About Judge Kaplan

Michael J. Kaplan is a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of New York. At the time of his appointment to the bench in 1991 he was Clerk of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. He served as Chief Judge from 1993 to 2000.

Judge Kaplan earned his B.A. degree from Columbia University in 1968 and his J.D. degree from Boston University School of Law in 1971.

He joined Lawyers Co-Operative Publishing Company in 1972, rising to senior editor before leaving in 1981. Also during this period he was active in the private practice of real estate law (1974 to 1981), and was an adjunct faculty member of the Rochester Institute of Technology and Monroe County Community College (1973 to 1981). He became Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York in 1981, serving in that position until 1988, when he was appointed Clerk of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. He remained in the latter situation until his judicial appointment in 1991.

Judge Kaplan is a member of the United States Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System, the Second Circuit Judicial Council Bankruptcy Committee, the Second Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Service, and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.