Tamara Van Pala Skrobacki

Overview and Experience

Tamara is a career trial lawyer with over a decade of experience handling complex legal disputes in courtrooms across the Carolinas. She’s known for her strategic approach, fearless trial advocacy, and commitment to securing meaningful results for her clients.

She has managed pre-litigation and trial matters involving auto and trucking liability, workers’ compensation, wrongful death, medical malpractice, healthcare, professional and premises liability, and class actions. In all her roles, she’s successfully prepared and argued motions, resolved discovery battles, drafted persuasive briefs, won oral arguments, negotiated favorable settlements, and tried cases before judges and juries. She’s served as first chair in more than 20 administrative trials, handling every core component of a full jury trial —from motions and oral arguments, to opening statements, witness examinations, and closing arguments.

Before joining Ricci Law Firm, Tamara was a partner at one of the nation’s largest law firms, where she represented insurance companies and major corporations. That insider perspective gives her a strategic advantage: she knows how the other side thinks and uses that insight to outmaneuver defense tactics and advocate effectively for injured individuals seeking fair compensation.

Still, Tamara never forgot her desire to help people. Tamara’s foundation in public service continues to shape her client-centered approach. She clerked for a respected trial judge, gaining a firsthand understanding of jury trial techniques and judicial decision-making. As a public defender, she protected constitutional rights in criminal proceedings and advocated for fair treatment of underserved communities. At the North Carolina Department of Justice, Tamara served as a workers’ compensation trial attorney and litigation counsel to the State Health Plan, where she brought both legal precision and an understanding of the human impact behind every case.

A proud Garner native and Carolina girl through and through, Tamara graduated from Raleigh Charter High School, earned her bachelor’s degree with honors from the South Carolina Honors College, and received her law degree from the University of South Carolina, where she earned multiple accolades. She is licensed to practice in all courts throughout North and South Carolina.