Judith Harris Presents to LVHN Physicians

Judith A. Harris, a Member with Norris McLaughlin, P.A., recently participated in the fourth and final of Lehigh Valley Health Network’s (LVHN) 2017 financial, estate, and tax planning seminars to physicians at its Cedar Crest and Muhlenberg Campuses.  This year’s presentations are part of a multi-year effort of the LVHN Office of Philanthropy to make such planning seminars available to its physicians and other employee groups of LVHN.

Harris’ panel presentation focused on estate and tax planning, as well as asset protection strategies for physicians and their families.  The presentation, entitled “Financial Grand Rounds: Comprehensive Planning for Physicians,” also included Robert H. Brown, CLU©, ChFC©, AEP©,  a financial planner and the proprietor of Lehigh Valley Investment Group, Retirement and Income Specialists, and was introduced and led by Dr. John Jaffe, of Physician Integration Strategies LLC, who is former Executive Medical Director of the Lehigh Valley Physician Organization.

Jane Wrisley, the Vice President of the LVHN Office of Philanthropy, believes the Financial Grand Round presentations are a service to physicians.  Wrisley observed, “They work so hard for our patients, we want to provide a convenient opportunity for them to attend an educational forum.”

Harris has over 30 years of experience in the areas of wills and trusts, estate planning, estate administration, and taxation.  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 areas of practice include business matters involving corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies and planning for business succession.  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 businesses and individual taxpayers before various divisions (Civil, Criminal, and Collection) 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 in order to minimize tax consequences.  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.