Tamara Caldas
Board Member
Tamara Serwer Caldas is a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP, an international law firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, where she oversees the firm’s pro bono practice. Kilpatrick’s pro bono work includes representation of clients in matters involving humanitarian immigration relief, access to safe and affordable housing, protection from domestic violence, civil rights for incarcerated people, advancement of racial and disability justice in education and health care, children’s rights, support for nonprofit organizations and small businesses, and environmental sustainability.
Ms. Caldas received her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her Juris Doctorate and Masters of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, after which she clerked for Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Nashville. Prior to joining Kilpatrick, Tamara was a staff attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights and then the Deputy Director for the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. She is a member of Congregation Bet Haverim, where she has served as the Chair of both the Education Committee and the Tikkun Olam Task Force on Ending Criminalization and Mass Incarceration. She is also on the Board of Directors for El Refugio Ministry, the Association of Pro Bono Counsel, and the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance.
Related News
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October 10, 2025Supporting work toward a shared society is vital for Israel - eJewishPhilanthropy
Tamara Serwer Caldas, a Friends of Givat Haviva board member, in her eJewishPhilanthropy oped, shares her personal connection to Jewish-Arab relations in Israel and what compels her to be deeply involved with Givat Haviva. “Fruitful, cooperative Jewish-Arab relations can seem impossible for anyone who looked on with dismay and horror at the excruciating aftermath of the horrific attack inside Israel on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing devastation in Gaza. Indeed, even with the new promise of a long-awaited ceasefire and hostage exchange, it is difficult not to feel hopeless and cynical about the future of the entire region. “For me, sinking into despair is not an option. Beginning in the days after the Oct. 7 attacks, one direction I turned toward for hope and action is the difficult but essential work of building a shared society….The natural place to turn my attention was Givat Haviva, the largest and oldest organization in Israel working toward a shared society between the country’s Jewish majority and the 20% of citizens who are Arab. “What compels me to get more involved is also deeply personal. My family’s connections with improving Jewish-Arab relations goes back nearly a century, a fact I recalled with new meaning and purpose in the wake of the events of Oct. 7, 2023. “My grandmother, Blanche Luria Serwer Bernstein, and her siblings collectively spent many years in Mandatory Palestine and then Israel….Reflecting after the Oct. 7 attacks on what I could possibly do to understand the legacy of my grandmother and other family members from her generation, I reached out to Friends of Givat Haviva, the U.S. based organization that my Uncle Sydney chaired and my grandmother supported for many years. “Like me, some of my American Jewish friends have struggled to figure out what it means to have a relationship with Israel in this time of extraordinary crisis and disillusionment. Reflecting on my own family’s history and on the urgency of the current situation, I’ve concluded that it’s my turn — it’s time for me to pick this up and figure out what I can do. “I encourage other Jews in Atlanta, and across the country, to consider supporting pioneering efforts toward building cooperative ties among Israel’s citizens. This work is essential to ensuring a healthy democratic and shared society in Israel.”