New York

Kaplan Martin is a New York-based litigation boutique formed shortly after its founder and name partner Roberta “Robbie” Kaplan departed the former Kaplan Hecker & Fink (now Hecker Fink) shop in 2024. This new venture touts its proven trial-tested credentials and its agenda of juggling a mix between commercial litigation and social-justice matters. The firm’s trajectory has been actively monitored by peers, one of whom quips, “I always said, whatever Robbie Kaplan does next, it’s going to be interesting, and it is!” Another remarks on the firm’s ambitions: “I’m seeing a lot more of these types of ‘half-and-half’ boutiques sprouting up now, and, although I wish them all the best, I can’t help but be a little cynical about some of them. You know, ‘You’re going to spend half of your time with your white hat on, saving the world, and the other half of the time defending ‘the bad guys.’ But I don’t doubt the sincerity of this outfit for a minute – Robbie Kaplan has proven herself time and time again as being a very passionate advocate for justice and has been publicly fearless in this pursuit. She is a hard-core New York litigator.” Lending further gravity to this commentary, Kaplan has represented Jean Carroll, an author, columnist and journalist, who sued Donald Trump for defamation in November 2019, after he denied her allegations that he sexually assaulted her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1996. In 2022, Carroll filed a second suit that added a claim of battery under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York State law, as well as further defamation claims based on statements Trump made in 2022, after he had left office for his first term. The cases became commonly referred to as Carroll I and Carroll II, respectively. The appeal of Carroll II was argued before a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit in September 2024, and decided in December 2024, affirming the lower court’s rulings and upholding the jury’s $5 million damages award. Kaplan also represents the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in cases involving legal and administrative challenges to New York City’s congestion pricing, the nation's first such program aiming to address the city and region’s decades-old air pollution and traffic problems through a toll on cars for entering the Central Business District in Manhattan that will provide revenue to improve the City’s mass-transit infrastructure. Kaplan has successfully rebuffed every legal challenge to stop the program so far (though those cases remain pending), and she further demonstrated the alluded-to “public fearlessness” by immediately suing the Trump Administration when Trump declared that “congestion pricing is dead” and purported to revoke federal approval. “Robbie Kaplan is a great friend, full disclosure,” offers a peer as a disclaimer before insisting, “but she is a great lawyer, very talented and gutsy. [She] Takes risks. She regularly takes on Trump, and, as you know, she took on the neo-Nazis regarding the whole Charlottesville fiasco [the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally.] Although I have seen her on the defense side a fair deal, she still does great plaintiff work with a social-justice component.” While Kaplan remains the center of gravity and her litigation credentials unquestioned, the firm is also building the ranks with additional star power; the firm also recruited Ellen Holloman from Cadwalader in 2025. “Ellen is great,” testifies a contemporary. “She has been doing a lot of work in the Sean Combs case. I worked with her for many years, and she taught me a lot. I took my first deposition with her!”