Vickie J. Buchanan

Shareholder, Practice Group Leader, Industry Group Leader

Paralegal: Carrie M. Petty
Bio Menu
  • Overview
  • Experience
  • Honors & Involvement
Bio overview

Vickie Buchanan is a transactional attorney who also serves as the co-leader of the firm’s Economic Development, Tax Credits and Business Incentives Group.  Her work in the area of government incentives has resulted in the development of special expertise and experience in general economic development law, community development finance, and structuring private equity transactions to qualify for tax incentives, including New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs), federal and state historic rehabilitation tax credits, and tax increment finance (TIF) districts.

In addition to representing real estate project sponsors, developers and investors, Vickie serves as lead counsel to two Oklahoma-based community development entities (CDE) with New Markets Tax Credit authority.

Vickie has played a key role in a significant number of high-profile commercial projects throughout the region. Notable projects include: NMTC financing of Embassy Suites Oklahoma City Downtown/Medical Center, tax credit financing of the new home of the Oklahoma City University School near downtown Oklahoma City, and creation of new TIF district in Garfield County, Oklahoma, for a $1.2 billion expansion project.

As part of her transactional practice, Vickie also advises and represents public and private companies in all phases of their business existence, commercial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, real estate projects, entity formation and organization, contracts, business restructuring, and day-to-day counseling.

Vickie’s career experience includes representing and advising Native American tribes on various tribal and non-tribal legal and business matters. She has represented tribes in numerous real estate transactions, acquisitions and mergers, private equity investments and other investments, and in matters involving governance, property transfers from fee-to-trust land, and tax. She has also assisted tribes with the diversification of tribal resources and business lines, and with wholly-owned tribal subsidiaries on organizational and corporate governance matters.

Vickie is also an AV-rated lawyer who has successfully represented both plaintiffs and defendants in state, federal and tribal courts. She has extensive experience as a trial lawyer handling a broad range of commercial litigation and arbitration. Her experience includes representing public and private companies in complex business cases, eminent domain cases, class action and multiple-party lawsuits, and disputes involving oil and gas, environmental, real estate, banking and securities, insurance, products liability and mass torts. Her litigation clients have included major U.S. energy companies, corporations, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, financial institutions and investment firms.

In 2012, Vickie was recognized as the “Attorney of the Year” by the Central Oklahoma Association of Legal Assistants for her ongoing efforts in supporting the paralegal profession.

Vickie earned a bachelor’s degree in English and criminal justice from Northeastern State University and a Juris Doctor, with distinction, from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. While pursuing her law degree, she studied at Queen’s College in Oxford, England, for one summer, worked as an intern for the Juvenile Division of the Oklahoma City Public Defender’s Office, and clerked at law firms during the school year focusing on corporate practice.

Prior to joining McAfee & Taft in 2007, Vickie was a partner and director at another law firm in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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Experience, Honors, & Awards

Representative Experience

  • Represented the project sponsor/developer in NMTC financing in connection with the development of a plastic recycling operation in Watts, OK.
  • Represented the project sponsor/developer in NMTC financing in connection with the construction and development of a trailer manufacturing facility in Brookston, TX.
  • Represents the project sponsor/developer in connection with the negotiation of an Economic Development Agreement with the City of Stillwater, OK, for the adaptive reuse of the Boomer Lake Station, including other incentives to be provided by the City.
  • Represented the project sponsor/developer in connection with the real estate purchases of several parcels of land for sand mining projects. 
  • Represented developer in the acquisition of a limited partnership, the owner of an affordable single-family housing development in Bartlesville, OK, and the subsequent low income housing tax credit financing. 
  • Represents developer in numerous low income housing tax credit projects throughout the Oklahoma and in other states.  
  • Represented developer in the creation of a new tax increment financing (TIF) district in Garfield County, OK, in connection with a $1.2 billion expansion project. 
  • Represented developer and negotiated and documented a TIF economic development agreement and a sales tax economic development agreement for an outlet mall project located in Jenks, OK. 
  • Represents tax credit investor in multiple residential projects that included low-income housing tax credits and federal and state historic tax credits.
  • Regional representation of major corporations in class action, multiple party and tort litigation, including products liability cases involving automobiles, pharmaceutical products and other products.
  • Obtained a favorable result for a major investment company and a broker in a FINRA arbitration in which the three-person panel entered an award finding that the claimant’s allegations of negligence were false and that the broker did not intentionally commit fraud or any other willful misconduct. In addition, the claim was expunged from the broker’s CRD record.
  • Negotiated a favorable global settlement on behalf of an energy holding company in a series of lawsuits arising out of its purchase of assets of several oilfield service businesses. The client alleged business torts against the sellers and associated employees who engaged in unfair competition after the sale.
  • Successfully contested a commissioner’s award in a multi-million dollar condemnation dispute with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and secured a confidential settlement for the client which ranks as one of the largest in Oklahoma state history.
  • Obtained a substantial jury verdict plus attorneys’ fees and expert witness fees on behalf of the owners of an office building in an unusually complex condemnation case that involved the use of sound modeling and sound measurements to estimate the impact that a pending highway expansion project by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation would have on the tenants of the client’s building.
  • Obtained summary judgment for Oklahoma Goodwill Industries, Inc. in a class action lawsuit alleging violation of the Oklahoma Minimum Wage Act. 

Honors and Awards

  • Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubble Peer Review Ratings

Professional Organizations and Memberships

  • Oklahoma County Bar Association
  • Oklahoma Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Oklahoma Association of Defense Counsel
  • Defense Research Institute

Civic Involvement and Leadership

  • Leadership Edmond (Class XXI)
  • Crossings Community Church (Volunteer)

ATPs display in this column

At The Podium

Records and Communications

International Right-of-Way Association (IRWA) Conference
January 20, 2012

Regulatory and Legal Panel Update

Marsh Midstream Energy Roundtable
October 17, 2011

Pipeline Security

Marsh Midstream Energy Roundtable
October 17, 2011

The 2011 Shale Reservoir Development Act

Environmental Federation of Oklahoma's 20th Annual Meeting
Norman, Oklahoma | October 14, 2011

Contractual Review — Insurance Indemnity Issues

Marsh Midstream Energy Roundtable
Tulsa, Oklahoma | October 6, 2010, 08:00 - 04:30
Attorney Articles

Articles

Previously confidential information released by the EPA

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

EPA issues significant fine for EPCRA violations at Nevada mine

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

OSHA directive addresses workplace violence

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

DHS publishes ammonium nitrate security program notice of proposed rulemaking

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

Fatal explosion at Bartlett Grain Company

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

PHMSA publishes ANPRM: Safety of gas transmission pipelines

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

National Transportation Safety Board finds deficiencies in emergency notification

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

U.S. Department of Transportation unveils pipeline safety initiative

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

Terrorism and the General Duty Clause

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

The expanding reach of CERCLA

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |

Increased focus on the General Duty Clause of the Clean Air Act

McAfee & Taft RegLINC |
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Admissions

  • Oklahoma, 1999
  • U.S. District Courts for the Western, Northern and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma
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Education

  • J.D., with distinction, University of Oklahoma, 1999
  • B.S. English and Criminal Justice, summa cum laude, Northeastern State University, 1996
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