Jennifer Schooley
Attorney-at-Law
BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Schooley is the owner of a boutique law practice in Richmond, Virginia that specializes in estate planning and administration with a focus on tax, business formations, buy-sell and business succession planning, advising those who serve as trustees, executors, or agents under powers of attorney, premarital planning and marital separations. Prior to forming her firm, Ms. Schooley spent more than a decade practicing estate planning and tax law, largely with the firm McGuireWoods LLP as a member of its nationally-recognized Private Wealth Services team. She is recognized as a “Super Lawyer” and was chosen by her peers as a "Legal Elite" in the category of Taxes/Estates/Trusts/Elder Law as published in the Virginia Business Magazine in 2014 and 2017-2023. She represents clients that run the gamut: from high net worth individuals who are closely held business owners, large land owners, persons with multigenerational wealth or large art holdings, to blended families trying to ascertain how to fairly and responsibly develop a plan. Her expertise includes installment sales to grantor trusts, GRATs, irrevocable life insurance trusts, charitable trusts, family limited partnerships, private foundations, private trust companies and family offices. She particularly enjoys working with blended families like hers and helping them navigate their more complex planning needs. In addition to practicing law, she has served as a planned giving consultant to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts .
Some of Ms. Schooley’s many achievements include:
Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC);
Past Chair of the Board of Governors for the Trusts and Estates Section of the Virginia State Bar;
Legislative Committee and Council Member of the Wills, Trusts, & Estates Section of the Virginia Bar Association;
Super Lawyer in Estate Planning and Probate;
Virginia Business Legal Elite in the category of Taxes/Estates/Trusts/Elder Law in 2014 and 2017-2023;
Member of the Richmond Estate Planning Council, Trust Administrator's Council, and the trusts and estates and family law sections of the Virginia State Bar;
Member of the American Bar Association, real property, trusts and estates sections;
Past service as a regular speaker for the Taxation Section of the American Bar Association; and
Past co-author for the Journal of Taxation, Estate Planning Magazine, and Trust and Estates Newsletter for the Virginia State Bar.
Ms. Schooley earned a J. D. from Washington & Lee School of Law in 1998 and a B.A., magna cum laude, in American Studies and English literature from Florida State University in 1995.
Outside of law, her passion lies in art and volunteering for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts where she is a Member of the Board of Directors for the VMFA Foundation and chairs the Audit and Governance committee, is the former Chairman of the "Canvas" support group, and serves on the executive board for the Charitable Advisors group.
Ms. Schooley enjoys racing sailboats on the Chesapeake Bay, spending time on the ocean where she grew up, snow skiing and occasionally taking in a ballet or going to the theater. Ask her about her wanderlust, and she will gladly indulge you in stories of travel, barely making it up steep hills and through narrow European streets, and racing against tsunami threats in rental cars. Gratefully, her children, Margot (age nineteen) and Coco (age sixteen), enjoy coming along for the ride and pulling their step-siblings, Hampton (age nineteen), Chesley (age seventeen) and Cullen (age sixteen) into the antics of memorable family vacations.