May 19, 2022, is a special day at SmolenPlevy. That date marks Daniel H. Ruttenberg’s 25th anniversary as a principal with the firm.
Dan is one of very few attorneys in northern Virginia who’s also a certified public accountant (CPA). Ironically, becoming a CPA decades ago is what inspired Dan to go into law.
Being a full-time CPA wasn’t in Dan’s DNA, but combining his accounting and legal knowledge made him a powerhouse for SmolenPlevy clients who need business planning, general corporate law, estate planning and estate administration.
As Dan explains, “I have a business and accounting background. I’m much better suited personality-wise to transactional work versus being a litigator.”
Another reason Dan leaves litigating to others is, he becomes single-mindedly passionate about courtroom battles. For Dan, litigation is personal.
“That’s how I ended up taking a small insurance case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,” he recalls. That was in April 2013, in the case of Hillman v. Maretta. Arguing the case before all nine justices was one of the proudest moments of his career — and perhaps also one of the most exhausting.
Now, says Dan, “I feel the same huge sense of pride and accomplishment every time I see the relief on my clients’ faces once they have signed their [estate] documents. When my daughter was little and asked me what I did for work, I told her that I helped people, because that is what I feel that I do every day.”
Dan’s devotion to his clients combined with his passion for service were long ago evident to his peers, who elected him as the youngest-ever president of the Fairfax Bar Association (FBA). He served as an FBA director for seven years, as well as on the board of directors for the Fairfax Law Foundation.
As Dan looks to the future, he says his number one goal is “to continue representing my clients as best I can for as long as I can.”
But, candidly, that’s a bit overly modest. Dan has an outsized impact on just about everything he does, and he goes after challenges other lawyers rarely pursue.
For example, Dan got frustrated with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles denying Car Tax Relief to his clients who put their cars in a trust for estate planning purposes, so he got a delegate to sponsor a bill and testified before both the House of Delegates and the Senate. Virginia House Bill 693, which takes effect July 1, 2022, directs the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to put a process in place that treats car ownership by an individual the same as car ownership by a trust for purposes of Car Tax Relief.
His service extends to the nonprofit sector. For nearly two decades, Dan has served on the Board of Directors (most of that time was as Vice President) of Devotion To Children, a charity that provides access to high-quality educational and child-care programs for children from low-income families, aged six and under. He is also the founder and President of a new 501(c)(3) charity called Poker Players Who Care, which is a charitable organization designed to make giving fun.
Reflecting on how the practice of law has changed since he started 25 years ago, Dan observes: “Technology has changed a lot. Nice office space is not as necessary. Most of my clients’ first impressions of me happen over Zoom. Also, most files are now electronic instead of paper. I remember the first time I emailed a spreadsheet to someone’s office and was able to open it up there. I was amazed.”
For young people considering careers in today’s legal profession, Dan offers sage advice: “They don’t teach you the business of law in law school. They really should. Marketing is such an important part of the practice and very few people have any idea how to do it. If someone is thinking they want to go into private practice, they should do so with an understanding of the importance of marketing.”
Dan has consistently been named a Best Lawyer by The Best Lawyers in America© since 2015. He was recognized as an AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell in 2021. Since 2013, he has consistently been chosen by his peers as a Super Lawyer for Virginia and the District of Columbia in estate planning. Dan was recognized as a Top Lawyer by Northern Virginia Magazine in 2016, 2015, 2013, and 2011. And he received a SmartCEO Magazine Power Player award in 2013 and 2014.
Dan is the author of “The Tax Court’s Execution of the Family Entity: The Tax Court’s Application of Internal Revenue Code Section 2036(a) to Family Entities,” North Dakota Law Review Vol. 80:41 (2004). He remains a member of the Bar in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Maryland.
