Natasha L. Blackshear concentrates her practice in corporate transactions and municipal finance. Ms. Blackshear earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.B.A. from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, and a B.S. from Cornell University. She is admitted to the bar in Tennessee, New York, and Massachusetts. Ms. Blackshear provides legal counsel, including the negotiation and drafting of documents, for various types of debt and equity financings. She serves in bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel roles in municipal bond transactions and provides legal counsel on corporate formation, corporate law, securities, and tax matters. In addition, she represents both individuals and private businesses in disputes regarding shareholder rights and commercial transactions.

Ms. Blackshear’s prior experience includes founding and growing, for four years, her own law firm, Natasha L. Blackshear & Associates, PLC. Prior to entering private legal practice, Ms. Blackshear worked as a venture capitalist for five years at Council Ventures, LP where, as part of a four-person investment team investing a fund of $52 million, she analyzed business plans, interviewed entrepreneurs, performed due diligence, negotiated transaction terms, drafted terms sheets and edited closing documents. Preceding becoming a venture capitalist, Ms. Blackshear worked as a senior associate in PricewaterhouseCoopers' Corporate Valuation Consulting division (now merged with the investment bank of Duff and Phelps), where she performed valuations of clients' financial securities, businesses, and underlying intangible assets by performing economic and financial analyses.

Ms. Blackshear serves as the Secretary and a Commissioner of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, to which she was appointed by Tennessee Governor Bredesen in 2003. She is a Trustee, Board of Trusts of American Sentinel University; Member, Advisory Board of Cornell University’s Emerging Markets Program; Member, Board of Directors, Market Matters, Inc.; and Past President, Harvard Club of Middle Tennessee. Ms. Blackshear is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the American and Tennessee Bar Associations, and the Napier Looby Bar Association. Ms. Blackshear is fluent in Spanish. CORPORATE & TRANSACTIONAL AND PUBLIC FINANCE