New Senior Counsel Brings Accounting, Business and Tax Background to Harris Beach Murtha’s Corporate Practice Group

New Senior Counsel Brings Accounting, Business and Tax Background to Harris Beach Murtha’s Corporate Practice Group

(June 2, 2025) — Maria C. Zumpano Withrow has joined Harris Beach Murtha’s Corporate, Tax and Trusts and Estates practice groups to provide strategic counsel to business owners, guiding them through the complexities they face on a regular basis. She will also join the Tax-Exempt Organizations & Nonprofits Industry Team to advise nonprofits on formation and tax-exempt items. In addition to her legal acumen, Maria also is a Certified Public Accountant who holds a Master of Business Administration.

Drawing from her extensive experience in accounting, business and law, Maria takes a holistic, innovative approach to planning and problem-solving. Maria focuses on corporate law, business strategy, tax planning and estate and business succession planning. Licensed to practice in New York and Florida, she provides a diversified perspective to business owners while developing strategic plans that align with both their immediate priorities and long-term vision.

Maria has experience with estate planning for high-net worth individuals and families and experience in an array of other corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, advising on entity organizational matters and structuring, contract drafting and negotiation, joint ventures, corporate governance matters, corporate restructuring, officer and director transition planning and other general corporate matters.

“Maria brings a unique background to her work, with her tax and accounting education and experience, that will be very appealing to many of our clients – in the Corporate Practice Group and the Syracuse area,” said Jeremy H. Speich, the partner who leads the Corporate Practice Group. “This speaks to what Harris Beach Murtha is – we are much more than a law firm, we are a strategic business partner.”

Maria joins a Corporate Practice Group well known for its experience with complex corporate work that regularly includes merger and acquisition activity, capital market transactions, debt transactions, equity offerings, venture capital, mezzanine finance, private equity and entrepreneurial business planning.

The team represents and supports domestic and international businesses of all sizes, stages of growth and industries throughout New York, New Jersey, New England and nationally. Maria and her fellow attorneys work on matters related to corporate governance, employee benefits, asset and equity acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, change of control, antitrust, domestic and cross‐border transactional tax, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), inbound investment, funds formation, securities and other strategic transactions and initiatives.

She will also work with the firm’s Trusts and Estates Practice Group, a team that offers a comprehensive and client-focused approach to the preservation, management and transfer of wealth. The team assists with lifetime and testamentary planning, estate and gift tax planning, and advises fiduciaries with respect to the administration of estates and trusts, among other trusts and estates issues.

Maria will also join the firm’s Tax Practice Group, a team that provides an extensive range of services to help our clients navigate complex tax laws and regulations. The group offers comprehensive tax planning and advice for businesses across various industries both in the United States and globally. As a member of the Tax-Exempt Organizations & Nonprofits Industry Team, Maria will provide legal services tailored to the specific needs of organizations with tax-exempt status.

Maria previously worked for law firms in Syracuse and Washington, D.C. and for a large insurance organization in London. She also previously worked as an auditor for Ernst & Young, LLP and as Director of Process Improvement for a management service organization in the legal industry.

Maria is an adjunct professor at Le Moyne College, Madden School of Business, where she teaches law and accounting classes, and a board member of Toomey Residential and Community Services Corporation and the Central New York Women’s Bar Association.