Joshua S. Rubenstein

Joshua S. Rubenstein is national head of the firm’s Trusts and Estates practice. He handles a wide variety of private client matters on a local, national and international level, including personal and estate planning, the administration of estates and trusts, and contested Surrogate’s Court and tax proceedings for high net worth individuals, professionals, entrepreneurs, artists and others with unique intellectual property interests, and is a frequent lecturer and author on these topics. He is an Academician, member of the Executive Council and Treasurer of the International Academy of Estates and Trusts Law (IAETL); a Fellow, past Regent and current chair of the International Estate Planning Committee of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel (ACTEC); an officer of the Family Law Section of the International Bar Association (IBA); and a member of the United Kingdom-based Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). He is a former chair of the Trusts & Estates Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and of the International Estate Planning Committee of the Real Property and Probate Section of the American Bar Association. Mr. Rubenstein is also a member of the American Law Institute (ALI) CLE’s Estate Planning Advisory Panel and serves on the editorial board of Warren’s Heaton and the Trusts and Estates Advisory Board of Legal Week.

Mr. Rubenstein is extremely active in the community. He serves as a director of the ACTEC Foundation and a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation. He is a vice president of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, a past president of the Irvington Institute for Immunological Research and a past chair of the Trust & Estates Division of UJA Federation. In addition, Mr. Rubenstein is a member of the professional advisory councils of the Central Park Conservancy, Columbia Law School, Columbia University Health Sciences Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Art and Design, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York City Ballet, the New York Office of Court Administration, the New York Philharmonic, The New York Public Library and the Practising Law Institute.

Mr. Rubenstein is a former adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School. He is the author of the LexisNexis AnswerGuide on New York Surrogate’s Court Practice and a contributing author of A Family’s Guide to Wealth: Insights from Thought Leaders and Pioneers. He was a presiding judge for the 2011 STEP Annual Private Client Awards and is often featured or quoted in prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Kiplinger’s, Crain’s, New York Law Journal, The Washington Post and Citywealth, and on broadcast and cable news programs such as FOX, Bloomberg, CNBC and WPIX. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (1993–2013); Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC Expert Guides’ The Best of the Best in Trusts & Estates; Who’s Who in American Law; Who’s Who in the World; New York Super Lawyers (2006–2012); Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business at the Band One level for the Eastern Region in Wealth Management as one of the “Leaders in their Field” (2006, 2008–2012); Chambers Global (2013); Lawdragon’s 3000 Leading Lawyers in America; and has been named as one of the “Best Lawyers in New York” by New York Magazine. In addition, Mr. Rubenstein has been listed as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” by American Lawyer; one of the “Top 100 U.S. Attorneys” by the Robb Report, Worth Magazine (2005); the only American in the “Top 20 International Wealth Advisors,” an “Internationally Prominent Figure,” a “2011 Leader,” and the 2012 “International Lawyer of the Year” by Citywealth (a UK weekly); the head of the Best Private Client Practice in North America by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners; an “Endorsed Individual” in private client services (USA) by Practical Law Company; and one of the “Top 100 Americas Wealth Advisors,” in connection with which he was named “U.S. Private Client Attorney of the Year,” also by Citywealth (2006).

Mr. Rubenstein received his BA in Greek and Latin, magna cum laude, from Columbia University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his JD from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey and before various Federal Courts, including the United States Tax Court.