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92 Profiles in Mentorship 92 Glen D. Rubin Managing Member, Rubin Lublin, LLC Chairman of the Legal League 100 Advisory Board W arren Buffett spoke the truth when he said: "When people tell me they've learned from experience, I tell them the trick is to learn from other people's experience." Growing up we all heard about setting goals and working hard to achieve them. Indeed, nothing builds character and a sense of accomplishment like putting in the effort and/or persevering through failure to achieve success. Over the years, I've been fortunate to have many great educators, role models and mentors that have helped me along the way. When I started thinking about the people that have helped guide me, the first thought that came to mind took me all the way back to sixth grade. My teacher was William Davis, definitely the coolest teacher at Public School Number 5 in Cedarhurst, New York. In sports, there are player's coaches, who all the athletes want to play for. In school, there is the student's teacher, the one all the teachers wanted to emulate and all the kids wanted to be in their class. "Mr. D" was definitely a student's teacher. He made learning fun through his creativity. In one project, he divided our class into four or five groups. e lesson was in customer service and the assignment was for each group to write a corporation about an experience with their product and elicit some form of response from them. e group that got the best response would win. I don't recall who won, but the thing I remember most was that every group received some response from the corporations after taking the time to write and share their experience with a product. Our group shared our experience with the Charms Lollipop Company about their wonderful Blow Pop. About 2 weeks later, we received a box with a year's supply of Blow Pops with a typewritten letter thanking us for all our support. It taught me early on the value of customer service. In business, you don't become or stay successful by ignoring your customers. I also learned the value of taking the time to speak up and express your feelings, positive or negative. at experience has stayed with me throughout my life. When I relocated to Atlanta, Georgia as a young attorney with just a few years' experience under my belt, I got my next piece of sage advice from Stan McCalla. Stan was a pioneer in the mortgage default industry and one of the founding partners of firm, McCalla, Raymer, LLC. I was a commercial bankruptcy lawyer from my training in New York hitting the scene in Georgia at the wrong time. As one attorney put it "just about every company that could file Chapter 11 in Georgia, already had". So I had to change my plan up a bit. I networked my way to a headhunter who had just received word that one of McCalla's best bankruptcy attorneys was about to take leave to deal with a family matter. He sent me right over for an interview with Stan, who called me into his office and proceeded to tell me how I wasn't the right fit for the position. Apparently, one of Vince Dooley's sons had already interviewed for the positon. Vince is a living legend in Georgia, having coached the Georgia Bulldogs to their last national championship in 1980. I went toe-to-toe with Stan on why I was the right man for the job. Ultimately, he hired me over the other guy and gave me my start in our industry. He said he chose me because I had a firm handshake and looked him right in the eye when I spoke with him. I had convinced him with my conviction. From Stan, I learned that conviction is a good thing. I take that with me to this day. I went on to become a partner at that firm, and would be remiss if I didn't thank two people who have the most to do with where I am today. e first is Penni Alper, who as a former bankruptcy partner at McCalla and was the very best I have witnessed at connecting with people in a business setting. She helped me grow immensely in dealing with both staff and clients. Finally, I have to acknowledge my mother. Growing up and watching her working 2 or even 3 jobs sometimes to support my brother and me, she would always say: "Glen, be your own boss. I don't care what it is, but be your own boss and you will be a lot better off." at was a goal of mine which I finally achieved in 2009. "Ultimately, he hired me over the other guy and gave me my start in our industry."

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