Timothy S. Martin is a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP. Tim is an accomplished litigator, counselor, and problem solver with a long track record of success in prosecuting and defending complex, bet-the-company arbitrations and litigations. He is a trusted adviser to CEOs, general counsels, boards of directors, business operators, and financial sponsors who rely on his experience and judgment to provide creative, pragmatic advice.
Prioritizing the business and reputational interests of his clients, and working together in lockstep with them, Tim handles all manner of public and private dispute resolution. His broad practice includes commercial contract disputes, securities and business tort claims, class action and derivative lawsuits, and art, bankruptcy/restructuring, defamation, disclosure, environmental, financing/refinancing, gaming and lottery, indemnification and subrogation, insurance, intellectual property, labor and employment, M&A, product liability, real estate, and trusts and estates matters, among others. Tim has litigated numerous issues of first impression, resulting in precedent-setting decisions. A skilled counselor and crisis manager, Tim partners with clients to coordinate and use every possible lever and available resource to mitigate harm, manage risk, and achieve favorable outcomes. His business experience as a former general counsel makes him uniquely qualified to provide practical, commercially useful advice to organizations and individuals.
Tim recently has handled complex civil litigation matters, including, among others:
- Litigating and ultimately resolving through settlement a partnership agreement described by the Delaware Chancery Court as “perhaps the most intensely contested contract in the history of litigation.”
- Defending claims against a majority shareholder resulting in the expanded application of the business judgment rule to going-private transactions under Delaware law.
- Defending claims against a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company for bad faith breach of its contractual obligation to negotiate a license agreement, with two separate appeals to the Delaware Supreme Court.
- Defending a SPAC against inadequate disclosure claims.
- Resolving a multi-party, multi-jurisdictional dispute over indemnification obligations owed by a qualified settlement fund for asbestos-related and environmental claims.
- Resolving claims against a gaming supplier for erroneous winning lottery tickets and related coverage and indemnification claims brought by the supplier against its insurer.
- Resolving shareholder claims and an SEC investigation related to a public company exchange offer.
- Litigating insurance coverage claims for high-value art works.
- Litigating misrepresentation and fraud claims against a former public company CEO.
- Litigating breach of contract and trade secret theft claims against a former private equity firm senior executive.
- Litigating undue influence claims and disputed inter vivos transfers in an intra-family will contest.
- Managing the defense and settlement of talc-related product liability claims nationwide for a consumer products company.
In addition, Tim has helped clients mitigate and manage risk by:
- Conducting an internal investigation at a private equity firm into financial misconduct in connection with related party transactions and managing inquiries from regulators.
- Advising the senior management of a private equity firm on litigation, regulatory, and other risks in connection with deleveraging, refinancing and restructuring transactions, including asset sales and negotiations with creditors and lenders.
- Advising the senior management of a public company and its sponsor on refinancing and restructuring matters, including negotiations with bank lenders and other debtholders, and the defense of related litigation alleging improper asset stripping, among other claims.
- Advising public company directors on their duties, obligations, and exposure to litigation risk in connection with internal investigations and employee terminations.
- Advising the senior management of a public company and its largest shareholder on negotiations with activist, minority shareholders.
- Advising the senior management of a public company on material weakness determinations and disclosures, including communications with regulators and the defense of related shareholder litigation.
- Advising public company directors, senior management, and sponsors in connection with DOJ and SEC inquiries and investigations.
- Advising the senior management of a public company and its largest shareholder on the voluntary filing of a Chapter 11 petition, creditors’ committee negotiations, plan confirmation, and its ultimate emergence from bankruptcy, undertaken strategically to permit the company to appeal adverse litigation rulings.
- Advising the directors of a privately held company and its sponsor on the filing of a pre-packaged bankruptcy in connection with a debt-for-equity swap.
- Managing the wind down and liquidation of the Italian subsidiary of a U.S.-based media and entertainment industry service provider, including the termination of employees and contracts with Europe’s largest film studio.
Tim also has extensive experience advising on corporate governance and public company disclosure issues.
Prior to joining KHF, Tim spent more than a dozen years at MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, most recently as General Counsel and Executive Vice President. At MacAndrews, Tim directed and managed legal and business matters at the holding and portfolio company levels across diverse, highly regulated industries, advising public and private companies operating in the beauty and personal care, clinical and commercial stage pharmaceutical, consumer financial services, creative services and distribution, food, gaming, and military vehicles/defense sectors. Tim began his legal career at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he represented individual and corporate clients in a broad range of complex civil and criminal litigation matters, as well as in internal investigations and regulatory matters involving the DOJ, FTC, SEC and European Commission.
Tim received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was Articles Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He received his A.B., with Honors, from Dartmouth College.
Tim is a director and the finance committee chair and treasurer of GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis).
Select Publications
- Co-author, “ESG and Fiduciaries: A New Age Dawns,” Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance (2023)
