Our Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys and Personal Injury Attorneys
We concentrate our legal practice in representing individuals with brain injury and other catastrophic injuries caused by vehicular, premises, construction site accidents and medical malpractice throughout New York State We handle cases of automobile accidents, truck and bus accidents, falls, construction injuries, improper hospital and medical care.
Pursuing Justice with a passion–making a difference in lives.
What sets us apart from most personal injury law firms is our commitment and passion to protect the rights of victims suffering from brain damage injuries.
De Caro & Kaplen, LLP Provides Compassionate Legal Representation to the Victims of Negligence and Their Families
New York brain injury attorney Michael Kaplen has more than 40 years of experience in negligence and personal injury litigation. He concentrates his practice on representing victims of traumatic brain injuries. He has been nationally recognized for his expertise in the areas of personal injury including brain injuries caused by automobile accidents, bus crashes, truck crashes, construction accidents, New York medical malpractice, nursing home malpractice, and wrongful death. He is a Professorial Lecturer at Law at The George Washington University Law School where he teaches the only course in the nation on traumatic brain injury law. He served for seven years as chair, New York State Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council, and is the President of the American Academy of Brain Injury Attorneys. He served three terms as president of the Brain Injury Association of New York. He is the past chair of the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. He was a Vice President of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and serves on its Board of Directors. He is a member of the board of governors of the Melvin M. Belli Society. He is a member of the National Advisory Board and New York State Advisory Board of the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Interstate Bus Accident Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. Michael is also a founding member of the Railroad Accident Trial Lawyers Association.
Michael Kaplen is Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and Board Certified in the area of Medical Malpractice by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys. Because of his nationally recognized expertise as a New York personal injury lawyer with a focus on the legal representation of victims of brain damage injuries, Michael Kaplen has been interviewed by CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, N.Y. Times, N.Y. Daily News, N.Y. Post, Newsday, Gannett Papers, and other television stations, newspapers and leading periodicals throughout the nation. He is co-author, with his partner Shana De Caro, of the traumatic brain injury outside counsel column for the New York Law Journal. His summations in cases with multi-million dollar brain injury verdicts and New York medical malpractice verdicts have been published in the Art of Advocacy Series, Matthew Bender, Publishers.
He is a Faculty Member for the National College of Advocacy. He serves as a member of the Advisory Board, Touro University, Graduate School of Psychology, Institute for Neurobehavioral Studies. He has presented at the grand rounds of Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York on medical malpratice in the emergency department and has co-authored, with his partner, Shana De Caro, the chapter on legal issues following brain trauma for the Psychiatric Clinics of North America edition on traumatic brain injury.
With his expertise as a brain injury lawyer, Michael Kaplen is frequently invited to share his expertise in brain injury legal cases with brain injury associations, brain injury rehabilitation facilities and legal groups throughout the country.
New York brain injury attorney, Shana De Caro has been an advocate for the rights of the disabled for over 40 years. She too focuses her practice on the legal representation of traumatic brain injury victims and their families. Brain injury lawyer Shana De Caro practices in the fields of brain injury litigation, automobile accidents, bus and truck crashes, construction site accidents, New York medical malpractice,and hospital malpractice, nursing home malpractice, and wrongful death. With her expertise in traumatic brain injury law, she is and officer and serving her second term on the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of America. She served as the first female chair of the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. She is 1st Vice President of the American Academy of Brain Injury Attorneys. She is the elected secretary and member of the Board of Trustees of the Civil Justice Foundation. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers. She is a member of the Ask The Expert Panel for BrainLine. She has successfully handled trials and appeals in State and Federal Courts on behalf of New York brain injury accident victims.
Nationally recognized, New York brain injury attorney, Shana De Caro is a graduate of Marquette University, College of Health Sciences, in Neuro Anatomical Dissection of the Human Brain and Spinal Cord and the lead author of: Traumatic Brain Injury Defining Best Practices, Current Issues in NeuroLaw in Psychiatric Clinics of North America, December 2010. She has presented at the grand rounds of Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York on medical malpractice in the emergency department.
National recognized as a leading New York personal injury attorney, Shana De Caro is a member of the Advisory Board of the Interstate Bus Accident Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice and a member of Brain Trauma Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice, the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice, Nursing Home Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice, the Birth Trauma Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice and the Medical Negligence Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. Shana De Caro was elected a Fellow of the prestigious trial lawyers’ group, The Melvin M. Belli Society and is a founding member of the Railroad Accident Trial Lawyers Association. Shana De Caro has been selected as a New York Super Lawyer.
Shana De Caro is the editor in chief of the New York Law Update published by the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and co-author of the traumatic brain injury outside counsel column for the New York Law Journal. She is lead author of NeuroLaw, published in the Traumatic Brain Injury: Defining Best Practice, special edition of Psychiatric Clinics of North America. Her articles are published in the National Law Journal and the Huffington Post.
Shana De Caro is frequently invited to lecture about brain injury litigation to lawyers groups throughout the country.
Preferred Attorneys—Brain Injury Association of America
You’ve come to the right place for help in finding legal representation. The Brain Injury Association of America has recognized the skills and experience of our New York brain injury law firm by designating De Caro & Kaplen, LLP as “Preferred Attorneys”
Attorneys in the Brain Injury Association of America Preferred Lawyer Program “know the carelessness of others changes lives in an instant. They know the physical, cognitive, emotional, and financial tolls a brain injury can inflict on individuals and their families. Firms enrolled in the BIAA Preferred Attorneys Program know the stakes are high and that settling for less has lifelong consequences.”
Michael V. Kaplen
Education and Accomplishments
- B.A. from New York University – 1976
- J.D. from Brooklyn Law School – 1979
- Board Certified, Civil Trial Advocate, National Board of Trial Advocacy
- Board Certified, Medical Malpractice, American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys
- Professorial Lecturer in Law-The George Washington University Law School
- Past Chair, New York State Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council
- Past President of the Brain Injury Association of New York State
- President, American Academy of Brain Injury Attorneys
- Past Vice President , New York Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Past Chair of the Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group of the American Association For Justice
- Past Chair of the Automobile, Highway & Premises Liability Section of the American Association For Justice
- Past Co-Chair of the Tort Section of the New York County Lawyers Association
- Teaches the only course in traumatic brain injury law at The George Washington University Law School. Has taught courses in Law and Medicine as well as Trial Practice at St. John’s University School of Law
- Appointed as a member of the Medical Malpractice Panels in New York State by the Appellate Divisions of the First and Second Departments of the Supreme Courts of the State of New York
- Past member. Board of Directors, Trials Lawyers for Public Justice
- Board of Directors, New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Honored by Trial Lawyers Care for his successful volunteer representation of victims of the World Trade Center disaster
- Advisory Board, Interstate Bus Accident Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- National Advisory Board, Association of Plaintiff’s Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America
- Advisory Board: Crime Victims Bar Association
- Fellow, Southern Trial Lawyers Association
- Member, Birth Trauma, Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- Member, Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- Member, Nursing Home Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- Fellow, National College of Advocacy, American Association For Justice
- Sustaining Member, American Association For Justice
- Member, New York State Trial Lawyers Association
- Member, New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Member, Florida Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Invited lecturer to Brain Injury and Lawyer Associations across the Nation, Mr. Kaplen’s knowledge and experience as a brain injury attorney and his effective advocacy in traumatic brain injury cases has led to him being an invited guest speaker at various locations including California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Louisiana Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin.
Shana De Caro
Education and Accomplishments
- B.A. degree from George Washington University – 1977
- J.D. degree from Benjamin Cardozo School of Law – 1980
- Attended Oxford University Institute on International and Comparative Law in Oxford, England
- Board of Directors, Brain Injury Association of America
- Past Chair, Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group of the American Association For Justice
- Executive Board, Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association For Justice
- 1st Vice President, American Academy of Brain Injury Attorneys
- Secretary, Board of Trustees, Civil Justice Foundation
- Board of Directors, New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Ask The Expert Legal Panel, BrainLine
- Editor in Chief, Monthly Law Update, New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Advisory Board, Interstate Bus Accident Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- Elected, Who’s Who in the Law
- Top 25 Brain Injury Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers Association
- Elected, Who’s Who American Women
- Named New York Super Lawyer
- Member, New York State Trial Lawyers Association
- Member, Brain Injury Association of New York State
- Board of Trustees, Civil Justice Foundation
- Appointed as a member of the Medical Malpractice Panels in New York State by the Appellate Divisions of the First and Second Departments of the Supreme Courts of the State of New York
- Primary legal assistant to a Justice of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Brooklyn)
- Editorial adviser to the American Association For Justice, Work Place reporter
- Admitted to practice law in New York and District of Columbia
- Admitted to the Court of International Trade
- Fellow, National College of Advocacy, American Association For Justice
- Honored by Trial Lawyers Care for her successful volunteer representation of victims of the World Trade Center Disaster
- Member, Birth Trauma, Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- Member, Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- Member, Nursing Home Litigation Group, American Association for Justice
- Member, Trial Lawyers For Public Justice
- Member, American Association For Justice
If your loved one or yourself has been a victim of brain damage injury caused by a motor vehicle accident, medical malpractice, premise site negligence or work place injury, contact the New York brain injury law team at De Caro & Kaplen, LLP, for a free, no obligation consultation.