Cara Gardner
Attorney
Cara is a litigator who has dedicated her career to righting wrongs for everyday people. She joined Kneupper & Covey in 2026 to fight for the rights of consumers who have been wronged by predatory companies.
Before joining Kneupper & Covey, Cara spent a decade in the federal government pursuing justice for victims of violent crime and fraud. For seven of those years, Cara was a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. She focused most of her work on cases involving sexual assault and domestic violence, centering the rights and voices of survivors while holding wrongdoers accountable. She obtained many convictions for some of the most serious violent crimes in the District. Cara received two Special Achievement Awards for her work.
Cara then transitioned to seeking justice for victims of financial fraud as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. For example, she investigated and prosecuted a former FBI agent who defrauded his investment customers out of money they couldn’t afford to lose. He posed as a successful investor when in fact he was running a Ponzi scheme and using customer money for his own personal expenses.
Before serving in the federal government, Cara co-founded a non-profit called the Amara Legal Center, which provided free legal services to domestic survivors of sex trafficking. The organization served clients for a decade before merging with Legal Aid in Washington, D.C.
Cara also spent time as a Government Enforcement Associate at Ropes & Gray, a preeminent global law firm committed not only to excellence in the practice of law, but also to public service. There, Cara represented companies to assist them in complying with civil and criminal laws in response to internal whistleblowers and government investigations. She also provided free representation to people who couldn’t afford to pay in cases regarding asylum, housing code violations, and civil protection orders.
Cara began her legal career in 2009 when she graduated with Honors from the University of North Carolina School of Law and then completed a federal clerkship with the Honorable William L. Osteen, Jr. in the Middle District of North Carolina.
Cara is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia.
When she’s not lawyering, Cara enjoys being silly with her sons, running, and reading science fiction and fantasy novels.
