March, 2023
by Jenny Smiley

DAYL is proud to present Tatianna J. Witter as this month’s One to Watch! Tatianna is a litigation associate at Locke Lord and spends her workday in the finance and insurance space handling anti-trust and other complex commercial litigation. When she is not working, Tatianna is probably cooking a variety of cuisines as she is often inspired by internet trends and loves trying out new foods. Tatianna’s interest in food started when her father taught her how to cook Jamaican food. From learning how to clean and debone fish at age 10 to taking the lead in arguing a dispositive motion, Tatianna’s life and career has been marked by mentorship, and she is looking forward to mentoring young lawyers in the future.

Tatianna grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and is one of seven siblings. She graduated from Columbia University and then worked for three years as a paralegal for a large New York law firm. After falling in love with Austin and the UT Law community on a campus visit, she moved to Austin for law school. During law school, she participated in the Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program (DAPP) where she was placed for summer clerkships and was the beneficiary of mentoring relationships built during her summers. Tatianna also served as the President and Treasurer of the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society (TMLS), was an admissions student ambassador, and mentored 1Ls in law school. In 2021, Tatianna graduated from the University of Texas School of Law and moved to Dallas.

Since she is relatively new to Dallas, Tatianna has immensely enjoyed breaking into the Dallas legal community through DAYL. She is an active member of the Aid to the Homeless and Trial Skills Boot Camp Committees; a co-chair of the Judiciary Committee; and member of the 2022 DAYL Leadership Class. Tatianna is involved with DAYL because DAYL has placed her in a position to step outside of her comfort zone and build new connections, which is important to her personal and professional growth. Her involvement with DAYL, her mentors, and her growing community has helped her feel at home in a new city. Tatianna’s interest in equipping others with trial skills, heart for helping her community, and desire to deepen connections makes her a valuable member of DAYL and, more importantly, a person worth knowing.