About De Caro & Kaplen, LLP

Michael V. Kaplen is a senior partner in the New York personal injury law firm, De Caro & Kaplen, LLP. His practice focuses on personal injury and medical malpractice with an emphasis on representing individuals who have sustained a traumatic or acquired brain injury and other catastrophic injuries.

Michael is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School where he teaches the only course in the nation devoted to traumatic brain injury law. He is board certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and is board certified in Medical Malpractice, and a member of the board of governors of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys.

Michael serves on the executive board of the Interstate Bus Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice and is current chair of the New York State Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council and previously chaired the council from 2007 to 2013. The Council was created by the New York State Legislature to advise and consult with the New York State Department of Health on issues pertaining to traumatic brain injury.

He was an invited by President Obama to be a participant in the 2014, White House Healthy Kids & Safe Sports Concussion Summit and serves as a member of the American Academy of Neurology, Concussion Work Group.

Michael served three-terms as president of the Brain Injury Association of New York State, the leading not-for-profit New York State brain injury advocacy dedicated to brain injury education, advocacy and prevention. He is past chairperson of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Automobile, Highway and Premise Liability Section and past chair of the AAJ Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, a nation-wide group of attorneys that focus their practice on representing victims of brain trauma. He is a graduate of the Marquette University, Neuroanatomical Dissection of the Human Brain and Spinal Cord course.

He served as the Co-Chair of the Tort Section of the New York County Lawyer’s Association and on the Board of Directors of Public Justice. Michael served as a member of the Medical Malpractice Screening Panel, New York State Appellate Division, First and Second Judicial Departments.

Michael served as a vice president of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and a member of their board of directors.

Besides his teaching responsibilities at The George Washington University Law School, he has taught courses in trial practice and medical malpractice at St. John's University School of Law and is Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Graduate School of Psychology, Touro College. He is a guest lecturer at The George Washington University School, Graduate School of Education and Human Development and a member of the Board of Advisors, The New York Traumatic Brain Injury Model System Program, Brain Injury Research Center of Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York.

Michael has been selected a New York Super Lawyer for the last 14 years and named as one of the top 100 trial lawyers in New York State by the American Association of Trial Lawyers. Michael has been selected as a Best Lawyer, New York and De Caro & Kaplen has been designated a Best Law Firm by US News & World Report.

He was co-counsel representing the Brain Injury Association of America and co-authored the Brain Injury Association of America, Amicus Brief challenging the sufficiency of the NFL Class Action Concussion Settlement before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Michael is the author of numerous articles and chapters on prosecuting brain injury cases including, co-author of the chapter on NeuroLaw in the Psychiatric Clinics of North America’s special edition on Traumatic Brain Injury published by the American Psychiatric Association and has co-authored the expert column on Traumatic Brain Injury published by the New York Law Journal. His summations have been published in the Matthew Bender, Art of Advocacy Series.

Michael is a frequent national lecturer on brain injury advocacy having lectured to National and State bar associations including the American Association of Justice, the American Academy of Matrimonial Attorneys, the Litigation Counsel of America, the Florida Association for Justice, the Indiana Association for Justice, the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association, the New Jersey Association for Justice, the New York State Academy of Trial Attorneys, and the Utah Trial Lawyers Association.

His views and opinions are often sort by well-known news sources including, The New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, Gannet News Services, the New York Daily News, the National Law Journal, the New York Post, the Huffington Post, ABC News, CBS News, ESPN, Fox Broadcasting, and NBC News.

Michael is admitted to the bars of New York, Florida, and the District of Columbia. He is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, 3rd Circuit and the District of Columbia; and the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and North Districts of New York.

Shana De Caro is the Chairwoman of the board of directors of the Brain Injury Association of America. She is the past chair of the Traumatic Brain Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. Shana is Vice President of the American Academy of Brain Injury Attorneys and served as the Secretary and Treasurer of the American Association for Justice, Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group.

Shana serves as a member of the Advisory Board, Acquired Brain Injury Program, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and served on the Board of Advisors of the Interstate Bus Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. She is an elected Fellow of the Melvin Belli Society and has been selected as a New York Super Lawyer.

She is a member of the Judicial Screening Committee and Pattern Jury Instruction Committees of the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and serves as Amicus Counsel to the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers and Editor of the New York Academy of Trial Lawyers, monthly legal update. Shana is amicus counsel to the Brain Injury Association of America and authored the amicus brief on behalf of the association to the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court disputing the settlement reached by the National Football League (NFL) class action concussion litigation arguing that the proposed settlement was not in the best interest of all injured players. Shana has presented at Ground Rounds, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine on issues of medical malpractice.

Shana is a member of the Professional Liability Section of the American Association for Justice and is an active participant in the Birth Trauma Litigation Group, the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, Professional Information Exchange Negligence Litigation Group, Stroke Litigation Group, and the Nursing Home Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. She is a member of the Railroad Accident Trial Lawyers Association.

Shana is the lead author of Psychiatric Clinics of North America, “Current Issues in Neurolaw” Traumatic Brain Injury: Defining Best Practice, Psychiatric Clinics of North America, December 2010, Vol. 33, No. 4. She is a columnist for the New York Law Journal, “Traumatic Brain Injury: Detecting, Defining, Litigating” Outside Counsel Column, July 28, 2011 p. 4 and is a contributing author to the Huffington Post, “A Mediated Settlement May Not Be in the Best Solution to the NFL Crisis,” July 18, 2013.

She has been selected for inclusion in Who’s Who of American Women and Who’s Who in American Law, and named one of the top 100 trial lawyers in New York and Top 25 Brain Injury Attorneys by the National Trial Lawyers Association, and was elected an Elite Lawyer. Shana is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. De Caro & Kaplen, LLP has been selected as one of the Best Law firms by US New and World Report and as Preferred Lawyers by the Brain Injury Association of America.

Shana is admitted to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia.

You are entitled to a compassionate personal injury lawyer who understands the level of confusion and distress that you may be facing. We will spend the time to understand your case fully — plus — you will not be charged any fees in advance, as we work on a contingency basis.

Dealing with the pains and perils that traumatic brain injury causes is far from easy. Finding the counsel you and your loved ones deserve along with answers to questions about your severe head injury and other related mishaps can seem complicated. With De Caro & Kaplen, LLP, as your New York personal injury lawyers, the information you should rightfully demand is just a phone call away.

Don’t wait another day to pursue justice for yourself and your family. Contact De Caro & Kaplen, LLP today to discuss your legal right to obtain compensation.