Susan Shields practices in the areas of tax and family wealth focusing on wealth transfer tax planning for high net worth families and individuals, business planning for closely held family businesses, estate and trust administration, business entity formation, and the formation and administration of tax-exempt organizations. She has also previously served as the leader of the firm’s Tax and Family Wealth Group.
Susan is a frequent speaker on a variety of estate planning, probate and nonprofit topics at professional and continuing legal education seminars and has served as an adjunct professor of law in estate planning and wealth transfer tax at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Her writing credits include “Oklahoma’s New Family Wealth Preservation Trust Act,” published on October 2, 2004, by the Oklahoma Bar Journal and “What Do You Need To Know About Oklahoma’s New Education Lottery?” published on January 15, 2005, by the Oklahoma Bar Journal. She also served as editor and coordinator of the “OBA/CLE 2001 Form Book” and the “OBA/CLE 2005 Form Book” published by the Oklahoma Bar Association.
In addition to being an elected fellow of the prestigious American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), Susan currently serves on the ACTEC Board of Regents and previously served as the Oklahoma state chair of ACTEC from 2016-2021. Her achievements have also earned her recognition as a top-ranked private wealth lawyer in Chambers HNW, the guide to the world’s leading high net worth advisers, where sources have described her as “a warm, caring person” who is “technically excellent” and “manages expectations well and makes document drafting consistent with the client’s goals.”
Susan has also been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (business organizations; closely held companies and family businesses law; nonprofit/charities law; tax law; tax litigation and controversy; trust and estates; trust and estate litigation) and Oklahoma Super Lawyers, where she has been named to its exclusive “Top 10 Lawyers,” “Top 25 Women Lawyers” and “Top 50 Oklahoma Lawyers” lists. In the Oklahoma City market, Best Lawyers selected her as “Oklahoma City Trusts and Estates Litigation Lawyer of the Year” for 2016, 2023 and 2026; “Tax Litigation and Controversy Lawyer of the Year” for 2018, 2021, 2024 and 2026; “Nonprofit/Charities Lawyer of the Year” for 2020 and 2025; “Business Organizations Lawyer of the Year” for 2017, 2019 and 2027; and “Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Lawyer of the Year” for 2015.
Active in the legal community, Susan served as president of the Oklahoma Bar Association in 2020, having previously served as vice president in 2014 and also serving a three-year term as a member of the OBA’s Board of Governors from 2010–2012. In 2015, she completed an eight-year term on the Oklahoma Bar Foundation’s Board of Trustees, which included a one-year term as its president in 2013.