Hall, Joan Carol

Mary M. Rudser is a partner in Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP, where she specializes in estate planning, trust administration, and probate law. In her tax and estate planning practice, Ms. Rudser prepares comprehensive estate plans and advises clients about probate avoidance and minimization of estate and income taxes. She handles all aspects of trust administrations. She also deals with succession planning for family-owned businesses. Her probate practice includes decedents' estates, conservatorships, and guardianships.

Ms. Rudser is a past Chair of the Trusts & Estates Section of the Alameda County Bar Association and a former Chair of its Trust Committee. She has also served two terms on the board of directors of the Alameda County Bar Association. In addition, she has served on multiple occasions as a court-appointed guardian-ad-litem for minors and conservatees. A lecturer and writer on tax and estate planning issues for various organizations and publications, she is a member of the East Bay Tax Club and the East Bay Women's Forum.

In her civic life, Ms. Rudser is incoming President of the Rotary Club of Oakland for the year 2009-2010, and has also served on its board of directors and on its foundation's board of trustees. She also currently serves on the board of the Peralta Colleges Foundation.

Before joining Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP, she formed Stein, Rudser, Cohen & Magid LLP, and, prior to that, Ms. Rudser was a partner in Brody & Satz, and an associate at Miller, Starr & Regalia, both in Oakland. Prior to coming to Oakland in 1985, Ms. Rudser practiced tax law in New York City at Marks, Murase and White and at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.

Ms. Rudser was admitted to the bar in 1981 in New York and in 1985 in California. She received her B.A. degree in English from Carleton College and an M.L.S. from the University of Maryland. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Boston College Law School and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University.

Ms. Rudser is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, the U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the U.S. Tax Court. She is a member of the California and New York state bars and the Alameda County Bar Association. She has been named a Super Lawyer by San Francisco Magazine, an honor bestowed on just 5% of the lawyers practicing in Northern California.