Shawna Tunnell

• Tax counsel to a multinational mass media corporation in the expansion of its media partnership with a non-profit.
• Tax counsel to multinational mass media corporation in its online media partnership with three media and entertainment conglomerates.
• Tax counsel to multinational mass media corporation in numerous joint ventures owning regional sports networks with professional sports teams.
• Tax counsel to a top-20 private equity real estate firm in the formation of several $500+ million investment funds.
• Tax counsel to a publicly traded REIT on its $3 billion combination and spin-off transaction to create a new entity.
• Long-term tax counsel to two of the world’s largest publicly traded lodging REITs.
• Tax counsel to numerous private investment fund sponsors and institutional investors in their fund investments.

Shawna R. Tunnell is a partner in Alston & Bird’s Federal & International Tax Group and co-leads the firm’s REITs and Real Estate Funds tax practice. She advises REITs (both privately owned and publicly traded) on numerous tax issues and assists with taxable and nontaxable acquisitions and dispositions, and public offerings of equity and debt securities. She also advises clients in forming, operating, and investing in joint ventures, partnerships, and limited liability companies, including private equity and real estate investment funds. Her clients rely on her for counsel on private financing arrangements and income tax credits. Shawna also negotiates with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain private letter rulings and other guidance to ensure federal tax compliance for her clients. She also enjoys helping nonprofits with exemption, reporting, and investment matters. Her clients span the real estate, media and entertainment, technology and telecom, and energy sectors.

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia
• New York
• Connecticut

Education

• New York University (J.D., 1991)
• New York University (LL.M., 1994)
• University of Kansas (B.A., 1988)

Memberships