Judge (Ret.) Tara Osborn is a retired U.S. Army colonel, combat veteran, and military lawyer who served as the 21st Chief Trial Judge of the U.S. Army. In that role, she presided over felony criminal trials, which included capital cases, oversaw judicial operations across military installations worldwide, and led all active-duty and reserve judges of the Army Trial Judiciary. After nearly 30 years on active duty, she retired from the military and continued her commitment to service as the inaugural vice-chair of the congressionally chartered Military Justice Review Panel, chair of the American Bar Association’s National Conference of Specialized Court Judges, and judicial advisor to the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.
Judge Osborn’s career in public service began as a congressional intern on Capitol Hill while in college. With more than three decades of legal, judicial, and trial experience in the U.S. Government, Judge Osborn now serves on the faculty of the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada and as the ABA’s National Military Judicial Fellow. She has taught extensively in cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the unique issues confronting judges in servicemember impaired driving cases.
She holds degrees from the University of South Carolina (B.A. and J.D.), the University of Virginia (M.P.A.), and the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School (LL.M.), and Professional Certificates in Judicial Development and in Judicial Executive Leadership from the National Judicial College and Harvard Law School.