Profile: Stuart Kaplan By Rense, Kirk* (As is the case with many members of the California Receivers Forum,
Stuart Kaplan’s career path has zig-zagged between finance and business
and law and combinations thereof, as you will discover in this fascinating
profile, written by Mr. Kaplan with an assist from Ron Oliner.) Backing up, my first significant challenge was simply getting through high school, Boston Latin School, the oldest high school in the country, whose official color is also purple. From Latin School it was on to Harvard College for an undergraduate degree; but then enough was enough of “if it’s old, it’s good” and I headed West to attend Stanford Law School. That first summer I worked in a cannery; however, the next summer a position at the other end of the spectrum at an investment banking firm introduced me to the world of high finance, as a “boardmarker” scratching in chalk quotations from a ticker tape onto a blackboard. Technology has come a long way since then! From there I have always focused on some combination of law, business, and finance. Accordingly, my first full time employment upon graduating law school was at Wells Fargo Bank as a financial analyst. They sent me to U.C. School of Business for an extension program in how to read a balance sheet and related higher arts. As an associate member of the local analysts society for the next three decades I have actually gotten to testify a few times as an expert witness. Then came a four-year career with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a trial attorney. This was not only lots of fun, (well not the part about objecting to fees), but led directly to participation in some significant reorganization proceedings. The SEC acted as amicus under Chapter X of the old Bankruptcy Act in cases where there was a large public investor interest. This position called for lots of travel around the West in that capacity, and meeting with U.S. District and Bankruptcy Judges as well as a variety of attorneys working in the areas of insolvency and receivership. A three-year professional relocation thereafter to Los Angeles was very interesting. I was very fortunate to work as an associate with Sulmeyer Kupetz, who acted not only as counsel in bankruptcy and receivership cases, but also as Court-appointed officers in such proceedings. Opening a Private Practice My first appointment in private practice had a strange title, “Controller” for Eichler Homes, at the time in 1967 the largest homebuilder in Northern California. That proceeding evolved into a Chapter X trusteeship; however, my expertise in that arcane field was to become near-useless as Congress some years later through the new and expanded Chapter 11 (note change from Roman to Arabic numerals in the process) of the Bankruptcy Code not only did away with the need for such expertise, but alas there was no longer a statutory requirement for an independent trustee to be appointed. Debtors-in-possession became the order of the day, with trusteeships imposed very infrequently. From Controller to Trustee to Receiver I loved almost all of these cases. The most memorable are hotels, including a Sheraton in Rancho Cordova and a Hilton in Redding, oil drilling programs (GeoTek, with its entertainment industry and other high profile investors, such as Bob Dylan, Nancy Sinatra, and Otis Chandler), cattle ranching and farming ,including Sugar Loaf Berries, one of the nation’s largest strawberry producers, a “ranch” of a different sort called Moonlight Ranch located outside of Carson City, Nevada, auto dealerships including the largest Toyota dealership in Northern California, nursing homes, venture capital entities, and various types of lawyer vs. lawyer situations ranging from solo practices to office sharing disasters to law firms. The most interesting of the law firm cases was acting as Special Master, but with receiver duties, in the breakup of the Belli law firm in 1993; yes, the King of Torts. There , not only were the usual receivership issues present loud and clear, but in addition I found dealing with some of the firm’s cases quite fascinating. Currently I have what is for me a new title ,”Neutral Manager,” in co-owner litigation flowing out of an arbitration proceeding. Then as another one-of-a-kind, I am acting as receiver in Probate Court, the origins of which I’m not totally sure. Importance of Independence In 1976-7 I served as Chair of the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of the San Francisco Bar Association Throughout the years I participated in presenting various seminars, and also authored an article titled “The Courts and Equity Receiverships,” Los Angeles Lawyer, May, 1978. This article is still referred to from time to time in this field that is so sparse on authority; the greatest kick was seeing it cited at some length by the Ninth Circuit, albeit buried in footnote 11, in a case wrestling with the issue of whether to liquidate an entity in a bankruptcy or receivership context, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Lincoln Thrift, 577 F.2d 600 (9th Cir. 1978). The answer: “it all depends.” Balance in Life Is the Key |