O. E. “Sonny” Schow, IV

Member

O. E. “Sonny” Schow, IV is a member of the firm whose primary areas of practice include federal and state taxation, including tax disputes in federal and state court, estate planning, trust administration, probate law and estate administration, business entity formations and governance, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate and transactional law.

Mr. Schow assists clients with transactional tax planning, including entity formation, operation and governance, real estate exchanges and transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and the design and implementation of transactions in a tax effective manner. Mr. Schow also assists clients in all aspects of estate planning, including the drafting of various testamentary and trust documents, trust and estate administration and related fiduciary matters, and all aspects of the probate and estate administration process. Mr. Schow also represents clients in disputes with state and federal agencies, including the Tennessee Department of Revenue and Internal Revenue Service and has represented clients in tax disputes before the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Tennessee Board of Equalization, and local Property Assessors.

Mr. Schow was born and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1992 with a B.A. in psychology, where he was a member of the Psi Chi honor society. Mr. Schow received his J.D. from The University of Tennessee in 1996 and was a member of the first class to graduate with a concentration in business transactions from the Center for Entrepreneurial Law. Following his graduation from law school, Mr. Schow served from 1996 to 1997 as the Law Clerk to the Honorable R. Vann Owens and the Honorable Howell N. Peoples, Chancellors, Hamilton County, Tennessee.

Mr. Schow was admitted to practice law in 1996. Mr. Schow is a member of the Knoxville, Tennessee, and American Bar Associations and is a member of the Taxation Section of the American Bar Association and the Knoxville Estate Planning Council. Mr. Schow has been named as a one of Knoxville’s top attorneys by Cityview Knoxville magazine in the areas of estate planning/trusts, wills, probate, and taxation.

Education

University of Tennessee, J.D., 1996
Rhodes College, B.A., 1992

Bar Admissions

Tennessee: 1996
United States Tax Court: 1996
United States Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit: 1998
United States District Court; Eastern District of Tennessee: 1998

Publications

“Potential Tax Savings for Small Business Owners in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Knoxville Business Journal, June 2016.

Accolades

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Tax Law, Trusts and Estates since 2021

Voted a Top Attorney in Knoxville by his peers in CityView magazine in Estate Planning/Trusts, Wills and Probate, and Income Tax/IRS Resolutions