The Charlottesville Case:
How to Sue Nazis and Win

Wednesday, February 23, 2022
5:00 pm EST

Please note: this event was rescheduled from February 3, 2022

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Zoom link to be sent upon registration

Please join us to hear the inside scoop from counsel for the plaintiffs in Sines v. Kessler, a high-stakes lawsuit under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 against twenty-four neo-Nazi and white supremacist leaders responsible for organizing the racial- and religious-based violence in Charlottesville in August 2017, including a deadly car attack. In November 2021, the Plaintiffs won a landmark decision - a $26 million judgment - assuring that white supremacists who plotted racially motivated violence in 2017 will be held accountable.

The panelists will include lead counsel for the plaintiffs, Roberta (“Robbie”) Kaplan, the founding partner of Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP (“KHF”), a cutting-edge civil and criminal litigation firm with a groundbreaking commitment to using the courts to serve the public interest. Robbie is a renowned litigator with decades of experience in commercial, higher education, and civil rights litigation. Prior to the Charlottesville case, she was best known for successfully arguing before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of her client Edith Windsor in United States v. Windsor, the landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled that a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violated the U.S. Constitution by barring legally married same-sex couples from enjoying the wide-ranging benefits of marriage.

Robbie holds an A.B. from Harvard College magna cum laude and a J.D. from Columbia Law School (where she teaches a seminar on advanced civil procedure). She has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Johns Hopkins University and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Jewish Theological Seminary, among others, and she was honored to speak at the 2019 Class Day ceremonies at HLS.
 

Robbie will be joined by Raymond P. Tolentino, a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP,  who was one the lead trial lawyers in Sines v. Kessler.  He specializes in appellate and complex civil litigation, and has substantial experience representing clients in matters related to administrative, constitutional, employment, healthcare, and civil rights law. Ray is a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, was recently recognized by the Legal 500 US for his skill as an appellate litigator, and was selected by Lawdragon 500 as a 2021 Leading Plaintiff Employment & Civil Rights Lawyer. In October 2020, Ray took a leave of absence from the firm to serve as Special Counsel to Senator Amy Klobuchar on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Ray has litigated a wide array of commercial, constitutional, and civil rights cases and has served as the principal author of dozens of briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and federal and state trial courts. Ray regularly advises companies in high-stakes trial litigation and regulatory matters

Robbie and Ray will be joined by two attorneys from KHF who were integral to the success of the case. Alexandra Conlon is a senior associate at KHF with substantial trial experience, who was previously a supervisor at the Bronx Defenders prior to joining the firm. Benjamin White '13 is a senior associate at KHF with significant experience in federal and state courts concerning complex commercial transactions, the securities laws, federal and state whistleblower statutes, and the U.S. Constitution.
 

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