Roket of Olshan discusses her 'game changer' transactions

Name: Nina Roket Title: Partner Company/firm: Olshan Years with Company/firm: 14 Years in field: 16 Years in real estate industry: 14 Address: 65 East 55th Street, New York, New York Telephone: 1-212-451-2335 Email: [email protected] URL: www.olshanlaw.com Real estate organizations/affiliations: WX, ICSC, ULI During the last 10 years of your career, which professional accomplishment, honor or achievement was most meaningful to you and why? Becoming the first and only female equity partner and executive committee member of my firm (of 80 attorneys). Which project, deal or transaction was the 'game changer' in the advancement of your career during the last 10 years? There were 3 game changers: 1. Representing the owner of an office building in downtown NY in leasing over 100,000 s/f to the first public high school to open in downtown NY since 9/11. 2. Representing the buyer of a shopping center in Las Vegas, Nevada and handling the leasing of the entire shopping center. 3. Representing the owner of 25 million s/f of office and warehouse space across the country in its leasing program. How do you contribute to your company and / or the industry? I am a co-administrative partner of my firm and an executive committee member. I founded and chair the Women's Committee of my firm whose goal is the advancement of professional women at my firm. I am the first and only female equity partner of my firm and the first and only female member of my firm's executive committee. In addition, I serve on the firm's risk management and hiring committees. What advice would you give to women just starting out in commercial real estate? Network, network, network. Very early on in my career, I realized the importance of getting out there and making connections with people (especially women) in and out of the industry. Capitalizing on those connections have helped me tremendously in generating and giving out business and developing a strong network of women I can call upon for just about anything. On top of that, work really, really, really hard, learn as much as you can and find a great mentor. How do you manage the work / life balance? I don't necessarily believe in balance. Just making each day work as best as you can. Most days are completely out of balance-either dominated by work or personal life. My daughter was 2 when I started law school. I started working right out of law school and have worked straight throughout my career. Having an incredible support system at home was paramount. And working at a firm that understood when personal life needed to take over was key. Who or what has been the strongest influence on your career and why? In my second year at my firm, a client gave me a chance on a small transaction because they were impressed with me when they were opposite of me on a transaction. They took a chance on a junior associate. Over the years, I garnered their respect and confidence. That client (who was my first client) has developed into one of my largest clients to date and really spearheaded my career. How are you using social media to promote yourself, your products and / or your firm? I am using LinkedIn and Twitter to post updates on my matters or matters that are of interest to people in the industry. I have also joined a number of great groups on LinkedIn (including yours) and have made great connections from those groups. Where would you like to be 10 years from today? I'd love to continue to do what I am doing and grow my business. It's funny, just yesterday, I met up with an old friend and a former associate at my firm (she and I graduated law school the same year). She told me who knew 10 years ago (when I was a junior associate) I would be where I am today!