Harris Beach and Murtha Cullina Partners Approve New Operating Agreement for Combined Firm

The new, elite firm, Harris Beach Murtha, will offer clients greater strength and reach throughout an expanded regional footprint

(July 9, 2024) — Harris Beach PLLC and Murtha Cullina LLP today announced that the partnerships of both firms have approved an Operating Agreement that will govern a new, combined firm to be known as Harris Beach Murtha.

The Operating Agreement will create a regional legal powerhouse. Harris Beach Murtha will have more than 250 attorneys across 16 offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia. The firms announced their intent to combine in May, and will operate as one firm beginning January 1, 2025.  

Harris Beach PLLC is a distinguished firm with a strong presence across New York and the Tri-State area, and Murtha Cullina LLP is a leading legal presence in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The two law firms offer complementary services, strengths and cultures in their respective geographies, and the combination will benefit clients of both firms through a significantly increased knowledge base and expanded service area.

Clients of both firms are already seeing benefits of the combination as they are being introduced to new legal services and receiving support in new geographic areas. That synergy will drive growth across the new firm.

Chris Jagel, Harris Beach CEO, said:

“The overwhelming vote in favor of the Operating Agreement is a powerful testament to the strength of this combination. I am delighted with the firms’ continued progress toward a successful combination and the enhanced capabilities Harris Beach Murtha will offer our clients. Together, we will deliver expanded, innovative services to an extended geographical footprint that will support our clients’ unique needs.”

Andy I. Corea, Murtha Cullina Managing Partner, said: 

“Our respective firms are eager to collaborate on a wide variety of matters across industries, and this demonstrated enthusiasm is just a glimpse of what is to come for Harris Beach Murtha: the highest quality legal services, supported by a bigger talent pool, expanded breadth of services, and broader geographic scope to meet our clients’ ever-evolving needs.”

Harris Beach and Murtha Cullina will continue integration efforts while they work together toward completion of all necessary reviews and closing conditions. The firms will continue to operate as separate, independent entities until the Operating Agreement takes effect on January 1, 2025. Until then, Chris Jagel, CEO of Harris Beach, and Andy Corea, Managing Partner of Murtha Cullina, will co-lead an interim advisory committee ensuring clients continue to receive high-quality, focused services throughout this process.

More information on Harris Beach Murtha can be found here: www.HarrisBeachMurtha.com

About Harris Beach PLLC

Founded in 1856, Harris Beach and its subsidiaries provide legal and professional services to clients across New York state, as well as nationally and internationally. Harris Beach is among the country’s top law firms as ranked by The National Law Journal.

Clients include Fortune 100 corporations, privately held companies, emerging businesses, public sector entities, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals. The firm’s core practice areas and industries served include appellate law, business and commercial litigation, commercial real estate, corporate, environmental, energy, financial restructuring, government compliance and investigations, health care, immigration, intellectual property, labor and employment, mass torts, medical and life sciences, political law, product liability, public finance, and wills, trusts and estates.

The firm’s lawyers and consultants practice from offices throughout New York state in Albany, Buffalo, Ithaca, Long Island, New York City, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, and White Plains, as well as from offices in Washington, D.C., New Haven, Connecticut and Newark, New Jersey. For more information, go to www.harrisbeach.com.

About Murtha Cullina LLP

Murtha Cullina is a mid-sized firm with full-service capabilities established in 1936, with a deeply rooted culture of collaboration, excellence and inclusion. With offices throughout the Northeast and New England serving local, regional, national and international clients, including public and private companies, institutions, government entities, tax-exempt organizations and individuals, Murtha Cullina is focused on its clients’ business goals and strategic objectives. The firm’s core practice areas include business law, employee benefits, energy, environmental, health care, immigration, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, real estate, tax, tax-exempt organizations, trusts and estates, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, construction, municipal and commercial finance.

Murtha Cullina is the exclusive member firm in Connecticut for Lex Mundi, the world’s leading network of independent firms with in-depth experience in more than 125 countries worldwide and the exclusive member firm in Connecticut for the American Property Tax Counsel (APTC), the only organization of law firms providing major portfolio owners with a single source for their property tax reporting and tax reduction needs. For more information, visit www.murthalaw.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.