Attorneys • James M. McCarten

PRACTICE AREAS: Taxation (Federal, State and Local Planning and Litigation); Estate Planning, Administration and Probate; Closely-Held Business Planning and Counseling; Business Succession Planning and Counseling; Nonprofit Corporations.

Email: mccarten@whitereasor.com

Telephone: 615-383-3345

Fax: 615-383-5534

Jim McCarten became a member of the firm in 2007. He engages in general tax practice. From representing clients during audits by the IRS and/or Tennessee Department of Revenue to crafting tax structures for new businesses, from counseling clients on the tax aspects of business exit strategies to the design of non-qualified executive compensation packages, or from designing an appropriate estate plan to counseling families on special needs planning, Mr. McCarten’s practice usually involves taxes in some way.

Mr. McCarten 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 firms.

Mr. McCarten is admitted to practice law in Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri, and has been included in The Best Lawyers for America since 2003 in the areas of Estates and Trusts, Nonprofit/Charity Law and Tax Law. He has been named by Mid-South Super Lawyers Magazine to each of its Tennessee Super Lawyers lists, is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and has served as the Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Tax Section (2006-2007), 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 was recently honored for his work in special needs planning when inducted into the Special Needs Alliance. He is also the author of a professional treatise and numerous articles on tax-related topics as well as a frequent speaker at tax programs for CPAs and attorneys throughout the Southeast.

Jim, with his wife, Diane, recently joined and became active with both the Middle Tennessee Autism Society and The Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (“TRIAD”) program, a part of Vanderbilt’s Kennedy Center.

Education:

University of Kansas (B.S. Accounting, 1979); University of Missouri-Kansas City (J.D. 1984); Emory University (LLM, Taxation, 1990).

Bar admissions:

Missouri, 1984; Georgia, 1988; Tennessee, 1991.

Member:

Kansas City (MO), Knoxville, Nashville; Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee (Chair, Tax Section, 2006/2007), and American Bar Associations