Services

Top-flight professional services, provided with the attention and care of a boutique firm: for more than fifty years, Kleinberg Kaplan has offered individualized business advice to entrepreneurs, investors and other industry leaders. From our origins in private fund representations, we deliberately and organically built a suite of services that address the contemporary legal needs of our clients.

Our skills are marshaled not only to solve particular legal issues. Our team works collaboratively, creating custom responses to business challenges of the most complex character.

Imaginative, experienced business counsel—Kleinberg Kaplan’s brand for more than half a century.

Corporate Transactional & Finance

Corporate Transactional & Finance

From seed investments to final disposition, today’s businesses face challenges at every stage in their development. Our Corporate Transactional & Finance practice represents clients in critical transactions throughout their life cycle. Kleinberg Kaplan assembles leanly staffed, highly-experienced teams to handle singular challenges—and these teams, over time, evolve to become ongoing business advisors. In every case, our firm responds to our clients’ needs with a collaborative and entrepreneurial spirit.

  • Our Business Restructuring and Reorganization practice offers clients the individualized attention of a boutique firm and the resources of a top-flight corporate bankruptcy department. Central to our approach is the lean and efficient staffing of each representation, an approach that is enabled by unparalleled partner attention and involvement. We represent every type of player in…

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  • Our Emerging Companies & Venture Capital practice embodies the values of our clients: true teamwork and a nimble, entrepreneurial spirit that transforms brilliant ideas into successful companies. We provide practical, business-minded counsel for companies at every stage of their life cycle and advise the gamut of emerging company investors—venture capitalists, angel investors, family offices, traditional…

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  • Our team is devoted to helping concerned investors gain management’s attention and unlock hidden value. We develop and implement strategies from the initial analysis of available options through the successful conclusion of an activist campaign. Our experience comprises projects ranging from constructive engagements all the way through vigorously fought proxy contests. Because the firm has…

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  • No two transactions are exactly alike; each is as unique as the ambitions and objectives of the participants. Accordingly, M&A work demands a combination of deep legal experience and broad familiarity with a constellation of industries and deal types. Our team is nationally recognized for work on behalf of domestic and international private investment funds,…

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  • Kleinberg Kaplan is renowned for providing robust securities and corporate finance advice in a high-partner contact, boutique firm context. Our tight-knit, collaborative teams integrate the firm’s securities, private investment fund, mergers & acquisitions, bankruptcy and litigation practitioners to provide the widest possible range of services to our clients. Collateralized-Debt Obligations—We represent collateral managers and investors…

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  • Investments in distressed companies and illiquid assets are unique and idiosyncratic. Taking full advantage of these opportunities demands nimble, experienced teams that can combine bankruptcy, transactional, financing, capital markets and litigation experience to fit the deal. Our team exemplifies these virtues, starting with experience: we have represented clients in distressed investments, rescue financings, corporate restructurings…

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Litigation & Risk Management

Litigation & Risk Management

Kleinberg Kaplan’s approach to litigation is straightforward: we are nimble and aggressive, and keep our clients' financial and business goals at the forefront of our litigation strategy. We strive to identify and manage risk in an effort to avoid litigation if appropriate. If litigation is unavoidable, we proceed decisively and litigate forcefully. Whether our clients face a complex commercial dispute, a quickly approaching merger, the complicated break-up of a company or a regulatory enforcement action, we use litigation as a business tool to add value, to solve problems and to protect our clients' most important interests.

  • Over the decades, our commercial and corporate litigators have earned an outsized influence on the shape of the law. Our litigations in the courthouse have yielded a legion of officially reported decisions, many of which have been cited in law reviews and judicial decisions. We represent clients from a variety of industries, including the financial…

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  • Our Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy Litigation practice offers clients an aggressive approach to bankruptcy and insolvency issues. We represent individual and institutional debtors, creditors and investors of every type in bankruptcy litigation, adversary proceedings and contested matters in chapter 11, chapter 7 and chapter 15 cases, such as avoidance actions, adequate protection disputes, confirmation battles…

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  • Employment litigation demands a rare combination of technical legal skill, courtroom prowess and deft negotiation. Employers and employees alike seek our counsel for this very reason. We have extensive experience in the state and federal courts, and in pursuing administrative remedies. We have had substantial success bringing and defending actions relating to wage and termination…

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  • For decades, our litigation group grew and flourished alongside the firm’s storied investment fund practice which has represented the interests of private investment funds, their advisors and their principals. Our significant experience solving the unique legal challenges faced by fund managers forms the cornerstone of our acumen in representing them in all forms of litigation…

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  • When the relationship between the owners of a closely held business becomes stressed or fractured, our litigation team’s primary objective is to protect our client’s investment of time, effort and capital into the privately held business. Our experience with the laws and operations of closely held enterprises is highly developed. We especially pride ourselves in…

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  • The successful resolution of real estate disputes demands a fusion of technical knowledge, practical experience and incisive strategic insight. Our practice represents the combined talents of the firm’s litigation and real estate practitioners, who have navigated decades of real estate litigation and arbitration. Our real estate litigators place the business objectives of our clients at…

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  • Our Regulatory Defense practice developed alongside our traditional litigation and arbitration practices, serving the same top-flight investment managers for decades. We defend enforcement investigations and actions and assist clients in responding to subpoenas and regulatory inquiries from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Chicago Board…

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  • Any businessperson who has wrested success from today’s disruptive and chaotic economy knows that threats to an enterprise can emerge from the most unexpected sources, often at a moment’s notice. We help clients identify and mitigate or eliminate litigation and regulatory risks arising from a wide range of business activities, including impending corporate transactions, government…

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  • Most fiduciaries and beneficiaries seldom face litigation arising out of trusts and estate planning; consequently, their learning curve is high and fraught with risk. Our trusts and estates litigation team has represented both fiduciaries and beneficiaries in all manner of trusts- and estate-related disputes. This experience has proven to be an invaluable resource for clients…

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Private Funds & Investment Management

Private Funds & Investment Management

After representing hundreds of fund managers with billions under management for more than five decades, we are proud of the value we have created for our clients. Over time, our advice has grown beyond fund formation to include the full spectrum of offerings that serve the business of private investment fund management. Our accumulated experience offers our clients something more than sound business advice: we provide a platform to pursue creative and innovative strategies.

  • In the lingering aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, clients depended on our derivatives team for steady, informed guidance—for our thorough understanding of the Dodd-Frank Act and the CFTC and SEC rules that implement them. Our practice comprises advice on compliance and tax issues, as well as on synthetic and bespoke transactions. In addition to…

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  • Kleinberg Kaplan matches the innovation and technological savvy of our clients with a deep, decades-old understanding of fund formation technique and all its attendant disciplines. Cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and the underlying blockchain technology represent the most exciting technological developments in the marketplace today, with the potential to refashion the fundamentals of commerce. Because the underlying…

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  • Our firm’s primary strength—a nimble, concerted, multi-disciplinary approach to individual areas—is on full display in our Executive Compensation practice. Our team draws on the experience of corporate, securities, tax, trusts and estates, litigation and bankruptcy practitioners to analyze each client’s situation. This comprehensive approach allows us to provide customized and creative solutions. Our counsel is…

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  • We have counseled wealthy families in the creation and operation of family offices for many years. Our clients include family offices that have accumulated wealth over many generations as well as relatively new entrants. Investment managers have been a significant portion of our clientele for decades, and many of our family office clients are existing…

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  • We have been a leader in the hedge fund industry for nearly half a century. Along the way, we developed a national and international reputation for our advocacy. Hedge fund managers—knowledgeable and inventive clients—value us as much for our creativity and thoughtfulness as for our legal acumen. It’s no accident that we represent several of…

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  • Independence, insight, an entrepreneurial spirit—we strive to embody the values of our clients. The asset management industry has been a primary focus of our firm for more than forty years. During that time, we have represented some of the most successful independent investment managers, multi-family offices and wealth managers. Our clients typically offer tailored, high-end…

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  • The creativity of our Private Equity team is our unique strength; we do not see every client through the same conventional private equity lens. Our advocacy is comprehensive. We advise domestic and offshore private equity funds and their portfolio companies on every aspect of their business, from formation through the life of the fund. Our…

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  • Our Real Estate Funds practice combines the sophistication of our renowned real estate practice with decades of experience in the investment fund industry. This rare mixture allows us to provide sponsors of real estate-related private equity funds and hedge funds with advice on every aspect of their structures, operations and investment transactions. Fund Formation The…

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Real Estate

Real Estate

Real Estate transactions are models of legal and commercial complexity involving multiple parties with often divergent interests, requiring both high levels of business acumen and legal capabilities. Clients seek out Kleinberg Kaplan for our depth of experience in core transactional competencies, but also benefit from our work in real estate funds, litigation, and tax and planning advice.

  • In the sale or acquisition of real estate assets, clients seek comfort from counsel who have seen it—and done it—all. Few firms can match the breadth of our experience in these transactions; we have advised on hundreds of such matters in a wide variety of asset classes and for a broad range of clients. While…

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  • Our real estate development team possess an incisive understanding of the nuances and intricacies of real estate development and a deep understanding of how each stage of the development process fits together. We guide our clients through every aspect of the process: bidding, entitlement, budgeting, planning, scheduling, financing, permitting and construction. We also handle post-construction…

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  • Extracting value from distressed or failing real estate assets is delicate work, involving multi-party negotiations where discretion and delicacy in dealing with the participants are paramount. Creative bankruptcy, workout and investment solutions are implicit in the relationships between concerned parties and stakeholders. Decades of experience has given us a finely tuned capacity to work flexibly…

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  • The challenges of financing a real estate transaction demand thoughtful and creative solutions. Locally and nationally, our real estate lawyers represent both borrowers and lenders in all levels of the capital stack. Because of our vast experience, we are able to offer clients the perspectives of the multiple participants in a transaction, enabling efficient and…

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  • By definition, joint venture transactions require lawyers who are sensitive to the often-delicate interplay that develops between parties, and skillful at developing win-win compromises. Our baseline approach is always to listen to our clients and their partners carefully—we’ve learned that sometimes what the clients and the partners do not say is as important as what…

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  • The strength of our insight into leasing matters lies in the breadth of our experience. We have worked across all sectors, representing both landlords and tenants. When clients call upon us for advice, they benefit from this long history and our ability to understand both the bid and the ask—which enables us to cut to…

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  • The medical office building market poses unique challenges to investors and developers. Transactions involving these facilities—ranging in complexity from a traditional single-doctor office to modern ambulatory care centers—demand the skillful balancing of many different interests, including those of the associated hospital, the municipality, the community, the physician and service provider tenants, the investors, the developer…

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  • Our Real Estate Funds practice combines the sophistication of our renowned real estate practice with decades of experience in the investment fund industry. This rare mixture allows us to provide sponsors of real estate-related private equity funds and hedge funds with advice on every aspect of their structures, operations and investment transactions. Fund Formation The…

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  • The successful resolution of real estate disputes demands a fusion of technical knowledge, practical experience and incisive strategic insight. Our practice represents the combined talents of the firm’s litigation and real estate practitioners, who have navigated decades of real estate litigation and arbitration. Our real estate litigators place the business objectives of our clients at…

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Tax

Tax

The core of Kleinberg Kaplan’s tax practice is advising private investment funds, fund managers, entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals. We focus each representation on the business objectives of our clients; our job is to find a tax-efficient and practical means to those objectives. We are an experienced team of professionals, and our accumulated experience with federal, state, local and non-U.S. taxes allows us to aggressively pursue opportunities and efficiencies that others might overlook.

  • Our Tax Practice believes tax planning and advice should be anything except “general.” We are, first and foremost, practical business-oriented lawyers. We help clients—individuals, partnerships and corporations—incorporate sound tax planning into specific business strategy. With our clients’ overall business objectives as our guide, we advise on: Business formation and structure Executive and employee compensation (including…

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  • There is no substitute for experience. Our firm has been providing tax advice to hedge funds for almost half a century—a record of work on behalf of funds of every size and structure, including several of the market’s true innovators. We have grown, step by step, along with the market, and our experience comprises the…

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  • High net worth clients from diverse backgrounds rely on our tax team for specific advice on their most pressing tax concerns. We counsel our clients in connection with: Real estate investments and dispositions Pre-immigration and expatriation planning Private multinational businesses and cross-border investments State and local taxes and related planning Family offices, particularly with respect…

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  • Our team offers innovative and thoughtful approaches to the unique tax challenges faced by private equity funds and their managers. Our deep experience working with and for fund managers of all types enables us to offer tailored advice to private equity funds based on the nature of their investors and investments —real estate centered funds…

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  • Our team regularly provides tax advice in connection with acquisition transactions. These transactions tend to be complex and often cross borders, due to the presence of a multi-national enterprise, investor or both. These transactions are generally within the private markets, although we do see “take private” deals. We pay close attention to detail and the…

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Trusts & Estates

Trusts & Estates

For decades, our firm has been guiding high net worth individuals—and their families and businesses—as they navigate the challenges and prospects of estate planning. Because our capabilities evolved alongside our fund and corporate practices, we are intimately aware of how personal and business decisions interact with and reinforce one another. When personal allegiances and family dynamics threaten sound planning, we possess the sensitivity required to alleviate their impact.

  • Entrepreneurs and family business owners face daunting questions when management of their company passes from one generation to the next. Who among the next generation will govern the enterprise? How will the family be supported by the business in the future? How will vital institutional knowledge be preserved as control is passed along? Kleinberg Kaplan…

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  • Tensions, disagreements and conflicting objectives make thoughtful estate planning as complicated as any legal endeavor. Along with our decades of hard-earned experience, clients value our professionalism, discretion and sensitivity as the virtues that set us apart. Despite the complexities of planning and administering estates, our objective is simple: to help our clients achieve their goals…

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  • We have spent decades counseling clients who work, live and invest across international borders. Our objective: to advance their wealth transfer goals by minimizing tax burdens across multiple jurisdictions and managing complex, cross-border property law requirements and restrictions. In addition to their own considerable experience, our lawyers draw upon the experience of a network of…

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  • The cooperative depth of our firm is deployed in support of a wide range of tax-exempt entities, including national and international public charities, private foundations, arts and cultural organizations, and social clubs. Our corporate, real estate, tax and trusts & estates practitioners work together to provide sophisticated advice on matters of critical importance, including corporate…

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  • The estate planning challenges faced by fund managers are unique. No one understands them better than Kleinberg Kaplan. Our preeminent private funds practice, which has represented hundreds of managers over almost half a century, is central to our value as estate planning counsel. We draw on unparalleled experience to offer fund managers a depth of…

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  • Our attorneys represent clients in every stage of estate and gift tax disputes, from the initial audit level, to appeals before the IRS and other tax authorities and, if necessary, court. We meticulously prepare estate and gift tax returns and review related appraisals, ensuring that the presentation of these filings carries the lowest audit risk…

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  • Most fiduciaries and beneficiaries seldom face litigation arising out of trusts and estate planning; consequently, their learning curve is high and fraught with risk. Our trusts and estates litigation team has represented both fiduciaries and beneficiaries in all manner of trusts- and estate-related disputes. This experience has proven to be an invaluable resource for clients…

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