Herbert Rubin ’42, a name partner of the law firm Herzfeld + Rubin and a strong supporter of NYU Law’s international and global law programs, passed away on October 30 at the age of 105.
He and his wife, the late Justice Rose Luttan Rubin ’42, endowed the Herbert and Rose Rubin Professorship in International Law, currently held by José Alvarez, as well as the annual Herbert Rubin and Justice Rose Luttan Rubin International Law Symposium. In 1988, the Rubins were recipients of the Law Alumni Association Achievement Award; in 1992, they received the Law Alumni Association’s Judge Edward Weinfield Award. The Judge Rose L. and Herbert Rubin Law Review Prize is awarded annually for the most outstanding note written for the NYU Law Review in international, commercial, or public law.
Attending NYU Law as an evening student, Herbert Rubin was editor-in-chief of the NYU Law Review. After serving in the US Army during World War II, he co-founded Herzfeld + Rubin and taught creditors’ rights and bankruptcy courses at the Law School. In his wide-ranging litigation practice, Rubin argued cases in New York state and federal court at both the trial court and appellate levels, including the US Supreme Court, in areas that included product liability, commercial, real estate, regulatory, estate law, and international law. He remained an active litigator until the age of 102, pausing only because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his long career, Rubin was a committed member of the New York legal community. He served on the Judicial Screening Committees for US Senators Daniel Moynihan and Chuck Schumer, as a member of the New York State Banking Board, and on the Governor’s Judicial Nominating Committee. For more than 25 years, he was a member of the Committee on Judicial Selection for five New York City mayors. A past president of the Queens County Bar Association, he was also a member of the statutory New York City Housing Court Advisory Council and, in 1999 and 2000, a member of the New York City Commission to Revise the City Charter.
Posted November 2, 2023