Matthew E Kaplan

Practice Areas

Matthew Kaplan is a corporate partner and the Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department. He previously served as the Co-Chair of the firm’s Capital Markets Group and was the firm’s Chief Financial Officer from 2018–2022.

Mr. Kaplan regularly represents issuers, private equity firms and underwriters in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, and he also counsels public and private companies on disclosure, corporate governance, finance and general corporate matters. Mr. Kaplan is ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers Global (2016–2023) and Chambers USA (2016–2022), which notes that he is “a very experienced lawyer” whose “judgment is excellent in that he balances well the law and the business needs.” He has received praise for his “deep subject matter expertise,” his “encyclopedic knowledge of the securities law” and “cutting-edge legal advice and top-notch service.” Clients have also described him as a “fantastic” and “extremely responsive” advisor, who provides “practical, useful advice and guidance” and “cuts to the chase and makes complicated issues clear.” He is also recognized as a leading lawyer by The Legal 500 US (2016–2022), which has noted that he is “a top-notch specialist,” and “a trusted adviser you can rely on,” and by IFLR1000 (2022) for his work on debt offerings.

Mr. Kaplan is a frequent author on legal developments affecting the capital markets. He is a co-editor-in-chief of the Debevoise & Plimpton Insider Trading & Disclosure Update and the Debevoise & Plimpton Governance Round-Up and is a contributing author to the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report. Mr. Kaplan was a member of the Law360 Editorial Advisory Board (2015).

Mr. Kaplan is currently a member of the Securities Regulation Committee of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Kaplan served as the Vice-Chair of the Securities Law Opinions subcommittee of the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee (FRSCM) of the American Bar Association from 2017–2022 and was a member of the FRSCM and the FRSCM Disclosure Effectiveness Working Group. Mr. Kaplan has also served as a member of several committees of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Business Law Section, including the Executive Committee, the Insurance Law Committee and the Securities Regulation Committee. From 2010 to 2011, he was Chairman of the Insurance Law Committee of the Business Law Section of the NYSBA, and from 2010 to 2012, he was a member of the Financial Reporting Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Kaplan was a member of the Board of Directors of The Bronx Defenders from 2019 to 2021, was a member of the NYSBA Diversity Mentors Council in 2013 and is an accredited attorney with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mr. Kaplan was selected as a David Rockefeller Fellow for the Class of 2015–2016 by the Partnership for New York City.

Mr. Kaplan joined Debevoise in 1996 and became a partner in 2005. He was resident in the London office from 1999 to 2001. Mr. Kaplan received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 1996, where he was a Stone Scholar. He received his B.A. with honors from Colgate University in 1993.