With a diverse background aiding clients across industries and countries, Max Kaplan focuses on complex commercial cases that require more than a cookie-cutter approach to litigation. Max partners with clients to understand the client’s business and strategic goals so that success in litigation takes into account both the client’s bottom line and future growth.
Experienced in all stages of litigation, Max is well equipped to guide clients from pre-litigation strategy through post-trial and appellate practice, always working to place the client in the best possible position. In doing so, Max helps clients simplify their complex facts so that the court, jury, or arbitrator can see that their position is just, fair, and right.
Prior to joining Cozen O’Connor, Max was an associate with a global law firm in New York. There, he gained thorough experience working in state and federal court, as well as before arbitrators and mediators. Max also has worked extensively with international clients, helping them navigate the intricacy of the U.S. judicial system.
Active in pro bono work, Max has successfully litigated claims against the Department of Justice and City of New York for violations of prisoners’ civil rights and has aided a number of inmates seeking clemency for crimes for which they are serving disproportionate sentences. Max has also provided pro bono services to clients seeking relief in immigration and family court.
Max earned his J.D. from the New York University School of Law where he served as an executive articles editor for the Annual Survey of American Law. He earned his B.A. in philosophy magna cum laude from Columbia University.
EXPERIENCE :
- Settled excessive force civil rights litigation against the City of New York on behalf of a former inmate assaulted at Rikers Island.
- Represented a foreclosing bank regarding the alleged eviction of commercial tenants resulting from the prior landlord’s neglect of the property.
- Represented a real estate investment fund in mediation over a multi-million dollar claim to attorneys’ fees allegedly owed in a derivative action.
- Represented a foreign bank in an adverse proceeding brought by the trustee of a debtor in U.S. bankruptcy court to obtain turnover of assets exchanged through Islamic-compliant interbank lending, addressing issues of extraterritoriality, comity, and safe harbors under the bankruptcy code.
- Represented a digital marketing firm in a series of shareholder class and derivative actions concerning claims of securities fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duties following allegations regarding, and an SEC investigation into, a possible stock-manipulation scheme.
- Represented a multinational financial institution in a series of consumer arbitrations regarding its termination of customers from a credit card rewards program.
- Obtained pre-discovery dismissal on behalf of a multinational financial institution in a breach of oral contract dispute centering on an allegation by the institution’s former counsel that the client promised to provide counsel with all debt collection litigation work.
- Achieved a favorable settlement on the eve of trial for a reverse-mortgage issuer in a breach of contract dispute with the client’s former mortgage servicer.
- Won summary judgment on behalf of a high-wealth individual in a breach of oral contract dispute with a former business partner over alleged misallocation of the proceeds from a multinational reverse merger.
EDUCATION :
- New York University School of Law, J.D., 2013
- Columbia University, B.A., magna cum laude, 2010
BAR ADMISSIONS : Pennsylvania; New York
COURT ADMISSIONS :
- U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Cost
Rate : $$$