David R. Kaplan

Director
  • Bio
  • Admissions & Affiliations
  • Publications & Events

Bio

David Kaplan is a Director at Saxena White and manages the Firm’s California office. Mr. Kaplan has nearly twenty years of experience in the field of securities and shareholder litigation. He has helped investors achieve hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries in federal and state courts nationwide, including in class actions, direct “opt out” actions, and shareholder derivative litigation.

Prior to joining Saxena White, Mr. Kaplan was a partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP, where he co-chaired its direct-action practice, represented lead plaintiffs in securities class actions, and counseled institutional investor clients on potential legal claims as a member of the firm’s new matters department. Before that, Mr. Kaplan was a senior associate at Irell & Manella LLP, where he handled a variety of high-stakes business disputes and complex litigation matters.

A large part of Mr. Kaplan’s day-to-day practice involves advising mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and other institutional asset managers on whether to remain passive participants in securities class actions or opt out to protect and maximize their securities fraud recoveries. Mr. Kaplan has represented prominent institutional investor opt out groups in federal courts nationwide.

Mr. Kaplan also has extensive experience advising institutional clients on pursuing securities fraud recoveries in international jurisdictions.  His work in this area includes virtually all countries in which shareholder collective actions are authorized by law, including Canada, Australia, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, Israel, and Brazil.

Mr. Kaplan has authored multiple articles relating to class actions and the federal securities laws, which have been published in The National Law JournalThe Daily JournalLaw360Pensions & Investments, The D&O Diary, and The NAPPA Report, among other publications. He is an editor of the American Bar Association’s Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee’s Newsletter.

Mr. Kaplan was named a “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer” by Lawdragon for the last four consecutive years, and has repeatedly been selected as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers.

Mr. Kaplan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Washington and Lee University, and earned his Juris Doctor, High Honors, from Duke University School of Law, where he was an editor of Duke Law Review.

Admissions & Affiliations

  • State of California
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of California
  • United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of California
  • United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Education
  • Duke University School of Law, JD
  • Washington and Lee University, BA