Tara Mulrooney, partner at Zetlin & De Chiara

NEW YORK CITY—As a recently appointed woman partner practicing real estate and construction law at Zetlin & De Chiara, Tara Mulrooney emphasizes that professional women should find mentors. She also advises women to specialize and build an expertise early on in an area for which they have a passion.

In 2001, Mulrooney started at Thacher, Proffitt & Wood as an associate where she worked for a little over two years. She continued as an associate for another couple of years at Westermann, Sheehy, Keenan, Samaan & Aydelott.

From November 2005 through August 2009, she was an associate at Zetlin, where she worked on large contracts and dispute resolution. She credits the firm for providing an opportunity to focus on construction and real estate law. Mulrooney also points to a senior partner in the firm, Carol Patterson, as being an early mentor.

“When I was developing as a junior and mid-level attorney, she always had her door open to me. I learned so much about transactional work from her and that was invaluable in my not feeling intimidated in a male-dominated area,” says Mulrooney.

Breaking down barriers can be a numbers game. She emphasizes the importance of having other professional women in the field as helpful to women.

“When I was younger, I found myself not really speaking up,” admits Mulrooney. “I think having other women attorneys to go and relate these experiences to really helped enable me to find my voice, to be more vocal, to have faith and trust in the knowledge that I had and to learn how to express it better.”

She emphasizes mentors for women attorneys do not always have to be women. She credits both female and male mentors in helping her learn how to present herself and how to gain a stronger voice—especially as a young associate in room filled with men.

Now as a partner, knowing how much it helped her own career, Mulrooney plans to be a mentor for younger attorneys, especially women.

Following her initial tenure at Zetlin, she became a partner at Ingram, Yuzek, Gainen, Carroll & Bertolotti, working in the construction and design practice. Subsequently, for the next four and a half years, she was special construction counsel at Proskauer Rose, preceding her return to Zetlin.

At the firm's boutique practice, she represents owners, developers, design professionals and project managers in industries including retail, healthcare, sports and hospitality. Mulrooney brings experience in drafting and negotiating construction-related agreements, providing risk management strategies, negotiating licenses and litigating construction cases.

As a final piece of advice the Zetlin partner suggests joining industry-wide networking groups, stating several are led by women. “It helps you to see how many women there are taking on so many different roles in the industry,” she says.

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