Billionaire Perelman’s Holding Company Lawyer Joins Kaplan Firm

Timothy S. Martin, former general counsel at billionaire investor Ron Perelman’s holding company, is joining litigation boutique Kaplan Hecker & Fink as a partner.

Martin was an in-house litigator at the company, MacAndrews & Forbes Inc., for more than 12 years, the firm said in a statement. At MacAndrews, his legal work encompassed areas such as pharmaceutical, financial services, food, gaming and defense.

“Tim’s experience as a former general counsel at MacAndrews puts him in the unique position of being able to understand clients’ needs,” said Roberta Kaplan, the firm’s founding partner, in the statement.

Kaplan is a high-profile litigator who started her own firm in 2017 after leaving the partnership at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Martin began his legal career at Paul, Weiss before joining MacAndrews in 2009. Paul, Weiss has represented Perelman’s interests in past legal work.

MacAndrews, wholly owned by Perelman, has backed or controlled a range of companies in areas such as pharmaceuticals, media, and retail, including Revlon Inc. and Vericast Corp.

Martin had been deputy general counsel at MacAndrews prior to the end of 2020 when he was elevated to general counsel and executive vice president.

He was part of a new legal team Perelman selected for his holding company after it parted ways with Frances Townsend, who had spent a decade at the New York-based company.

Townsend, a former Baker Botts partner and Homeland Security adviser during the George W. Bush administration, joined Activision Blizzard Inc. as an executive vice president last year.

Kaplan said in the statement, “Adding Tim is an important part of our strategy to continue to expand our commercial litigation practice.”

Kaplan’s own legal work has included winning a major decision in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of LGBT rights activist Edith Windsor, in U.S. v. Windsor. The decision invalidated a section of a 1996 federal law and required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages.

Kaplan in August stepped down from an organization she helped start for victims of sexual harassment, Time’s Up Foundation, after being criticized for her firm’s work in a probe of then New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). “Unfortunately, recent events have made it clear that even our apparent allies in the fight to advance women can turn out to be abusers,” Kaplan wrote then.