As he heard Richard A. Rosenbaum speaking over a lunch of salad and fish yesterday, it occurred to a reporter how unusual it was in this city of powerful, narcissistic people for a super achiever to cogitate at some length on how he coaches his 9-year-old son Ben’s basketball team and cheers at his swim meets, and watches closely as his 7-year-old daughter Rebecca excels at gymnastics and ice skating.

It was even rarer to hear someone like him – a nationally known lawyer at the top of his profession – attribute much of his success to the support of his spouse. Many titans of New York seldom make it beyond the “I, me, myself” in conversations with journalists; references to family are, at best, en passant.

“You can’t have the degree of personal success – and the freedom to work toward that success – without a special kind of wife,” Mr. Rosenbaum, the managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig, which is among the largest in America in such areas as real estate, litigation, entertainment law and government-relations practice. “My wife Loretta and I knew each other since we were teenagers, she is my beautiful friend and partner. When you live and work in a high-pressure environment, your family can contribute to your drive, or they can hold you back. Many people in New York’s high-visibility professions have difficulty in maintaining family relationships.”

The fact that Mr. Rosenbaum has not had such difficulty may flow from the values inculcated in him by his parents, Sol and Hilda, when he was growing up in Bayside, Queens. One emphasis certainly was on family solidarity; another was education – Mr. Rosenbaum was the first in his family to go beyond high school, attending the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and then took night classes at St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, where he graduated third in a class of 300.

Still another value was integrity.

“You don’t need my signature to have my word,” he said. “Your integrity and reputation are all you really have in the professional world.”

And still another value concerned self-confidence.

“My parents taught me that you should never let other people tell you what you can’t do,” Mr. Rosenbaum said.

Taken in the aggregate, these values have helped shaped his career, one that the CEO of Greenberg Traurig – a 1,400-lawyer firm headquartered in Miami and with offices in 22 cities in America and three overseas – applauds. The CEO, Cesar Alvarez, told The New York Sun: “Richard’s career is an outstanding demonstration of drive, work ethic and the ability to motivate other lawyers. He gets things done.”

Those qualities resonate well with Mr. Rosenbaum’s clients as well. Last night, Howard Tytel of CKX – the company that recently acquired Elvis Presley’s assets – said: “I have never seen anyone in the legal business that combines the spirit of entrepreneurship and knowledge of the law as Richard does.” Mr. Tytel should know; he’s a lawyer himself.

That sentiment was also echoed by one of America’s most celebrated figures in the entertainment industry, Jack Boyle, who was once the largest concert promoter in America with a company called Cellar Door. Mr. Boyle, who’s an active investor and entrepreneur throughout the country, especially in the entertainment, club and restaurant businesses, said: “He’s not only totally honest and forthright with you; he has a finely honed business sense. I owe my success to Richard.”

They met in Florida, when Mr. Rosenbaum managed Greenberg Traurig’s Fort Lauderdale office, which he joined in 1985 as only the second lawyer in the branch. Within three years, he had transformed the office into the second largest law firm in the city. Within seven years of joining Greenberg Traurig, Mr. Rosenbaum made partner.

One of the clients he befriended during those years was the late Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s. He reveres Thomas to this day, and he referred several times during the lunch to the entrepreneur’s ability to work well with people of all backgrounds and social status. “He was definitely a mentor,” Mr. Rosenbaum said of Thomas. One of the legendary entrepreneur’s closest aides, Rick Richards of Columbus, last night spoke of how warmly Thomas – who died in January 2002 – regarded the lawyer.

“Dave really valued Richard not only for his legal skills but also as a friend,” Mr. Richards, who is trustee of Thomas’s estate, told the Sun. “They certainly had a special relationship – it was based on mutual respect and trust. I know Dave was very proud of Richard, and I know that he would have been even prouder in light of what Richard’s been able to achieve in recent years.”

So what brought Mr. Rosenbaum back to New York from Florida?

Ambition, for one. “I looked around Fort Lauderdale and said, ‘I need to move on,’ and I accepted an offer to move to New York,” he said.

When he came to New York in 1996, Greenberg Traurig’s office here had 35 lawyers.The firm, which was founded in 1967, was scarcely what might be called, even charitably, a player in a city of mega law firms with annual billings in the hundreds of millions. When Mr. Rosenbaum arrived, Greenberg Traurig had revenues of $14 million. Last year, that figure had climbed to $170 million, representing about 25% of Greenberg Traurig’s total U.S. revenues. The New York office now has 275 lawyers, each personally picked by Mr. Rosenbaum.

“If you’ve grown up in New York, no matter where you go in the world you always feel that you’ve never really made it unless you’ve made it in New York,” Mr. Rosenbaum said.

And what explains his success?

He paused ever so slightly, and then said: “Some of it is genetic. My parents gave me the DNA to succeed. In high school, I was captain of the swimming team – even though I wasn’t naturally the best swimmer. I was on the football team, even though I was hardly the best natural player. Why? Because I wanted it more than anyone else. It was total will power. The personal drive, the willingness to make sacrifices, the sheer desire to create something special in your field – that simply has to be in you.”

When some other achievers talk like this, it’s hard for a reporter to push away the sense that they are indulging in vanity. But, somehow, Mr. Rosenbaum communicates his convictions with clarity and cordiality.

Does he see himself as someone out of the ordinary?

“Successful, yes,” he said. “Focused, yes. But I cannot afford to be arrogant. I’m a service provider. My job description isn’t about me – it’s about helping my clients in the media, in entertainment, in real-estate, in information technology, in bankruptcy law, in taxation matters. In my business, you need to be nimble, unbureaucratic; you need to be able to collaborate well, and not be continually confrontational. But you also need the personal discipline to take tough action. You need to be able to deliver the goods.”

That Greenberg Traurig delivers the goods can be seen by the fact that the firm has been growing at the rate of 25% annually for the last several years. Its 125-lawyer office in Washington, and in state and local capitals around the country make it America’s biggest law firm dealing in government relations; in Albany, Greenberg Traurig has 20 lawyers.

New offices have been opened in Amsterdam, Zurich, and Milan, with a new office expected shortly in Tokyo.

The reporter asked again: “Do you see yourself as being out of the ordinary?”

“I have the ability to read people and to size up situations,” Mr. Rosenbaum said. “I know how to communicate the vision of my law firm in an honest way. I know, best of all, how to surround myself with stars, serve them well, and also serve those who come to us to resolve their problems. Since I was a kid, I have been able to face reality, make decisions, act and then move on.”

“I believe in the entrepreneurial spirit – that you can succeed with a dream, hard work, the belief that anything is possible, careful application of your intelligence and collaborating in a timely manner,” he said. “After all, isn’t that really what New York has always been about – generation after generation?”