Providing Peace of Mind

Before deciding to become a lawyer, Day Pitney partner Ruth Moskowitz gained valuable experience in two very different jobs that strengthened her leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills and solidified her desire to find a career that satisfied her intellectual curiosity while allowing her to help people.

Moskowitz worked first as an intern for the United Nations and then as a recruiter. Both roles exposed Moskowitz to people from diverse backgrounds who were facing challenges and needed to find solutions. Moskowitz learned that the best way to solve problems was to listen, empathize, and collaborate with others to achieve a common goal. While Moskowitz enjoyed the interpersonal component of her jobs, she sought more of an intellectual challenge and enrolled in an accelerated program at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

While in law school, Moskowitz quickly realized that trusts and estates law provided an ideal match for her skill set. "I love that the practice allows me to work closely with individual clients and also requires the ability to understand and explain complicated concepts," Moskowitz said. As a trusted adviser, Moskowitz uses her knowledge of the law to advocate for her clients and provide peace of mind. Moskowitz has an "immediate knowledge of relevant current law, personal empathy with her clients and a competence that inspires well-placed trust in her advice," said client Karen Keegan of Greenwich, Connecticut. "She brings a reliability and a professionalism that are critical for a positive and enduring lawyer-client relationship. She is open-minded and thorough in her approach to all matters, and she keeps her client's best interests front and center at all times."

Moskowitz devotes the majority of her practice to estate planning for individuals (including gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax planning), trust and estate administration, and trust and estate disputes. The clients she represents include individuals, banks and trust companies, and Moskowitz enjoys the unique challenges that come with each relationship.

In addition to her early jobs, playing team sports throughout her life, including Division I soccer in college, was instrumental in helping Moskowitz develop her collaborative leadership style. "I learned from an early age that success was impossible without communication, discipline, and teamwork."

Moskowitz's ability to lead a team came into play recently, when she represented Keegan in an interfamily transaction. "Through careful family estate planning, Ruth honestly awed us with her leadership and focus," said Keegan. "By tapping the varied experience of internal partners and leveraging her professional network of contacts, Ruth led us through a complicated bicoastal transaction that will positively impact our entire family for years to come."