2019 Women in Real Estate: Mandee Gruen, Goodwin

Name: Mandee Gruen

Title: Partner, Real Estate Industry Group

Company Name: Goodwin 

What is your favorite motivational quote?
“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” ~ Dwight Eisenhower. This quote can provide guidance to any successful professional who is advancing in his or her career and constantly balancing increasing demands in the workplace and at home. If you’re always focused on urgent tasks, you won’t have time to accomplish your important long-term goals. This quote motivates me to prioritize my tasks, delegate appropriately and optimize my time to make every minute count.

What is the best advice you have received, and who was it from?
The chair of Goodwin’s Real Estate practice, Minta Kay, once advised me to stop saying sorry–for anything. Women especially are often conditioned to needlessly apologize, and when we do so, we can diminish what we’re trying to state, and undercut our confidence (and the confidence others have in us) in the tasks we’re trying to accomplish. This advice has resonated with me throughout my career to be unapologetically confident in my work and remains pinned up on my bulletin board right above my phone at the office. 

What recent project or transaction are you most proud of?
Last fall, we represented Normandy Real Estate Management in the formation of a co-investor consortium to invest in a joint venture to acquire a nine-story, 1.2 million s/f loft-style office and historic NYC warehouse. We were intricately involved in the structuring of the transaction with respect to Advisers Act, tax, and ERISA matters as fund counsel. The transaction was a true testament to the depth and breadth of Goodwin’s real estate bench, as well as Goodwin’s collaborative nature, with substantial contributions from attorneys across varying practice areas and multiple offices.