A partner in the Litigation Department, Roberta ("Robbie") A. Kaplan has been described in a profile in Lawdragon as a “pressure junkie” who “thrives on looking at the big picture” whether “in the gay-marriage legal fight or high-profile corporate scandals.” Ms. Kaplan was chosen by the National Law Journal as one of the top "40 Under 40" lawyers in the United States, as a New York “Super Lawyer,” and as one of the 500 leading litigators in the United States.

Ms. Kaplan has extensive experience representing clients such as Fitch Ratings, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup in complex, high-profile matters. In recent years, she has been active in matters involving mortgage-backed securities, structured finance transactions, and credit rating opinions. As a result, Ms. Kaplan has developed an expertise dealing with the complex interplay between regulatory investigations, criminal prosecutions, and the onslaught of civil lawsuits that typically follow. She also served as lead trial counsel representing California following the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas & Electric Company resulting from the California energy crisis in 2001.

As for pro bono work, Ms. Kaplan argued the case challenging the inability of same-sex couples to marry in New York before the New York Court of Appeals in 2006. Ms. Kaplan currently represents Edith Windsor, a widow forced to pay $363,000 in federal estate tax, in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), the federal statute that defines marriage for federal purposes as between between one man and one woman. As a result of that case, the President and the U.S. Department of Justice, in a historic decision, announced that they would no longer defend the constitutionality of DOMA.

Ms. Kaplan has published on a variety of legal topics, including the chapter, “Investigating the Case” in Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts, as well as the chapter, “Interplay Between Commercial Litigation and Criminal Proceedings” in Commercial Litigation in the Federal Circuit Courts. She recently published “The Defense Of Marriage Act: The Application Of Heightened Scrutiny To Discrimination On The Basis Of Sexual Orientation” in The Cardozo Law Review. While serving as a senior law clerk to then Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, Ms. Kaplan assisted Judge Kaye in connection with a number of articles, including State Courts at the Dawn of a New Century: Common Law Courts Reading Statutes and Constitutions, 70 NYU L Rev 1-35 (April 1995). Ms. Kaplan also clerked for now Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Ms. Kaplan’s legal work has been honored by a number of organizations, including the New York City Council, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the National Organization for Women. In 2011, she was honored as the distinguished alumna of the year by the Columbia Law School Women’s Association. Ms. Kaplan was chosen by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to serve on his Transition Committee. In February 2012, Ms. Kaplan was asked by New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman to serve as a member of his Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century.

Ms. Kaplan is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Bar Association and the New York Women’s Bar Association. She is the former Chair of Paul, Weiss’s Women's Initiatives Committee, where she instituted comprehensive changes to the firm's flex-time, mentoring and day care policies.