Eileen R. Fullerton | Age: 45 Managing partner

Fullerton Beck LLP

White Plains, New York

“I’m one of the few people who knew what they wanted to do from a young age,” said Eileen R. Fullerton, who became a lawyer as she intended and now has her name on the door. “I honestly don’t ever remember wanting to be anything else.”

A trial advocacy class during her second year at law school ultimately determined the direction she wanted to pursue as a lawyer. “I just loved everything to do with trial advocacy and litigation and that’s what I knew I wanted to do,” and her enthusiasm for the field has lasted, she said. “I know a lot of people I graduated with who no longer practice law. I still love what I do.”

After graduating from the Pace University law school in 2001, she took a position as assistant corporation counsel with the City of New York and was assigned to the Bronx Tort Division. “If you want trial experience, you go to the Bronx, because you get the most exposure and experience and personal injury is a huge volume for them,” she said. In 2005, she moved to the private sector.

Ms. Fullerton opened her own firm in 2018 because the hierarchy of a large law firm did not present her with the opportunity she sought, she said.

She and partner Katrine Beck opened Fullerton Beck in White Plains with five attorneys. The firm, which specializes in insurance defense litigation, now has 26 attorneys and 47 staff and additional offices in Red Bank, New Jersey, and North Haven, Connecticut.

Eileen Jenkins, GL technical manager at Builders Insurance Group, praised Ms. Fullerton’s knowledge of the law, effective communication and ability to strategize. “The best reference I can provide is that I have recommended Eileen to several of my colleagues at other insurance companies,” Ms. Jenkins said.

Ms. Fullerton said that when she started practicing law some 20 years ago “everybody I reported to was a man.” That has changed to a more even split now, and “things are moving in the right direction,” she said.