Profile in Inclusion

Agnes Ptasznik

Pride in her Polish heritage fuels Agnes Ptasznik’s service to the Polish community

As an experienced estate planning attorney, Agnes Ptasznik spends a lot of time preparing her clients and their families for the future. As the daughter of Polish immigrants who fled from martial law to build a better life for themselves and their child in America, Agnes also spends a great deal of time honoring her past, celebrating her heritage and serving the community that shares it.

“For my parents, fleeing from communism and oppression did not mean abandoning their background, their traditions or their fellow Poles,” Ptasznik says. “Quite the opposite, actually. Growing up, they instilled in me a deep pride and appreciation for Polish culture and traditions, a pride that was matched throughout Chicago’s large and vibrant Polish population.”

Ptasznik recalls her dad, an electrical engineer, and her mom, a medical technician, sharing the tale that brought them from Tarnow, in Poland, to Chicago. Both had spent some time in the states years before as college students, where they worked and saved up some money before returning to Poland. In 1981, as the rise of the Solidarity movement was about to trigger a brutal crackdown by the communist regime, her parents learned they were pregnant with Agnes and made plans for their return to the United States. Arriving separately as her dad was forced to stay behind for some time, they settled in Chicago, where they had relatives.

“Their journey, both in getting here and then building the lives they did for themselves and for me, has always inspired me and filled me with gratitude for their sacrifices,” she says. “I learned the importance of hard work, family and community, and their experiences actually played a significant role in the direction of my career and decision to focus my practice on estate planning.”

That career began with two decades of distinguished work at the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Illinois. But Ptasznik then switched gears, earning her LL.M. in Estate Planning in 2019 and has subsequently built a thriving practice at Chuhak & Tecson, where she is a principal. While Ptasznik says that becoming a parent and wanting to secure her children’s future was a catalyst for her move to estate planning, it was her parents who fueled her passion to be a resource for members of Chicago’s Polish-speaking community in need of estate planning services.

“For my parents, and I think for many of their contemporaries who emigrated from Poland, so much of the focus was on keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table such that estate planning wasn’t something on their radar,” she notes. Once putting together a plan did make it on their to-do list, other barriers stood in the way of getting it done, she says.

“Estate planning is complicated and unfamiliar enough to most people, but even for people who have learned enough English to be successful here in other aspects of their lives, the legal complexities become almost incomprehensible and overwhelming when discussed in a language they haven’t yet mastered,” she says. “Being fluent in Polish allows me to meet people where they are and explain matters in a way that makes them comfortable and confident to move forward. It is very gratifying to know that I am helping them secure their legacy and their children’s future, just as my parents have done for me.”

In addition to her estate planning work for the Polish-American community, Ptasznik is an active member of several organizations aimed at promoting Polish culture, and in recognition of all her service to Polish interests both locally and internationally, she was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit by the President of Poland in 2014.

At Chuhak & Tecson, Ptasznik says that her pride in her heritage is matched by her colleagues’ pride in their own diverse backgrounds and cultures. As important, she notes, is how the firm itself values, supports and celebrates those differences, including providing opportunities for people to share their stories, traditions and history.

“I absolutely love how the firm has these events and programs that allow us to come together to learn about other traditions and really deepen our understanding and appreciation for our co-workers and the experiences that have shaped who they are,” she says. “The firm’s commitment to diversity and expanding folks’ world view certainly is seen in the many educational aspects of the firm’s efforts, including a recent, incredibly moving 9/11 tribute. But they can also come in bite-sized form. The potlucks are always a blast; I love bringing in pierogi and polish sausage with cabbage for our annual Taste Around the Chuhak World and showcasing Polish cuisine.”