Shelton Swafford Chambers is doing a spirited impression of her grandmother, one of the first women to attend the law school at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The mimicry is part of the story she’s telling about the time the elderly matriarch summoned her after learning she’d be working at Decosimo. There’s one odd detail, though.
“’Your father tells me you have decided to continue to work at Decosimo, which is a great firm,’” Chambers quotes her grandmother as saying. “’We love the Decosimos, and I love the letters Mrs. Decosimo writes to the editor of the newspaper. However, when are you going to stop this nonsense and go to law school?”
“’I’m going to go to law school, grandma,’” Chambers recalls saying. She then pauses for dramatic effect, leans forward in her chair, and resumes her impression.
“’Good!’” she says with a posh British accent, like a well-heeled resident of Downton Abbey. “Because there is no career more noble than being an attorney.”
The odd detail isn’t the grandmother being a lawyer; Chambers comes from a long line of attorneys. Rather, the British accent seems out of place. As respectable as the Swaffords might be, they hail from Jasper, Tenn., not England.
“We’re very British,” Chambers says, a smile splitting her face, her eyes still lit up from telling her story. “My grandmother has the presence of the queen, with her dress and pantyhose and pearls.”
This is Chambers – a lively, animated presence in the room. Her smile is nearly perpetual, and she says nothing without punctuating her words with a sweep of her hands.
Grandmother had no reason to worry, for her granddaughter was indeed going to be a lawyer. In Chambers’s mind, there were two professions in the world – the second being a teacher, like her mother. She had no desire to work with children, though, so she followed her father, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, and uncle to the law.
But as Chambers settled in at UT, there was a problem: she didn’t like studying history.
“I hated it,” she says, emphasizing “hate” by making a vertical chopping motion with her hands, like a politician making a point. “But I loved numbers, so I took an accounting class.”
Chambers enjoyed the course, and in time took an internship at Decosimo. She not only liked the work, but also the firm and the people there. When the time for law school arrived, her father suggested a temporary deviation.
“He encouraged me to put off law school and take the CPA exam,” she says. “So, I worked at Decosimo until I passed the exam, and UT let me defer law school until I was ready.”
Following law school, Chambers practiced at Husch Blackwell, where she did estate planning under the mentorship of attorney Alan Cates. Then came her baby with husband Patrick.
“After Carson Mae was born, I became attached to her, so I was lamenting the hours I would be working,” Chambers says. “I had stayed in touch with my mentor at Decosimo, Renee Ford, and she told me about an opening in the trusts and estates division in the tax department.”
Chambers says she could not have found a better job. Not only was she able to return to Decosimo, but she works only 32 hours a week, except during tax season, when her hours increase. “I nailed the work-life balance issue,” she says, laughing.
Chambers spends those hours doing a mix of accounting and legal work. In addition to doing tax returns for trusts and estates, she advises clients on estate planning, although she no longer drafts the plans, like she did at Husch Blackwell. She likes the opportunities her job provides to solve problems for people.
“I love when someone comes to me with an issue – maybe it’s a grandchild with special needs or a family member’s spending habits – and asks me to find a solution that meets everyone’s needs. I want our clients to have peace of mind.”
Chambers says her position is not just ideal for her present situation, but also moving forward. “I hear my daughter will eventually reach an age when she doesn’t need me as much, which will break my heart,” she says, feigning sadness by hanging her head low. “So this job allows me to stay on track to advance in the firm.”
Chambers is grateful to the people with whom she has crossed paths. People like Ford, Cates, and her current supervisor, James Morrison, have given her an appreciation for the role mentors play in a young professional’s life and career. “Never underestimate the value of a good mentor. Be knowledgeable and work hard, but also find someone you can turn to for advice. No one can do this on their own.”
The people who have guided Chambers have also instilled in her a desire to be kind and accommodating, even in challenging situations. She thinks of her father, and how he impacted the way she treats people: “I grew up working in my dad’s firm. Once, an attorney needed to reschedule a trial because he was going on vacation with his family. My dad agreed. When I asked him why, he said we should always take care of our profession. When we treat someone with disrespect, we make a name for ourselves we don’t want,” she says.
Chambers has no such concerns. In addition to taking care of her home and profession, she’s living up to her family name by tending to her community. Chambers is on the board of the Young Lawyers Division of the Chattanooga Bar Association, the Young Alumni Association at Girls Preparatory School, and Chattanooga Friends, a nonprofit that raises funds for small, lesser known nonprofits. She’s also the president of the Southern Tennessee Legal Association for Women, which recently relaunched locally, and is on the Women Mentoring Women committee at the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute.
This leaves little time for fun. Humorously, Chambers’s leisure time consists of trying to convince her husband to take up golf with her and workouts at Pure Barre. “I like Pure Barre. There’s no baby to take care of, no dinner to cook, no work to do – it’s 55 minutes devoted to me,” she says.
Chambers’s thoughts are never far from her family, though, whether she’s musing over how much she and her daughter have in common, or thinking back on the support her family has given her.
“My daughter’s pediatrician says she’s strong-willed, which she might have gotten from me. She knows what she wants, and she’s going to get it. However, when she rolls her eyes at me, she looks just like her dad,” she says, laughing again.
With regard to her family, Chambers says, “Growing up, my parents were my biggest cheerleaders. I was on the track team in high school, even though I was a terrible runner. I placed last in every race but one. But my mom cheered me on like I was the first place runner. And my brother always had my back. Now my husband has my back. Without their support and encouragement, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”