Career
Tim Mooney is a Washington, DC-based attorney with a passion for technology and the law. Tim’s legal career began in Oregon where he was a co-founder and legal counsel for Columbia Riverkeeper. Tim also served as legal advisor to the Portland-based X-PAC, a nonprofit organization committed to building a new generation of political leaders and community activists. He was the chair of the organization’s 2000 Young Voter Project and honored by the board as the 2000 Volunteer of the Year.
In 2001, Tim relocated to Washington, DC and served as senior counsel at Alliance for Justice. There, he worked with nonprofits across the United States to strengthen their ability to influence public policy.
Following a five-year run at Alliance for Justice, Tim spent a year as senior counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. His duties included monitoring the activities of political and nonprofit organizations and filing complaints with the IRS and FEC.
Tim’s next decade was spent as General Counsel and Director of Operations for Tranquil Space, Hip Tranquil Ventures (now Tranquility du Jour) and TranquiliT. There he helped helm interconnected entrepreneurial businesses from a legal, technical, and business perspective. He helped grow the yoga studio from a single location in Dupont Circle, to multiple locations throughout the DMV and eventual sale to YogaWorks in 2017.
In 2019 Tim returned to Alliance for Justice’s Bolder Advocacy program as senior counsel, proving you can go home again. In addition to teaching the laws of lobbying, elections and nonprofit advocacy, Tim is also the producer and co-host of Rules of the Game:The Bolder Advocacy Podcast.
Teaching & Writing
Tim has taught hundreds of seminars on the laws of tax-exempt organizations, philanthropy, lobbying and campaign finance throughout the country, including Continuing Legal Education seminars for the DC Bar, an upcoming class in Nonprofit Management at Sonoma State University, and the Money + Power speaker series at Harvard Kennedy School.
His published articles include Going All In to Train Advocates, Can a 501(c)(3) Advocate for Impeachment of a Federal Office Holder?, Best Supporting Actors: Public Charities’ Important Role in the California Recall Election, and The Hiber-Nation of Public Charities.
Podcasting
Tim began podcasting in 2005 for Alliance for Justice’s Supreme Court Watch, which was featured in the Washington Post, Seattle Times and NPR’s All Things Considered (archived audio). It climbed into the top 10 of iTunes political podcasts directory, sandwiched between the US Senator Barrack Obama Podcast and The Sean Hannity Show. He returned to the microphone to share helpful hints on the popular Nonprofit Law Podcast, which was a fixture in the top 20 of iTunes’ nonprofit podcast directory.
Tim hosted two subsequent podcasts on Supreme Court nominations, Capital Caucus and Advice & Consent (Garland-Gorsuch and Kavanaugh). The latter was regularly mentioned in SCOTUSblog roundups.
Tim has also channeled his love of bike touring with Pedalshift—an online community and podcast devoted to bike touring lifestyle in 2014. It celebrates its 10th year in 2024 and has surpassed 1.4 million downloads.
Other Projects
Tim serves as a board member of Pigs & Pugs Project, a public charity that gives microgrants to pig sanctuaries and pug rescues. He provides legal advice and design work for the website.
He was also one half of the 2013 book tour -slash- 11,000 mile North American RV adventure that was Tranquility Tour.
Education & Personal
Tim received a B.S. from Syracuse University/SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry and a J.D. from Pace University School of Law. He splits time between the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC and his cabin getaway in Berkeley County, West Virginia. When not nerding out on cycling, election law, Star Wars, or podcasting, Tim spends quality time with his multi-talented partner Kimberly Wilson, their pug Mookie, and their cat Jackson while he dreams of the (pending) return of his beloved Seattle Supersonics and the ever-elusive Super Bowl for the Buffalo Bills.