Kate L. Doniger

Partner | New York
T: (212) 763-0883
E: kdoniger@kaplanhecker.com
+ Vcard
Kate L. Doniger

Kate L. Doniger is a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.

Kate represents companies, financial institutions and individuals in complex civil litigation, internal investigations, and criminal and regulatory enforcement matters.

Kate maintains a wide-ranging commercial litigation practice that includes contract and employment disputes, securities litigation and class actions. Kate also advises clients in matters concerning allegations of harassment and discrimination. Kate has substantial experience representing individual and corporate clients in regulatory proceedings and related litigation, including in matters before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and various exchanges and self-regulatory organizations. These matters have included, among other things, alleged securities and commodities fraud, insider trading, money laundering and accounting fraud.

In addition, Kate helps corporate clients navigate sensitive internal and government-led investigations and assess and strengthen their compliance programs. She has guided clients through all aspects of the investigations and crisis management process, from conducting internal investigations to advising on public disclosures and revising corporate policies, procedures and practices. In a recent high-profile matter, Kate was part of the team that conducted a lengthy investigation into gender equity issues at the NCAA. That investigation resulted in two in-depth reports, which have led to significant changes in Division I men’s and women’s basketball and other NCAA sports.

Kate maintains an active pro bono practice and has played a lead role in many of the firm’s public interest matters, including the firm’s representation of a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse in a lawsuit against his estate and a Second Circuit appeal concerning the New York Board of Parole officials’ entitlement to immunity for their imposition of unconstitutional conditions of post-release supervision. Kate was also a member of the legal team that reached a historic settlement agreement with the Florida State Board of Education, Florida Department of Education, and school districts that effectively nullified the most dangerous and discriminatory impacts of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay" law.

Kate is a member of the firm’s diversity and inclusion committee and is active in its recruitment and professional development programs. She was honored by the National LGBT Bar Association & Foundation as one of its 2020 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40.  She is also the firm’s 2022 Fellow to the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.

Kate is a graduate of the New York University School of Law, where she was a Notes Editor on the Law Review. Prior to law school, she worked for the Center for Court Innovation as Deputy Director of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, the nation’s first multi-jurisdictional community court. Kate holds a M.P.A. in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy from New York University and a B.A. from Barnard College.

Education

  • B.A., Barnard College, cum laude, 2004
  • M.P.A., Robert F. Wagner School, New York University, 2006
  • J.D., New York University School of Law, Notes Editor, New York University Law Review, 2012

Fellowships, Leadership & Recognitions

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America, Commercial Litigation, Best Lawyers, 2023, 2024
  • Notable Women in Law, Crain’s New York, 2023 
  • Community Excellence Award, LGBT Bar Association of New York, 2023
  • 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers, Lawdragon, 2023 and 2024
  • 500 Leading Litigators in America, Lawdragon, 2023 and 2024
  • 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers, Lawdragon, 2022 and 2023
  • Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40, National LGBT Bar Association and Foundation, 2020
  • Clark Fellowship for Graduate Study, The Clark Foundation

Bar and Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • New York
  • Massachusetts

Read about Kate L. Doniger in our Newsroom