NEW YORK – Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to announce that its Private Wealth Practice has been named the 2010-2011 North American Private Client Team of the Year by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). The STEP Private Client Awards highlight excellence among private client professionals worldwide. Joshua S. Rubenstein, national chair of Katten’s Private Wealth Practice, accepted the award on his practice’s behalf at the October 19 ceremony in London.

An international judging panel, including preeminent solicitors, barristers, accountants, trustees, asset managers and media professionals, said of Katten in its address to the 700-member audience, “Everything about Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is impressive: the size of its private client group, the breadth of its talent, the wide range of its experience with international families, and its overarching mission to be the best it can be.”

“Our creative and interdisciplinary approach to assisting clients in addressing the full range of trusts and estates-related issues is unique in our industry,” said Mr. Rubenstein. “We are pleased to be recognized by this elite group of practitioners for our dedication to outstanding client service.”

With 14,000 members, STEP is a professional organization of trust and estate practitioners that provides its members with a local, national and international learning and business network. It offers education, training, representation and networking for its members, who are professionals specializing in trusts and estates, executorship, administration and related taxes. Members advise clients on the broad business of the management of personal finance. Full members of the organization are the most experienced and senior practitioners in the field of trusts and estates.

Katten’s Private Wealth Practice provides creative and comprehensive representation in all areas of private client services, including personal and tax-driven estate planning for both the domestic and international client, business succession and charitable planning, probate, complex estate and trust administration, estate and trust litigation, and charitable organization representation. The firm represents both fiduciaries and beneficiaries in connection with ongoing estate and trust administration on a multigenerational basis, and is also experienced in handling contested proceedings involving estates and trusts in the courts, before taxing authorities and before governmental and regulatory authorities.