Clients Come First

Rebecca Strub

Attorney

Hello!  I’m Rebecca Strub, your neighborhood Personal Family Lawyer®.

My goal is to be your trusted advisor who helps you make the very best personal, financial, and legal decisions for your family throughout your lifetime. I want to help you not just now, but also when you can’t be there so that I can help guide your loved ones through a difficult process.

In short, my sole focus is to help families avoid collapse after the death or disability of a loved one.

I want you to know you’ve made a big step toward peace of mind simply by reading this.

We have many resources for you so you can ensure your family and loved ones stay out of court and out of conflict, if and when something happens to you. I'd love to share some of these resources with you going forward.

Browse around, see what we have, and feel free to request any of the resources we have for you, complimentary.

As your Personal Family Lawyer® I’d love to start protecting the people you love and everything else you care about today. I look forward to meeting you!

My Background

Rebecca Begelman Strub loves planning for the care & protection of you & yours … She also believes that when you define what you want to leave to your children, community and society – your Legacy – and you plan and take steps to pursue your goals, you enrich your life.

Rebecca graduated Washington University Law School in 2000 and started work at a small law firm. She was tasked with research and document-drafting. When she did deal directly with someone, the hourly billing model didn’t help – the clients did not want to talk or interact because they did not want to get billed for every six-minutes of lawyer time.

After a couple of years, Rebecca moved to Chicago and worked for a legal publisher on one of their tax law research products. Every day she read and summarized IRS and Tax Court rulings and notices, etc. Boring? Not to Rebecca because she finds the domain interesting. In Chicago she also met the man who became her husband.  

Facing another move – her husband had relocated to Philadelphia – and knowing she liked tax law, Rebecca pursued her LL.M. in Tax (which means Masters of Law) at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. She also fulfilled the requirements for a Certificate in Estate Planning. Rebecca had always found family history fascinating and treasured legacy objects – those things which tell a story. Having always known that she was adopted, this was a way to connect to her family and adopt their history and legacy as her own. Or, maybe it is genetic – after graduating law school, Rebecca found out that her birth mother had become a solo practitioner in estate planning.

Rebecca and her husband looked for a place to set up a household and loved Highland Park. Soon after they moved in 2005, Rebecca became pregnant and decided to focus on unpacking, setting up a home, becoming part of the community, and then being a mom.

Once both of her children were in preschool, Rebecca opened her firm so that she could use her training to help people and make a positive difference in their lives. Running her own practice lets Rebecca flexibly attend to her family as well as help others. She only charges flat fees so that clients are not afraid to call to avoid a surprise bill in the mail. She keeps in touch with her clients through her newsletter and other check-in emails. She wants to really understand what will suit you and your family and provide you with a plan that will provide for the care and protection of you and yours – in the best way possible!

Rebecca Begelman Strub, JD, LLM is licensed in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Highlights

• University of Chicago, B.A., East Asian Language and Civilizations, Chicago, IL, 1990- 1994
  • Choreograph & Perform, Off the Barre Modern Dance Group, 1990-1992
  • Study Abroad at Waseda University, Tokyo Japan, 1992-3
    • Choreograph & Perform, Waseda University Student Modern Dance Group
• Japan Exchange & Teaching Program, Saga Prefecture Japan, 1994-1997
  • Coordinator for International Relations, Planning Section, Kanzaki Town 1994-1995
  • Start giving Dinner Parties
  • English Teacher, Middle School, Kanzaki Town, 1995-1997
• Washington University School of Law, J.D., St. Louis, MO, 1997- 2000
  • Moot Court Quarterfinalist, 1998
  • Study Abroad at Temple University’s Spring Law Semester, Tokyo, Japan, 1999
• Weiss & Associates, Intern and Associate, St. Louis, MO, 1999-2002
• Passed NY Bar Exam, 2000
• Start Practicing Yoga, 2000
• Passed MO Bar Exam, 2000*
• Passed IL Bar Exam, 2002*
• CCH, Inc, Writer/Analyst, Chicago, IL, 2003
• Temple University, Beasley School of Law, LL.M., 2004-2005
• Passed NJ and PA Bar Exams, 2005
• Move to Highland Park, NJ, 2005
• Focus on raising sons from newborn to pre-school, 2006-2010
• Start Strub Law LLC, 2010
• Still practicing Yoga, Current
• Still giving Dinner Parties (although it’s usually Lunch), Current

* Currently inactive status.

JFY Virtual Services

Support & Service Coordinators

Davii Mandel and Merrin Brown, through JFY Virtual Services, coordinate support and service for Strub Law from following up if you have questions about working with us to guiding you as you work with our firm. They facilitate client communication, ensure that we have the correct information for your plan, and help manage documents throughout the process.

As epitomized by their mantra, "How will you ever grow your business if you're spending all of your time working IN it instead of ON it?", JFY Virtual Services manages the administrative parts of our firm. They are instrumental in making your process with us as smooth as possible.

Back Office Betties

Virtual Receptionist Service

Back Office Betties is our virtual receptionist service. They answer the phone so we can focus deeply on client matters and appointments without distraction. If you call, it is most helpful if you leave a message with them with the reason for your call, etc. The receptionist may ask if it’s possible for you to schedule a return call for the following day or so, to limit phone tag. Scheduling a “15 minute call” helps us help you because the person calling back can have your information and files handy. 

Under certain circumstances, (for example, you have a call scheduled for a couple of minutes ago or you won’t be able to make an appointment),  Back Office Betties may check to see if the person you’d like to talk with is available to take your call. If you get voicemail during business hours, you may leave a message, or, if you prefer to speak with someone live, call back in a minute or so. It’s possible that none of the “Betties” were able to pick up the line in time.

Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrunner, BCC

Legacy Interview Facilitator

Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrunner is a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC) with over 15 years of experience working closely with people from all backgrounds to explore and make meaning of their lives and understand their legacy. Bryan helps our clients discover what makes sense to share in their Legacy Interview. 

As part of our estate planning plans, our clients have the opportunity to record a Legacy Interview to share some “final words” with their loved ones. 

• Some are short, “Don’t fight. Support your siblings.” 
• Some are parents’ expressions of love and values, for their very young children. 
• Some are the history around an heirloom or sentimental item. 
• And so on.