Bankruptcy, lender liability and commercial disputes in the New York courts and before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit — including matters that ran for years and ended in published, precedent-setting decisions.
Bruce H. Kaplan has practiced law in New York since 1986. What distinguishes the practice is the combination behind it: a Juris Doctor, a master's degree in real estate development and investment from New York University, and more than twenty years of hands-on work as a principal developing and investing in real property.
That combination matters most where a matter is not purely legal. Affordable housing deals run on layered public and private financing. Development projects live or die on zoning, tax incentives and the relationships that move them through government. Bankruptcy reorganizations of real property turn on understanding the asset as well as the code. This practice works those seams — reading the financial model, the regulatory path and the legal exposure as one problem rather than three.
Engagements are taken selectively, a few at a time, so that each one moves.
Complex commercial disputes carried through trial and appeal, including lender liability litigation and matters that produced published, precedent-setting decisions. Appellate advocacy before the Second Circuit and the Appellate Division, Second Department.
Corporate Chapter 11 representation of debtors and creditors, adversary proceedings, and reorganizations of single-asset and multifamily real property.
Acquisition, financing, joint ventures and project oversight, from site through certificate of occupancy — including offering plans filed with the New York State Attorney General.
Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, tax-exempt private activity bonds, New Markets Tax Credits, and the multi-layered capital stacks that subsidized housing depends on.
Transfers of development rights, bonus floor area negotiations, New York City 421-a partial tax exemptions, and Brownfields program applications.
Representation of nonprofit institutions in bond closings with the New York State Dormitory Authority and in matters involving HUD loan guarantee programs.
Email brucehkaplan@gmail.com