Arnold H. Rutkin has long been one of the most accomplished and influential divorce lawyers practicing in Connecticut. That’s according to peers and rivals, because Rutkin - wise, mild mannered, almost self-effacing - would be the last person to trumpet such a reputation. Indeed, the Bridgeport native, a veteran of complex divorce cases, has made a broad and valuable contribution to the law and the legal community. He has written on, lectured and taught all matters of matrimonial law for more than three decades. As a practicing lawyer for 50 years, he remains the most prominent divorce attorney based in affluent Westport; he is certainly among the top attorneys in his field in the state, perhaps in the nation. Rivals say that, while he’s mellowed and now Of Counsel to the firm he founded, Rutkin remains a zealous advocate for his clients.

Reflecting on his career, Rutkin says “you could say I backed into this.” His parents, who owned a high quality men’s store in Bridgeport, had him running business errands as a youngster; “I was a pretty normal kid, well rounded.” In fact he graduated first in his class from Milford Prep. He excelled in math (“I thought I might go to Wall Street”), and went on to Penn; among his business courses as a Wharton undergraduate was a psychology course; “I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.” Friends say Rutkin (many call him “Arnie”), with great skills of practical judgment, strategy and creativity, has a knack for understanding people and their problems. Out of law school he focused on all manner of trial work; He spent more than a decade with a Bridgeport firm doing trial work before launching his own practice. By then, in his early 40s, Rutkin was already well known for handling complex divorce cases - “people came to me because they wanted a trial lawyer for their divorce case. Most people want to settle their case, and having a trial lawyer and creative negotiator at their side frequently results in settlements.”

In a sense his practice has evolved with the field itself, once a legal backwater and now a central, respected part of the profession, an evolution he helped foster. In 1992 he spearheaded the writing of a multi-volume treatise, Connecticut Family Law Practice, which remains a key legal reference (co-authored by Kathleen Hogan and his current partner, Sally Oldham, herself a member of both the American and International Academies of Matrimonial Law). Indeed, teaching and mentoring have been a large part of Rutkin’s professional life; he continues to write “Rutkin’s Rubrick” for a Family Law newsletter.

Over the years Rutkin has guided his firm to be a truly selective boutique: He insists on handling fewer than 10 cases at once, a tiny number for most. “People come to us looking for quality representation. And they know they are not dealing with a part-time divorce lawyer.” For over a decade Rutkin & Oldham has been based at the firm’s tastefully converted New England colonial on Imperial Avenue in downtown Westport. Today their six-attorney practice is thriving, and Rutkin remains something of a traditionalist: “With all the affluence, the reputation, the gratification, I think as a society we have to remind ourselves of what’s important.”