Thomas W. Steelman - Nashville, TN

I was born and raised in a town outside of Annapolis, Maryland and grew up always knowing that I wanted to be an attorney someday. After high school, I decided to attend Syracuse University. Quite honestly, my main reason for attending Syracuse was due the fact that my visitation weekend fell during an infamous Upstate New York snowstorm. In Maryland when I was growing up, I did not see much snow – Syracuse is quite the opposite. My love for the snow, however, quickly faded after four years of praying that I would be able to defrost each night after class. I graduated with honors from the frozen tundra that is Syracuse University in 2021 with a B.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Writing and Literature Studies. I then narrowed my options for law school to a state where I knew I would never see snow again, Florida. I enrolled at the University of Miami School of Law in August 2021 and graduated in May 2024. I loved my time in Miami but knew that I wanted something different after law school to start my career. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee in Summer 2024 and am so happy that I decided to do so.

In my free time I enjoy playing golf, playing tennis, and watching Syracuse basketball and football. Although Syracuse sports have not been good in the past years, you will find me every weekend sitting on my couch in a Syracuse Carmelo Anthony jersey yelling at my TV. To relax after all the stress caused by Syracuse sports, I enjoy touring vineyards and doing wine tastings, I even took a sommelier course while at Syracuse University. My favorite vineyard in Tennessee so far has been Arrington Vineyards. Additionally, I am a huge fan of TV and film. I have watched the entire series of the show “Lost” seven times and have watched the movie “The Hateful Eight” well over ten times.

When I first attended law school, I had dreams of becoming a big law corporate attorney and doing multi-million-dollar mergers and acquisitions as my career. As I went through law school however, I realized that I could have just as much fun dealing with complex estates as I could doing corporate law, and the best part was that I would not have to work 100-hour weeks. Throughout law school I tailored my education around the taxation aspect of estate planning and have developed an aptitude in dealing with complex estate planning techniques. I have a passionate dislike for taxes and have found that the best way to put that passion to use is to save people money on estate and gift taxes.

When people think of attorneys, “creative” may not be the first word that comes to mind. However, within estate planning I have found that creativity is an important attribute for attorneys. I pride myself on the ability to take a complex estate and use my creativity to design a plan that can produce the most tax-friendly outcome for clients. I am eager to combine these passions to serve our estate planning clients!