Erin S. Downs

Erin Sheehey Downs was born in Washington, D.C. In 1984, she graduated from the College of William and Mary, where she received the Olympia Award, the Martha Barksdale Scholarship Award and was an All-American swimmer. She was also selected for membership in Omicron Delta Kappa and the William and Mary Athletic Hall of Fame.

Erin received her Juris Doctorate from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in 1987 where she was on the Benton moot court team. She began her legal career as an Associate in the Trusts and Estates department of the law firm of Christian & Barton in Richmond. She also served as Trust Counsel for Crestar Bank in Richmond for several years before moving to Bristol to join the law firm of Jones & King, P.C., in 1996.

Erin is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, which recognizes individual attorneys for distinguished contributions to the practice of estate planning, probate and trust law. She has written a number of published articles and frequently lectures to other lawyers on trust and estate topics. She is a member of the Tri-Cities Estate Planning Council, the Virginia Bar Association, and the Tennessee Bar Association. Erin is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Virginia.

Erin and her husband, Butch, reside in Bristol, Tennessee, where they raised their two sons, Brendan and Logan. She is a Rotarian and has served on a number of community and non-profit boards, including the Bristol Public Library (Chairman), Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, Wellmont Foundation (Chairman), Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (Chairman) and NETWORKS Sullivan partnership. She has also served the College of William and Mary on a variety of Boards and Committees.

In her free time, Erin enjoys tennis, pickleball, swimming, hiking and bicycling on the Virginia Creeper Trail.