PRACTICING LAW FOR 70 YEARS-AND COUNTING

by David Zenian


Gasper Magarian could have retired 30 years ago. He did not, and still has no intention to stop doing what he loves most - practicing law as he has for the past 70 years.

In 1995, there were 118,574 active lawyers on the State Bar of California, including 1,346 who were over the age of 75. At 97, Magarian is the oldest active member of the State Bar, and the oldest son of an Armenian farmer who arrived in Massachusetts penniless 100 years ago to escape Ottoman Turkish persecution.

"I was born July 2, 1899 in Billerica, Massachusetts, and moved to Fresno in 1904 with my parents. I have three brothers and two sisters. They are all alive and well. We were raised on my father's seven acre farm. We are a tight-knit family," Magarian said in an interview.

His brothers Arsen, Sooren and Frank are 94, 92, and 90 years old respectively. His sister Mary is 87 and Rose, the "baby" of the family, is 85. They have all retired, but not Gasper, as he is affectionately addressed by other lawyers and friends. He has "voluntarily" curtailed his own work load to a one day a week schedule when he comes in at 11a.m. to help out at the law offices of Heyman, Krikorian, and Magarian in downtown Fresno. "I'm in the office mostly Tuesday's, and other days by appointment only," he said.

The Magarian partner on the law firm's letterhead is not Gasper, but rather his grandson Mark, and 62-year-old son Donald who left his well established practice to join the new venture. "I brought my father and grandfather along. I would not have had it any other way. Grandfather Gasper has his own office in the firm and is one our most valuable assets," Mark Magarian said. Two of Magarian Sr.'s other grandchildren are also lawyers and one grandchild is a paralegal.

"It seems I set a trend for the new generation. But the practice of law has changed since I started," Magarian Sr. says. The son of a farmer who spoke little English, he graduated from a local high school and headed to Stanford University in October 1919.

"My father was not rich, but then at that time there was no tuition at Stanford. The annual incidental fees were about 60 dollars," Magarian Sr. said. That was 1925, and Fresno was too small.

The following year, in 1926, Magarian Sr. was admitted to the State Bar and began work for a law firm in San Francisco where he stayed until 1934. But he was homesick. Fresno was still small, but it was his hometown. So Magarian Sr. moved back to Fresno to begin a legal career which he still has not given up. He no longer handles actual court cases, but acts more as an adviser, researcher, and a one-man think-tank for his son's law practice.

Other lawyers in the office say it helps to have someone like Magarian around, and consider it "an advantage to talk to someone with 70 years of experience and all the wisdom that comes with it - someone who is committed to the honorable and ethical practice of law."

But for Magarian Sr. it's a job which he loves "because it's fascinating and it also keeps me busy. People come in asking for legal counsel. I am ready to do that, but I refer most of the cases to the boys. I have recently started specializing in probate cases, " he said. The "boys" are his son and grandson.

In his first 50 years as a practicing lawyer, Magarian Sr. handled everything from bankruptcy to divorce and from land transfers to criminal cases.

"In those days, they did not have public defenders. If a judge wanted you to take a case, you could not turn it down. You did it pro bono. I have handled thousands of cases. No rich clients, mostly the middle class and poor. I have done a lot of free work, have drawn up hundreds of wills and know who has what in this community. But I am a lawyer, and there is something called lawyer-client confidentiality. I cannot discuss personal matters," he says.

Throughout his life, Magarian Sr. has been involved in the Armenian community, often quietly helping out where needed. His secret to a long and productive life is simple, "Try not to get tense, and if you do, work it out. Don't deny your Armenianism, but at the same time don't act too Armenian," he says with a smile.