Joshua Rubenstein, Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman

What are some of your proudest recent achievements? I'm most proud of the relationships that I have built and deepened with families and individuals who trust that I will ensure that their most valuable assets and their future generations are protected. I'm honored to lead and grow Katten's global trusts and estates and private client services practices and to be part of an interdisciplinary team that has developed a well-established reputation for solving the complicated problems that high-net-worth clients face and that concern them the most. Another professional accomplishment of which I am particularly proud is to have been the youngest lawyer to ever head these practices at Rosenman and Colin and later become its youngest firm chairman who led the 2002 merger with Katten.

What does it mean to be a leader? To me, a leader is someone who embodies integrity and compassion in his or her actions. Someone who empowers and inspires others, encourages collaboration and fosters innovation. Someone who has earned respect, gained the trust of others and has showed courage in the face of adversity. I try to lead by example and guide others to success. I am personally invested in the attorneys and business professionals in Katten's trusts and estates department and private client services group as the firm's national chair of both, and I try to motivate them, share my knowledge and insight with them, help them overcome any roadblocks, and support their ascent up the career ladder.

Name a lawyer or mentor whose leadership inspired you. As a fourth generation trusts and estates practitioner, I can look back at my family history for good role models who have inspired me and helped shape me into the lawyer I am today. My father was a preeminent trusts and estates litigator; my grandfather was the judge of the Kings County Surrogate's Court; and my great grandfather was the Kings County alderman in charge of estate taxes.

How are the business and profession of law changing, and how should lawyers adapt for the future? The world is changing faster than ever, and that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Like many industries, there is a premium placed on innovation and creativity, and the legal profession is no different. Lawyers need to be nimble, strategic and entrepreneurial, and quickly to adapt to meet the rapidly changing and evolving needs of our clients and of the marketplace. Lawyers are taught to rely upon precedent, but they must embrace change.

What is the best advice for someone considering a career in law, or someone already in the profession who is seeking to make a greater impact? Lawyers are needed more than ever, particularly given the relentless, unanticipated change affecting virtually every aspect of life. But don't join or remain in an area of legal practice just because it is vogue or currently profitable. Find an area of law about which you are passionate. Give the clients who can afford your services your passion, and offer what you learn from those clients to clients who cannot afford you.