Still in her late 30s and today an equity partner at the 9-lawyer Roop Law Firm in Vienna, Tania Klam has established herself as one of Northern Virginia’s leading young divorce lawyers. Peers say she’s a diligent and well-prepared practitioner, and a lightning-quick study of people. She’s known too for her valuable courtroom experience - and a trial record typical of much senior lawyers. She began her career as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA’s office, and later worked as a corporate litigator with a large regional firm based in Miami.

When she joined the Roop firm in 2018, she quickly became a key contributor - and an effective advocate for clients. “A lot of lawyers are a big, loud imposing types,” says the diminutive Klam, who stands just under 5 feet. “Some have shown a tendency to underestimate me. But that’s often worked in my clients’ favor. I’ve never been afraid to take a case to trial.” Moreover, Klam in many respects represents the best of today’s cosmopolitan and multi-lingual Northern Virginia: She grew up in nearby Springfield, VA, the daughter of successful first-generation Americans (her mother is from Lebanon, her father from Syria) and, the youngest of three high-achieving siblings who all grew up speaking mostly Arabic. Yet she was hardly insulated from NoVa suburbia. “I was something of a tom boy as a kid, and I lived for sports, especially soccer.” She adds: “And I watched every episode of Law & Order.” She played basketball, field hockey and soccer at Alexandria’s Thomas Edison High School, known for its International Baccalaureate program, in which Klam immersed herself. After class, at all of 15 years old, she worked in the office of a Springfield real-estate law firm, and “hung out” in the next-door office of a solo criminal-defense lawyer. “I learned back then there’s good legal representation - and not so good. A lot of people don’t know how that impacts results.” What’s more, “I developed a commitment to justice: I knew I wanted to be a prosecutor from the start.”

At nearby George Mason she majored in government and international politics, and after graduating near the top of her class she went straight to law school. More impressive, her higher education was entirely self-funded, as she worked and received loans and grants throughout. Hired by the Brooklyn, NY, DA’s office (“The paycheck was hardly stellar, but I wanted the ‘Law & Order’ experience”) her first job was “pretty much sink or swim: I was handling more court cases in a week than I would have at any private firm.” After 3 years in NYC, Klam was recruited by Jones Walker, a corporate firm with 350 lawyers and 16 offices; for six years she worked in the firm’s civil litigation group, and based primarily in Miami. In many respects the formality and precision of corporate casework - often in federal courts - were a polishing counterpoint to the rough-and-tumble of the DA’s office. By 2018, nearly a decade into her career and dating her future husband, she contemplated a return to the DC area. Though with little background in family law, she met the renowned divorce lawyer David Roop, who, impressed by her courtroom experience, encouraged her to consider his specialty. For months Klam plunged into caselaw books and state-code manuals, finding herself drawn to the work: “I was intrigued by the personal complexity, especially in custody disputes.” Within three years, after building a record of successes as a family lawyer, Klam was elevated to equity-owning, name partner. In many ways her practice is uniquely varied: She appears in courtrooms from Washington to Arlington to Leesburg, but maintains some mediation, estate planning and even some criminal defense cases that stem from her divorce practice. Moreover, reflecting her own roots and NoVa’s cultural milieu, she has represented scores of Arabic-speaking families whose traditions can contrast sharply with modern lifestyles - and can collide with US legal norms; peers say Klam takes on such cases with a unique level of sensitivity. “I know I get emotionally committed to my cases, I care a lot, and some tell me that I can care too much. But it’s who I am, and in many ways it’s what makes me effective.” Today Tania Klam and her husband - a senior manager at Amazon Web Services - have two young children. They live in nearby Annandale, VA.