2026 Ones To Watch - Rising Stars: Anazette Ray, Zetlin & DeChiara LLP

“Anazette has worked on a number of important matters in the built environment and has established herself as a top construction litigator. Her hard work and commitment have translated into achieving great results for her clients.” 

Who has been a mentor or influential figure in your career, and what is the most valuable advice they have shared with you?
My mentors would be all the women in this field who have come before me. When I started in this field, there were just a handful of female attorneys in this practicing construction litigation. I can recall sitting at depositions in multi-part complex construction defect cases and seeing only a handful of female attorneys surrounded by twenty male counterparts. The female attorneys who came before me forged a path and opened doors, demonstrating that women have every right to be here and are just as capable of handling this field. It is great seeing more women become involved in this field.

What trends or opportunities do you see shaping the future of your industry?
I am really interested in seeing how the use of Artificial Intelligence tools impacts the construction field. Typically, laborers in our industry were viewed to be safe jobs. It will be interesting to see how the use of software and robotics impacts the labor industry in the construction field. We have already starting to see a large impact on the design process, with more and more AI tools being used by architects and engineers with respect to drafting design documents, the inspection process, and even writing. Whether these tools have a proportionate impact on labor remains to be seen.