NORTHAMPTON — After 50 years of service, Alan Rubin’s career as a prolific public defender is finally coming to an end.

Rubin, a graduate of Harvard Law School, has seen a lot in his long career, from scandalous judges to serial killers to an embezzling funeral home. Through it all, he has carried an unwavering belief in people’s right to an attorney and delivering justice.

“Alan is one of my personal heroes,” said Lisa Hewitt, a general counsel for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state agency that provides legal representation for indigent cases and where Rubin serves as an attorney. “He’s emblematic of perfection in public defense, and a true advocate for indigent cases.”

Growing up in New York in a family that has produced several lawyers, Rubin, now 77, began work as an attorney in Boston on Dec. 11, 1972. Over the long course of his career, he says, the fundamentals of law have not changed, but there are many details which are now quite different from 50 years ago.

“There’s still a long way to go, but the system is definitely getting more diverse, and more aware of racism, sexism, things like that that are pretty pervasive,” he said. “When I was in Boston for 18 years before I came out here, pretty much everyone except the defendants in the system were white and overwhelmingly male. So that has changed drastically.”

One legal change Rubin said he’s glad to see in Massachusetts is the establishment of attorney-conducted voir dire, a court standing order begun in 2015 that allows attorneys and self-presenting parties to examine prospective jurors at the Superior Court level.

“It’s much more limited than in many other states,” he said. “But I think that helps in improving the diversity of the jury and the fairness of the jury.”

Rubin moved to Northampton in 1990 and has stayed there since, continuing his public defense work in western Massachusetts. Dave Sullivan, the current district attorney for Hampshire and Franklin counties, first met Rubin around this time, back when Sullivan was a court-appointed attorney.

“He’s a fighter, but he’s also a gentleman,” Sullvian said of Rubin. “It’s a noble profession, being a public defender, because many times you’ve taken on controversial cases that aren’t always appreciated by the public, but you’re doing an incredible service for those defendants.”

Rubin acknowledged some of the difficulties of taking on indigent clients — the odds are often stacked against you, clients don’t often trust you at first, and many come with their own personal baggage. But he also says there’s no other field of law he’d rather be in.

“My dad was a private practitioner, and I saw what he went through about worrying where the next paycheck was going to come through,” he said. “And it’s not in my personality or interest to be in business law or corporate law or anything like that. It’s just not me.”

Hampshire Superior Court clerk Harry Jekanowski Jr. said that with Rubin, indigent clients aren’t just getting some default, run-of-the-mill attorney — they’re getting the best of the best.

“If he was in private practice, he’d be a millionaire by now,” Jekanowski said. “He’s always fighting for the downtrodden and the little guy — he’s never stopped caring for the client, that takes effort and he’s done it for a long time.”

Since working in western Massachusetts, there have been several cases Rubin has been involved in that have drawn public notoriety. There was the trial of Lewis Lent, a serial killer from North Adams who was found guilty of killing a Pittsfield boy. There was Anthony Baye, who committed a spree of arsons in late 2009. And more recently, he defended William Ryder, a funeral home director who embezzled nearly $400,000 from customers in 2015.

But despite have defended some headline-grabbing clients in his career, Rubin says he’d much rather avoid the spotlight if possible.

“The cases I like where I’m able to help someone, it may not always be a trial,” Rubin said. “Maybe a resolution, or a plea with a good result, or even somehow getting a case dismissed — it’s very quiet but it really benefits the client, especially clients who then go on to really productive lives.”

Though Rubin is retiring at the end of the year, he says his work in the legal field may not be done just yet, as he may continue to do part-time work for the state. An avid rock-climber, Rubin still seems to have plenty of stamina left in him.

“I doubt if I want to go into private practice, because that’s got it’s own share of headaches,” he said. “But if somebody asked me to assist in something, I’ll just have to see how things go.”

When asked for advice to pass down to a new generation of clients, Rubin said to never forget to think about the humanity of the client.

“You’re dealing with human beings all the way around, especially human beings in difficult situations and in crisis,” he said. “As a trial lawyer in particular, you can’t lose sight of (the fact that) everyone in that courtroom is a human being ... the witnesses for you and against you, the judges, the court officers, the jurors — they’re all human beings and you can’t lose sight of that.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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