NutraWomen Wednesday: Pooja Nair, partner at Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Nair​ said she takes her role seriously as she carries on her family legacy of practicing law.

“My grandmother was one of the first female lawyers in the state that she lived in India. So it always kind of was a passion of mine to get into law. So early on, even when I was pretty young, like seven or eight, I kind of thought that I wanted to be a lawyer. And then once I started practicing law, I started out doing white collar criminal defense. And so I worked with the pharmaceutical industry, which gave me some exposure to FDA and how the industry worked. But I was working at a bigger law firm when I realized what I was really passionate about is working with smaller entrepreneurs who were really passionate about their product and to feel like the legal problem solving I'm doing is making a tangible difference. And I feel for me that food and beverage, there's nothing quite as tangible as a product that you consume, right? And so people who are in the food and beverage industry are generally so passionate about what they do, [especially] the nutrition aspect. It's just a great industry to be part of and that extends to restaurants and hospitality as well. And so I made that industry my focus because it's something that I'm passionate about and I really like working with passionate people and helping them to solve legal problems," ​Nair said.

In addition to being partner at Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP, The Alexander Hamilton enthusiast serves on the board of directors for a number of professional and community-based groups. She was also voted by Best Lawyers in America as ‘One to Watch’ & ‘Women in Law’ as well as ‘Minority Leader of Influence’ by the LA Business Journal.