Judith A. Harris Elected to Term as a Vice President of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church

March 12, 2012

Norris McLaughlin, P.A.
721 Route 202-206, Suite 200
P.O. Box 5933
Bridgewater, NJ 08807-5933
Contact: Edward C. Miller, Jr.
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Judith A. Harris Elected to Term as a Vice President of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church

Allentown, PA (March 12, 2012) – Judith A. Harris, a Member of Norris McLaughlin, P.A. and Chair of the firm’s Pennsylvania Estate, Trust, and Tax Practice Group, was elected to a 1-year term as Second Vice President of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and reappointed as Chair of the Board’s Legal Committee and Vice-Chair of its Investment Committee at the March Board Meeting in Philadelphia. Harris has served on the Board of Pensions since her election by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in July 2008.

As one of the six church agencies supporting the work of the Church, the Board of Pensions designs and administers the pension, death and disability, medical benefits, and assistance programs for Presbyterian Church clergy, other workers, and their families. In doing so, the Board of Pensions collects, invests, and disburses funds from its portfolio to support the benefits and assistance needs for over 50,000 church workers, including 14,000 active workers, and 18,000 retired workers and survivors.

“I look forward to my new and continued leadership roles within the Board of Pensions. It is a privilege for me to serve the people who work for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). They are extremely devoted and help the Church do a lot of meaningful work in our communities across the United States and the world,” said Harris.

Harris has over twenty-five years of experience in the areas of taxation, wills and trusts, and estate administration. In addition to creating estate plans from the most basic to the most sophisticated wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, and living wills, Harris’s specialties include business matters involving corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. Harris’s practice also includes charitable trusts and foundations; and representation of estates, trusts, and beneficiaries in disputes before the Orphans’ Court. She routinely handles the resolution of tax controversies for business and individual taxpayers before all divisions (civil and criminal) of the Internal Revenue Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. These cases often involve the resolution of estate, business, and individual audits; or collection efforts such as liens, levies, and garnishments by the IRS and state taxing authorities.

In her work as an estate planning attorney, Harris frequently structures the optimal transfer of a client’s wealth and business interests to younger generations with minimal tax consequences.

She is past President of the Estate Planning Council of the Lehigh Valley. From 1993 to 2000 she was an adjunct instructor of “Wills, Trusts, and Estates” at Penn State University’s Lehigh Valley Campus.

A board member since 1993 and a former officer of the Allentown Symphony, she is also a board member of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society and a board member and past President of the Fund to Benefit Children & Youth, Inc. Harris served for 10 years on the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority board of governors, where she chaired the Personnel and Law committee.

Harris earned her LL.M. in Taxation from Villanova University School of Law in 1991, her J.D. from American University in 1986, and her A.B., cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College in 1983.

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