Philip J. Kaplan

Philip J. Kaplan is an experienced trial attorney who began his impressive legal career in New Orleans before relocating to Los Angeles, California, where he also represents Smith & Fawer, LLC. A Tulane University Law School graduate, Mr. Kaplan is focused on general business litigation and tort litigation, but because of his musical background was drawn to the entertainment field, in which he has litigated copyright and trademark issues on behalf of artists and writers. Mr. Kaplan has been counsel in cases and negotiations involving The Three Tenors, the “Equalizer” film series, and music artist and novelist Kinky Friedman, who also used Mr. Kaplan in a cameo role in his detective book series. Mr. Kaplan has also devoted considerable time representing plaintiffs in civil rights suits. In Louisiana, he successfully represented a man who was jailed on a false premise and held without bond for 101 days by disgraced former St. Tammany Parish district attorney Walter Reed. This civil rights case, and numerous others in California and Louisiana, involve such claims as false arrest/excessive force under the Fourth Amendment, free speech retaliation claims under the First Amendment, cruel and unusual punishment claims under the Eighth Amendment, as well as Equal Protection claims against the government. In California, Mr. Kaplan has also served on the board of directors for The Bullpen Way Station & Sanctuary, which supports dogs from shelters, abusive endangerments, owner surrenders and more.

• Of Counsel

• Louisiana, 1984
• California, 1988
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Louisiana
• U.S. District Court Western District of Louisiana
• U.S. District Court Central District of California
• U.S. District Court Southern District of California
• U.S. District Court Northern District of California
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit