Alex Kaplan is a leading commercial trial and appellate lawyer and a member of Susman Godfrey’s Executive Committee. Kaplan represents clients in a wide range of antitrust, energy, financial, technology, and M&A related disputes. He also advises clients on internal and external investigation matters.
A gifted advocate, strategist, and analyst, Kaplan represents clients in their most complex and high-value disputes in courts across the US and domestic and international arbitrations. He has an impressive record of success, recovering more than $1.5 billion in settlements or judgments for plaintiff-side clients, and defeating exposures for multiples of that figure for defense-side clients. His wins have been reported in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The American Lawyer, Houston Chronicle, Texas Lawyer, and Law360.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America | 2026 | Litigation |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2026 | General & Commercial Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers | 2025 | Commercial Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers | 2025 | International Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America | 2025 | Litigation |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2025 | General & Commercial Litigation |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers | 2024 | Commercial Litigation |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers | 2024 | International Litigation |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2024 | General & Commercial Litigation |
| Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2022 | General & Commercial Litigation |
Kaplan excels at presenting complex matters in clear terms that resonate with judges, juries, and arbitrators. His writing has been featured in leading books on effective advocacy. A brief he wrote with Steve Susman in the securities litigation arising from Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch was featured in Point Made: How to Write Like the Nations’ Top Advocates (University of Chicago Press). And a Daubert motion he wrote for an actuarial malpractice case was described as “devastating,” an example of how to “frontload critical facts so that trial judges can assess the relevant issues quickly,” in The Art of Advocacy (Noah Messing, Yale Law School Writing Instructor).
Kaplan joined Susman Godfrey in 2005 and was elected to the partnership just four years later. Over his 20 years at Susman Godfrey, Kaplan has served in a number of roles, including as the youngest partner on the Executive Committee, National Hiring Partner, and Chair of the Docket Committee, responsible for staffing client engagements across all offices.
Before joining Susman Godfrey, Kaplan was a law clerk for Judge Jerry E. Smith on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He graduated with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law, where he was elected Editor in Chief of the Texas Law Review.