RENOWNED COMMERCIAL LITIGATOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER ROBERTA KAPLAN LAUNCHES NEW LAW FIRM

Kaplan & Company, LLP Fuses Commercial Litigation and Public Interest Law, For the Benefit of Current and Future Clients

NEW YORK – Roberta (“Robbie”) Kaplan, a renowned litigator with decades of experience in both commercial and civil rights litigation, announced today the formation of Kaplan & Company, LLP, a new law firm headquartered in New York City. Kaplan is best known for successfully representing Edith Windsor all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she achieved a landmark victory holding that a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violated the U.S. Constitution by barring legally married same-sex couples from enjoying the wide-ranging benefits of marriage conferred under federal law. At the new firm, she will lead a team of superstar litigators with unparalleled credentials and reputations who reflect the firm’s diverse clientele. Kaplan & Company will focus on high-stakes commercial and regulatory matters, as well as Title IX defense and public interest and civil rights litigation.

“Kaplan & Company is uniquely positioned to offer commercial clients innovative legal strategies and fierce advocacy from a law firm rooted in integrity and justice,” said Robbie Kaplan, Founding Partner of Kaplan & Company, LLP . “At the same time, lawyers are bound to uphold constitutional protections. Whereas some consider this work only in a pro bono context, Kaplan & Company considers it central to the firm’s mission and we are committed to aggressively litigating cases that advance the public interest.” Kaplan & Company is a “new, old-fashioned law firm,” bringing together lawyers who reflect the diversity of their clients and communities, and who practice law at the highest level, guided by core values of integrity, excellence, and innovation.

Before founding Kaplan & Company, Robbie Kaplan was a litigation partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP, where she was described as a “powerhouse corporate litigator” and a “litigation superstar.” While at Paul, Weiss, Kaplan gained decades of experience representing a diverse group of clients such as Fitch Ratings, Columbia University, T-Mobile and Airbnb in complex, high profile matters. From 2007 through the most recent financial crisis, Kaplan represented Fitch Ratings, with whom she will continue to work, in dozens of regulatory investigations and civil litigations in both state and federal court relating to Fitch's credit ratings of RMBS, CDO and municipal bond transactions. She has also represented a number of technology companies in the sharing economy, including successful representations of startups in defending class actions and protecting user data, as well as telecommunications giants like T-Mobile.

“Robbie Kaplan is a fierce and creative advocate for her clients and has been a tremendous asset to the T-Mobile team,” said Laura Buckland, Vice President and Chief Litigation Counsel at T-Mobile USA, Inc . “We’re excited to continue our relationship with Robbie as she launches Kaplan & Company.”

Kaplan also will continue representing Columbia University on issues relating to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as well as a number of other clients in commercial litigation matters.

Robbie is best known for successfully arguing before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of her client Edith Windsor in United States v. Windsor , the historic Supreme Court case. The consequences of the Windsor decision were both rapid and profound. Former President Bill Clinton said it was “a landmark ruling and the case’s architect, Roberta Kaplan, emerged as a true American hero.”

Since Windsor , Kaplan has successfully argued a case seeking marriage equality in the State of Mississippi, overturned Mississippi's gay adoption ban and won a preliminary injunction from the district court overturning Mississippi's HB 1523, an anti-LGBT "religious freedom" law, on Establishment Clause grounds on behalf of her client, the Campaign for Southern Equality.

“Robbie Kaplan made history with the Windsor case and her commitment to civil rights and social justice, which has shaped her career from the start, will be just as vital in the next chapter of civil rights work,” said Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality . “We look forward to partnering with Kaplan & Company in the fight for LGBT equality across the South. We need attorneys like Robbie, especially where the fights are tough and the stakes are high."

Outside of her practice, Kaplan, author of the award-winning book Then Comes Marriage: United States V. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA (W. W. Norton & Company 2015), is widely-published. She also has received a large number of awards and honorary degrees and currently serves as the co-chair of the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) Board of Directors.

Julie Fink joins Kaplan & Company as a Partner, having successfully represented companies and individuals in a range of litigation matters at both the trial and appellate level. Fink has worked as in-house Senior Corporate Counsel at Pfizer Inc. and as an attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. In private practice, she represented corporate clients and individuals across a range of industries, from manufacturing companies to financial institutions. Her broad practice has included product liability and mass tort, employment class action, regulatory, securities fraud, mergers and acquisitions, consumer fraud, complex commercial and antitrust litigation. She also has extensive experience advising clients on pre-litigation matters.

Throughout her career, Fink has maintained an active pro bono practice, often at the forefront of civil rights issues. At Paul, Weiss, she was a key member of the team representing Edith Windsor. She also represented thousands of individuals in an action brought against the Governor of the State of New York and other New York officials challenging the State's practice of segregating individuals with mental illness in institutional adult homes. She continued her work at Pfizer, where she served as the global Pro Bono Lead, expanding the Company's legal pro bono programs throughout the world.

John Quinn joins Kaplan & Company as Senior Counsel, having spent the past six years in the Litigation Group at Sullivan & Cromwell on matters including antitrust, active-short selling, consumer protection, money laundering and racketeering, and general commercial litigation. Quinn contributed to major victories for a multinational technology company, several large financial institutions, a major American automobile manufacturer and a number of other clients. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, Quinn has also dedicated his time to public interest lawyering: assisting Iraqi refugees in need of priority resettlement in Egypt, collaborating in the development of violence mitigation programs for Sudanese refugee gang youth, and representing clients in criminal proceedings in Roxbury and Dorchester through the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute. Recently named one of the Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association, Quinn serves as a mentor to junior LGBT associates and routinely helps law students navigate the profession as an LGBT law student and lawyer.

For more information on Kaplan & Company, LLP, please visit the Kaplan & Company, LLP website.