. The position placed her in a structure that combined legal analysis with leadership responsibilities. She moved from military practice into the federal system a few years later, joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan in 2013. There she handled federal matters and gained courtroom experience that sharpened her litigation skills.
In 2018 she changed course and entered the corporate world as corporate counsel at Automattic Inc. That role exposed her to technology company operations and the commercial side of legal work. She advised on contracts and internal compliance while working within a large, distributed company environment.
In 2020 Muir became a partner at SBBL Law, PLLC. Her arrival at the firm marked a return to private practice and a leadership role in a law firm setting. At SBBL she combines the courtroom experience from her federal years with the transactional and policy exposure from her corporate post.
Muir is admitted to practice in both Michigan and New York. Those dual admissions reflect a career that crosses state lines and different types of legal practice. She has worked in government, the military and the private sector, and each stop contributed to how she approaches client matters now.
Colleagues describe her approach as direct and practical. She breaks complex problems into discrete issues and maps a plan that clients can follow. That style owes something to her time in uniform and to prosecutorial practice, where clarity matters and decisions must be made under pressure.
She remains active in professional circles and maintains contacts across the jurisdictions where she is licensed. Her caseload and matters at the firm bring together litigation and corporate legal work, reflecting the breadth of her background. She practices in Michigan and New York, and her current practice involves litigation and corporate legal work for clients in both states.
