Jessica Cory is a Director of the Firm and the Transactional Practice Group leader. Jessica’s practice focuses on tax law.  She represents business and individuals in a wide range of matters, including choice of entity and formation; general tax planning for corporations, tax partnerships, and individuals; wealth transfer planning; business succession planning; and structuring of complex transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, and tax-free reorganizations. Jessica has particular experience working with flow-through entities, including disregarded entities, limited liability companies, partnerships, and S corporations. Jessica’s wealth transfer practice also includes the area of trusts and estates. In addition to drafting estate planning documents, such as wills, trusts, and powers of attorney, Jessica is experienced in using a number of planning techniques to help individuals minimize potential gift, estate, and generation skipping transfer tax exposure. Jessica has also successfully represented clients in disputes with the Internal Revenue Service and the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

Prior to entering private practice, Jessica gained valuable experience serving as a judicial clerk for United States District Court Judge Robin Cauthron in the Western District of Oklahoma. She then received her Masters of Law in Taxation at New York University School of Law and worked for a law firm in Houston, Texas before joining Phillips Murrah. Jessica is licensed in both Oklahoma and Texas.

Jessica has written and presented on a variety of tax topics, including choice-of-entity in light of the 2017 tax reform, the tax implications of foreign ownership of real property, changes to the partnership audit procedures enacted in 2015, and defending against the trust fund recovery penalty.

Jessica grew up in Killeen, Texas but now lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, and training for her next race.

• Southern Nazarene University (B.S., summa cum laude, 2009)
• University of Oklahoma College of Law (J.D., with highest honors, 2012; Order of the Coif; Order of Barristers; Oklahoma Law Review)
• New York University (LL.M., Taxation, 2015; Tax Law Review Graduate Editor)

• Oklahoma Bar Association
• State Bar of Texas
• American Bar Association, Tax Section

• Represented large privately-held companies and their owners in tax-free reorganizations and taxable acquisitions and dispositions
• Assisted in structuring a family office
• Worked with business owners to address business succession planning concerns
• Implemented various planning techniques to minimize wealth transfer taxes for individuals, including the formation of dynastic trusts, sales to intentionally defective grantor trusts, and valuation discount planning
• Drafted opinion letter for a $500+ million Section 355 split-off transaction
• Assisted foreign individuals with U.S. tax compliance and investment structuring
• Represented individuals and businesses during examination, at IRS Appeals, and in court