Jim is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and has a broad range of tax experience, including representing clients during audits by the IRS and/or Tennessee Department of Revenue; crafting tax structures for new businesses; counseling clients on the tax aspects of business exit strategies and business succession issues; designing tax-effective executive compensation packages; creating appropriate estate plans; and counseling families on special needs planning.

Jim began his professional tax career with the “Big 8” public accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand. Following law school, he litigated tax cases for the federal government as a member of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1994, Jim was a founding member of one of East Tennessee’s largest and most respected law firms.

Jim is admitted to practice law in Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri. He has been named to The Best Lawyers for America since 2003 in the areas of Estates and Trusts, Nonprofit/Charity Law, and Tax Law and named by Mid-South Super Lawyers Magazine to each of its Tennessee lists. Jim has served as the Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Tax Section, as a Trustee of the Paul J. Hartman State & Local Tax Forum, as a Trustee of the Tennessee Federal Tax Institute, and as a Trustee of the Advanced Institute on Corporate Taxation.

Jim is the author of a professional treatise and numerous tax-related articles as well as a frequent speaker at tax programs for CPAs and attorneys throughout the Southeast. He is also a contributing author to Burr's "Succeeding in Succession" Blog.

Jim was honored for his work in special needs planning when inducted into the Special Needs Alliance. He and his wife, Diane, are both active with ASMT (Middle Tennessee’s autism support organization), the ARC of Davidson County and the Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (“TRIAD”) program, part of Vanderbilt’s Kennedy Center.

Selected Publications

• Health Care Worker Classification, BNA's Health Law & Business, Portfolio No. 2700 (1999)
• Protecting Your Clients Against Reclassification of Independent Contractors, Tennessee CPA, May, 1996
• Presumed Guilty: IRS Scrutinizes Return Prepares, Tennessee CPA, December, 1995
• LLC Choices Offer Many Paths, Tennessee CPA, June, 1994
• Compliance Tougher After RRA, The Practical Accountant, November 1993
• Avoiding Penalties When There Is A Disclosure Dispute, Taxation for Lawyers, January/February 1993
• Helping Your Clients Jump Back Into The Tax System Safely, Tennessee CPA, November 1992
• Avoiding Exposure to Civil and Criminal Penalties as an In-House Tax Preparer, Corporate Controller, March/April 1992
• Aggressive Positions on Estate and Gift Tax Returns: Which Penalties Apply, The Journal of Taxation of Estates & Trusts, Spring 1992
• Challenging Regulations: The IRS Ups the Ante with New Penalty Rules, Corporate Taxation, July/August 1991
• Making the IRS "Do the Right Thing": Due Diligence Through Attorney's Fee Awards, Corporate Taxation, March/April 1991
• Technical Services Personnel: The Costly Employee/Independent Contractor Question, Banking Law Review, Fall 1990
• Aggressive Return Positions: The Disclosure Decision, Corporate Taxation, September/October 1990
• Higher Return Position Standards Increase Practitioner's Burden, Corporate Taxation, November/December 1990
• Technical Services Personnel: The Costly Employee/Independent Contractor Question, The Journal of Bank Taxation, Spring 1990
• Ensuring That the Bank Does Not Become the Guarantor of a Customer's Tax Liability, The Journal of Bank Taxation, Fall 1989
• IRS Collections After the Taxpayer Bill of Rights: Has Anything Really Changed?, Corporate Taxation, July/August 1989
• Commissioner's Penalty Study Proposal Would Once Again Shift Practitioner's Standards of Conduct, Corporate Taxation, May/June 1989

Slected Speaking Engagements

• DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD: Combining Special Needs and Charitable Planning, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), National Convention, Seattle, Washington (June 2012)
• UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF CONSERVATORSHIPS & SPECIAL NEEDS TRUSTS, Tennessee Disability Megaconference, Nashville, Tennessee (June 2012)
• A BIKE FOR BOBBY, A CONCERT FOR CATHY: Unintended Consequences For Fundraisers and Their Beneficiaries, Special Needs Alliance, Spring Meeting, Phoenix, Arizona (March 2012)
• SPECIAL CHILDREN, SPECIAL LIVES, SPECIAL NEEDS, SPECIAL PLANNING, 2012 Northeast GA Transition Expo and Conference, Athens, Georgia (February 2012)
• 6,000 AUDITS AND MORE: An Overview of Important Developments in Employment Taxes and Reporting Requirements, Tennessee Federal Tax Conference, Franklin, Tennessee (November 2011)
• BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING: Part "Art," Part "Science," Tennessee Probate & Estate Planning Conference (M. Lee Smith Sponsor), Nashville, Tennessee (October 2011)
• SPECIAL CHILDREN, SPECIAL LIVES, SPECIAL NEEDS, SPECIAL PLANNING, East Tennessee Financial Planners Association Symposium, Knoxville, Tennessee (September 2011
• KEEPING CURRENT: Recent Developments of Interest for Tax Practitioner, Upper Cumberland of the Tennessee Society of CPAs, Cookeville, Tennessee (September, 2011)
• THE 2010 TAX RELIEF ACT: Estate Tax Certainty and More. . .(Well, Certainly for Two (2) Years Anyway) or An Introduction to Successfully Navigating 2010’s Tax Changes, Woodbury Financial Services, LLC Regional Sales Meeting, Franklin, Tennessee (February 2011)
• BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANNING - PART "ART," PART "SCIENCE": Integrating the Documents and the Plan, Murfeesboro Estate Planning Council, Murfeesboro, Tennessee (August 2010)