Attorney, real estate developer, and former adjunct professor of business law. Practicing in New York since 1986.
Most lawyers who work on real estate learn the deal from the outside. Bruce Kaplan has spent more than twenty years on the other side of the table as a principal — acquiring property, raising financing, building the models, and carrying projects through to completion. He holds a master's degree in real estate development and investment from New York University alongside his law degree.
That dual footing shapes how the practice works. A capital stack combining tax-exempt bonds, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and a municipal tax exemption is not primarily a drafting exercise; it is a financial structure with legal consequences, and it has to be understood as one before it can be defended as the other. The same is true of a single-asset bankruptcy, where the reorganization succeeds or fails on what the real property is actually worth and what it can carry.
The through-line across four decades of matters is complexity — projects and cases with many moving parts, long timelines, multiple public and private participants, and regulatory hurdles that have to be cleared rather than argued around. Colleagues and clients have relied on him particularly for work involving government agencies, where progress depends less on advocacy than on knowing which door to open and in what order.
Law Offices of Bruce H. Kaplan, Esq., P.C. — Principal, 1990–1997 and 2003 to present. A practice covering bankruptcy, real estate development and commercial litigation. Leads negotiations on complex financial transactions, drafts the agreements that carry them, and represents debtors and creditors in corporate Chapter 11 proceedings.
Goldstein Hall PLLC, New York — Of Counsel, 2009–2011, handling the firm's complex real estate and financing transactions.
Real estate developer and investor, 2005 to present. Commercial and residential ventures ranging from condominiums and apartment buildings to office and retail space, including single-family home development in Westhampton, New York.
BK Development Group, LLC, New York — Principal, 2003–2010. Developed a 17,500-square-foot condominium project in Manhattan, overseeing acquisition, development and financing, and building the financial models behind it: budgets, income analysis, before- and after-tax cash flows, depreciation and return on investment.
CEDC, Incorporated, Hempstead, New York — Senior Counsel, 2000–2002. Reported to the chief executive of this nonprofit community housing organization and supervised staff.
Hamburger, Maxson & Yaffee, LLP, Melville, New York — Of Counsel, 1997–2000, litigating complex commercial matters for an AV-rated firm.
In practice since 1986. Earlier in his career, an associate at Cahn, Wishod, Wishod & Lamb, Melville, New York, before founding his own firm in 1990.
Florida Atlantic University and Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida — Adjunct Professor of Business Law, 2017. Taught undergraduates majoring in accounting and business, lecturing five times a week and continually revising course material to keep it current with developments in the field.
Organized the New York Metro Community Development Fund, LLC and obtained its certification from the United States Treasury Department as a Community Development Entity under the New Markets Tax Credit program — the designation required to invest the proceeds of qualified equity investments in low-income communities across the New York metropolitan area.