Attorney who beat Trump twice in court starts boutique firm | Parami News

Robert Kaplan, veteran trial attorney who represented New York author E Jean Carroll in her landmark lawsuits against Donald Trump, is leaving the firm she founded seven years ago to start a new one with three close friends.

According to a statement she made on Wednesday, the litigator is quitting Kaplan Hecker & Fink to build out a boutique that will concentrate on civil litigation, internal corporate investigations and strategic advisory. The other partner of Kaplan Hecker & Fink-Tim Martin-is also going with her. This new firm will be named Kaplan Martin.

Kaplan’s decision was informed by the unforeseen growth of Kaplan Hecker & Fink to more than 100 lawyers and staff members only three years since she and other partners marked an expansion at their old office in Empire State Building, according to the veteran lawyer. She also said that now she wants her emphasis at least not exclusively with issues related to white collar crimes which are high priority matters for her former company.

“It’s really about rapid growth in size and complexity beyond what I had imagined”, said Kaplan during an interview “and I wanted something smaller.”

Kaplan became even more prominent after Carroll sued Trump because of some of his statements they claimed were defamatory towards them. In 2019, Carroll went public with allegations that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room during 1990s and subsequently sued him for defamation when he labeled her as a liar. Then she filed claims against him for sexual assault while New York temporarily lifted statutes of limitations on such offences.

Carroll prevailed in both cases. A federal jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million after finding him liable for sexual assault in Manhattan. Another New York jury found Trump guilty for defamation, awarding $83 million compensation for Carrol’s suffering. Both verdicts have been appealed by Donald Trump.

According to someone aware of the matter within the organization it had taken long deliberations before the departure of Kaplan was finally settled.

Kaplan will once again have to take her clients with her if this move is successful. She said all but one of her clients came along when she left Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison after spending 25 years at the firm to co-found Kaplan Hecker & Fink in 2017.

Even as Robbie departs, we are proud of what she has achieved,” Kaplan Hecker & Fink added, saying that “we expect her to continue making a difference in the world.”

The second two founding partners of the company are Steven M. Cohen and Mitra Hormozi – both former federal prosecutors with close connections to Andrew Cuomo, ex-governor of New York who stepped down amid accusations of sexual harassment.

Cohen and Martin were both general counsels for Ronald Perelman’s investment vehicle MacAndrew & Forbes Holdings and worked together closely while they did so. Hormozi formerly served as general counsel at Revlon Inc., which was majority owned by MacAndrew & Forbes prior to the beauty company’s bankruptcy in 2022. Last year she earned over $752,400 as a director at Apollo Global Management Inc.

Cohen was Cuomo’s secretary when he was governor and from there went on to become his counselor and chief of staff as the former served as attorney general for New York State. Hormozi was appointed in 2011 by Andrew Cuomo to chair the Commission on Public Integrity, which investigated politicians and lobbyists suspected of violating ethical regulations.

It is worth noting that Kaplan’s connection with Cuomo came back to bite her during the recent sexual harassment scandal surrounding the former governor. She left Time’s Up, a non-governmental organization aimed at protecting victims of sexual abuse, in 2021 after state authorities revealed that she had been assisting Cuomo in dealing with allegations against him, which he has consistently denied.

Apart from suing Trump, she also sued a group of rioting white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia which she won at trial. After Elon Musk’s X Corp filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit for writing that Twitter (née Twitter) “is full of harmful information,” Kaplan represented the Center for Countering Digital Hate; however, she ended up successfully arguing for its dismissal. The case is now being appealed by Musk.

Unfortunately not all of Kaplan’s litigations against Trump have yielded fruits. In 2018, she brought action against Trump himself , his company as well as three grown up children who were alleged by some investors to have given dishonest speeches concerning their selling activity on The Apprentice TV show in relation to one MLM company. A judge dismissed Kaplan’s request for class-action status and federal law claims that would keep the case under his ruling jurisdiction.

Kaplan was hired by Columbia University in May to represent it in a lawsuit brought by a Jewish student complaining about how pro-Palestinian protests were handled on campus. A proposed class settlement will include appointment through year end only of an ombudsperson over its Public Safety Escort Program.

Cohen said Blue Raven Group would remain part of him even after quitting MacAndrews in 2020. It will be a unit inside of the firm tailored for its consultancy services to non-executive directors of publicly traded corporations.