March 2021 | Women’s History Month Spotlight
Meet Nazar Ghosseiri
Nazar Ghosseiri’s practice focuses on estate planning, trust administrations, probates and conservatorships. Prior to joining Hoge Fenton, Nazar was a principal of, and practicing attorney at, McGlashan & Sarrail, P.C. in San Mateo. Nazar now continues her practice at Hoge Fenton in the same San Mateo office location, serving the needs of individuals and professional fiduciaries in trusts & estates throughout the Peninsula. The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization has certified Nazar as a Specialist in the areas of Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.
What thrills you about working at Hoge Fenton?
It might be an answer you’d expect — the people. My colleagues are engaging, collaborative, and supportive. There’s a common passion for improving ourselves as individuals and as attorneys. Most of all, we don’t live in a vacuum. Our leadership acknowledges various societal issues that need to be addressed, and they make a sincere effort to support good causes in our community and our individual contributions to those causes.
Why is Women’s History Month important to you?
It’s an opportunity to reflect and celebrate accomplishments of women, yet recognize where progress still needs to be made. In my relatively short lifetime, we have indeed seen societal changes. For example, the US Supreme Court went from one female justice to now three. We have a female director of the CDC. And not least of all, a female vice president of the United States! Yet, there is still so much inequality that needs attention. Representation matters. I want my godson and my nieces and nephews to see a world where women are represented in every facet of our society so that they know that there are no limitations on their dreams of what they can do or who they can be. Women’s History Month really goes beyond our traditional notions of gender. We are developing more awareness of the issues and concerns of people who have non-binary identification of gender. When we learn about our past and celebrate the accomplishments of women during Women’s History Month, we are really acknowledging the need for equal treatment among all genders.
Explain how you are committed to the legal profession?
I feel a passion that draws me to this profession more than any other. I fought that desire initially, choosing a career in an entirely different profession when I finished my undergraduate studies. Despite my success there, a little voice in my head gnawed at me, forcing me to acknowledge my desire to fight injustice and to help people who couldn’t help themselves. An unfortunate thing about the legal profession is that it’s not uncommon to find that people are suspicious of attorneys and therefore resist calling an attorney when they really need one. So many of us attorneys have tremendous compassion for the difficulties that people face. There are easier ways to make a living, but I do this because I care about people, and I want to have some role in easing each person’s suffering or bringing them relief from a problem that keeps them up at night. I never lose sight of that, and I believe that so many of my peers feel the same way.
