Emilie R. Ninan joined the few and the proud among Delaware lawyers early last year when she was made a partner in the business group at Wilmington firm Potter Anderson & Corroon and became one of only a handful of minority partners in the state.

This January, Ninan, whose parents came to the United States from India, added a further distinction: She was named chairwoman of the firm’s public finance practice when Charles S. McDowell, chairman for more than 20 years, semiretired.