ELEANOR WESTON BROWN

Eleanor Weston Brown leads the firm’s Estate and Tax Planning, Estate Administration and Wealth Transfer Practice. Eleanor’s focus on estate planning and estate administration synthesizes her education and experience in tax law with her creative ability to design and administer unique solutions to meet the wealth transfer goals of her clients in a tax-advantaged way.  Highly sought after as a trusted advisor, Eleanor has devoted her practice to developing lifelong relationships with clients and their families.  Known for her empathy and compassion, Eleanor is devoted to serving clients working through challenging family and business succession issues.

Eleanor graduated from the University of Virginia in 1981 and received her law degree from the University of Richmond in 1985.  She received an LLM in Taxation from the College of William & Mary Law School in 1987.  Eleanor clerked at the Appellate Division of the Internal Revenue Service. 

​

In the private practice of law since 1985, Eleanor has handled a wide range of complex transactions including structuring mergers, acquisitions, and tax-free reorganizations, tax exempt entities, and handled tax controversies at all levels of government.  That transactional tax experience informs and augments her estate planning practice, which ranges from simple wills to complex generation skipping plans and charitable planning, including the use of charitable conservation easements and land preservation tax credits. 

Eleanor’s love of the law and desire to mentor young lawyers led her to teach law. Eleanor served as an associate professor with tenure at Regent University School of Law, where she taught Individual Federal Income Tax, Corporate Tax, Estate and Gift Tax, Wills and Trusts, Estate Planning and Business Associations.  She was named multiple years by Regent University law students as Professor of the Year.  Her publications include Transferable Conservation Easement Tax Credits, the Virginia Experience, CRITICAL ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL TAXATION, INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES: VOL. VI, published by the prestigious Oxford University Press (2009).

Eleanor is a frequent speaker on estate and tax matters including a number of continuing education programs for lawyers, accountants, certified life underwriters, and trust officers.  She has been a guest speaker in the lifelong learning program at Christopher Newport University and has spoken at a number of forums presented by charitable organizations including Williamsburg Community Hospital, WHRO, Children’s Hospital of King’s Daughters and the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Neck.

Eleanor is a native of Hampton, Virginia and is active in many professional and civic associations. She was elected to Hampton City Council, where she led the city’s resiliency efforts, combining economic development initiatives with environmental stewardship goals. Former Governor Terry McAuliffe named Eleanor to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation Board of Trustees, where she served as Chairman for four years.  She served for seven years as the Chairman of the Hampton Redevelopment and Housing Authority where she led the transition to a citizen board. During her tenure, she shepherded numerous redevelopment efforts. Eleanor also served as Chairman of the Hampton Economic Development Authority. She was selected to serve on the Board of Directors of Hampton First, a coalition of community leaders, where she served as Vice Chairman. Hampton First developed recommendations to the City Council for the revitalization of downtown Hampton.  Other past service includes Member of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources (appointed by then-Governor Terry McAuliffe), Member and Treasurer, Foundation for Virginia’s Natural Resources Board of Trustees (appointed by then-Governor Tim Kaine), Member of the Pro Bono Council of the Virginia Bar Association, Member of the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council and President of the Peninsula Estate Planning Council . 

Eleanor is admitted to practice in Virginia and North Carolina, the United States Tax Court and the United States Supreme Court.  Eleanor was appointed by the judges of the Hampton Circuit Court as Commissioner of Accounts for the City of Hampton. During her professional career, Eleanor has earned numerous honors, including the Faculty Award for Excellence in Service, Regent University, the Presidential Award for Outstanding Citizenship from Hampton University and recognition as one of Virginia Business Magazine’s Legal Elite, “Best Lawyers in Virginia” in the areas of Tax, Trusts, and Estates.

​

Eleanor and her husband, Bill, divide their time between their home at historic Ft. Monroe, Virginia and their cottage in the Northern Neck, where they enjoy sharing their love of the Chesapeake Bay with their children and grandchildren.