A Philadelphia-based lawyer recognized nationally for representing banks in class actions has moved to a new firm amid upheaval at the one where he practiced law for 20 years.
Alan Kaplinsky, an expert in bank regulatory and consumer finance law, took his four-lawyer banking department from Wolf, Block, Schoor & Solis- Cohen and moved it to Ballard, Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. Both firms are based in Philadelphia.
The move came as 13 other lawyers were leaving Wolf, Block. No one at the firm was available for comment about the departures.
Mr. Kaplinsky, who founded the bank law practice at Wolf, Block denied any ill will existed between him and his former partners.
His new firm has offices in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Utah, and Colorado. Wolf has offices only in Pennsylvania, Mr. Kaplinsky said.
"It's important in this era with more and more banks being involved in interstate banking ... that we have the ability to service our clients in more geographic locations," he said.
Mr. Kaplinsky said Ballard's offices in the nation's capital are more convenient for him because he works with regulators frequently.
Mr. Kaplinsky's most notable cases involved the nationwide battle between states and credit card issuers who want to impose late payment fees on their customers. Some states forbid such fees, and others limit them.
Many of Mr. Kaplinsky's 100 clients have credit card companies based in Delaware, South Dakota, or Utah, where credit card issuers can charge late fees as high and as often as they want.
Mr. Kaplinsky has argued that credit card companies should be allowed to charge late fees in a cardholder's state based on laws in effect where the credit card company is headquartered.
His clients include New York-based Chase Manhattan Corp., Detroit-based General Motors Acceptance Corp., Wilmington, Del.-based Beneficial Corp., New Castle, Del.-based Greenwood Trust Co., and Columbus, Ohio-based Banc One Corp.
Mr. Kaplinsky has won two cases for Greenwood Trust, one in 1992, against the state of Massachusetts, and the other last year, against Alabama.
The other bank lawyers who left with Mr. Kaplinsky are Jeremy Rosenblum, Burt Rublin, and John Culhane Jr.
