Business Women Awards 2025
CAREER ACHIEVER:
Karen G. DelPonte, Cameron & Mittleman LLP partner
KAREN G. DELPONTE’S FINGERPRINTS are quite noticeable around Cameron & Mittleman LLP’s office, literally and figuratively. And the Providence-based law firm has benefited greatly from DelPonte’s influence for close to three decades.
DelPonte, a partner at the firm, exemplifies the role of a trusted adviser. She created the firm’s estate planning practice group, specializing in advising individuals and business clients with respect to family-owned businesses, limited liability companies and family partnerships.
DelPonte advises clients on reducing or eliminating estate and gift taxes and on business succession. Her team of nine, which includes four attorneys and several paralegals, is one of, if not the, largest estate planning groups in Rhode Island, DelPonte said.
Some team members have worked with DelPonte for more than 20 years, she said. Two of them, attorney Lynn Riley and paralegal Pauline Long, exemplify some of the personnel who have made the firm excel, DelPonte said.
“We grew slowly,” DelPonte said. “You’ve got to try to find and surround yourself with people who are quality, smart, hardworking people. They helped lay the foundation that we built our department on.”
Helping plan family estates and business successions involves a certain kind of specialized service, DelPonte says. Much of what she does is not acrimonious, she says, but rather trying to help people through family and tax situations.
“You really become an adviser to your client,” DelPonte said. “So, it’s really a positive for me helping people with an important aspect of their life.”
DelPonte also left an indelible mark at Cameron & Mittleman when she was its managing partner for five years. Her focus was to chase quality and maintain a certain level of excellence, as well as balance that with building a great workplace atmosphere.
“We want to not compromise on quality and responsiveness and client service, but we want to do it in a way that people like coming to work and people like the people they work with and respect them,” DelPonte said. “That was really important to me.”
Sally McDonald, a fellow partner at Cameron & Mittleman, says DelPonte is one of her inspirations in the business world. She considers DelPonte an “amazing mentor” in working together on and off for about 20 years.
What makes DelPonte special as an attorney, McDonald says, is that she also understands the business of law. That insider knowledge makes her a great partner at the firm, McDonald says.
“She has an amazing way of handling situations that are difficult in this very calm, professional manner, but she can also be extremely direct and get things done,” McDonald said.
Nowhere is that more apparent than when DelPonte runs a tight meeting. McDonald says DelPonte does not let anyone get off track during conferences at the office but isn’t rude about it.
“She just really has a way of dealing with people in a professional setting,” McDonald said. “She is an exceptional attorney, extremely intelligent, sophisticated and very classy. She represents some of the most successful Rhode Islanders in estate planning.”
That directness and efficient approach to work, McDonald says, complements DelPonte’s determination and leadership.
“To me, that is the sign of a true professional woman, is that they can be direct and they don’t fear being judged for that,” she said.
All of these qualities allow DelPonte to offer the best advice for her clients. DelPonte can counsel clients and follow a plan they may have in mind, but she is also very thorough with her approach to ensuring the clients get the best possible outcome.
“She might be able to ask delicate questions to get at whether that is really what they want or if they’re just mad at the moment,” McDonald said. “We refer to ourselves as being trusted advisers and she’s a very trusted adviser to her clients.”
