John Quinn is a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.
He represents companies, institutions, and individuals in high-profile civil litigation and leads the firm’s efforts in a number of progressive public interest matters.
John was one of the founders of Kaplan Hecker & Fink in 2017. Since the firm’s launch, John has navigated a prominent hotel developer through complex multi-jurisdictional litigation and arbitration proceedings; represented Airbnb and Uber in Fourth Amendment challenges to municipal data-sharing requirements; and defended Gigi Hadid, Jennifer Lopez, and Ariana Grande in copyright lawsuits brought by paparazzi. He advises a wide range of institutions from hedge funds to a prominent art estate on various litigation matters. In 2021, John was recognized as a Rising Star by the New York Law Journal, and was included on Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hotlist for the Northeast United States.
John has led the firm’s efforts in a massive fraud case against former President Trump and his businesses, which has included defeating motions to compel arbitration both in the District Court and in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He also has worked on multiple amicus briefs filed in the United States Supreme Court in cases challenging actions by the Trump administration and represented a student-led LGBTQ+ pride organization in Starkville, Mississippi. In Starkville, John led a successful constitutional challenge to the city’s denial of a parade permit—and then flew to Starkville to help lead the parade. John regularly argues in state and federal courts and has extensive experience managing large litigation matters, meeting with government agencies, and advising senior executives of major institutions.
Prior to helping launch Kaplan Hecker & Fink, John spent six years in the litigation group at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where his practice included representing Microsoft in a multi-billion-dollar jury trial; taking and defending dozens of depositions of both fact and expert witnesses; representing a hedge fund in connection with well-publicized efforts to raise concerns about a global multi-level marketing company; and representing an international financial institution in a criminal investigation into corruption in international soccer broadcasting.
John is a member of Kaplan Hecker & Fink’s diversity and inclusion committee and is deeply involved in the firm’s recruiting, training, and professional development programs. John is proud to serve as a member of the board of the Ali Forney Center, the largest LGBTQ+ youth homeless shelter and community center in the country. John is also a member of the board of Broome Street Academy, a tuition-free public charter high school that operates in close partnership with The Door, and that gives admissions preference to siblings and students who are homeless, in foster care, or from low-performing schools. John has also been active in the mentoring of LGBTQ+ associates and students at all levels, and has invested substantial time coaching high school mock trial programs. The National LGBT Bar Association and Foundation has named John one of the Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 in the country and the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York has recognized John with a Community Excellence Award.
John recently served as a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School, teaching a class on Startup Law. In 2010-11, John clerked for the Honorable John R. Padova in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in his hometown of Philadelphia. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was awarded the Joseph H. Beale Prize for excellence in Conflict of Laws and the Addison Brown Prize, a prize awarded biannually or annually for an outstanding essay relating to private international law or maritime law. During law school, John served as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard College for a course on constitutional law, assisted Iraqi refugees in need of priority resettlement, collaborated in the development of violence mitigation programs for Sudanese refugee youth in Cairo, and represented clients in criminal proceedings in Roxbury and Dorchester through the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute. John also won a national championship as a member of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute trial team.
John is a member of the Federal Bar Council, a member of the board of the Federal Bar Foundation, and an Honorary Overseas Member of the Commercial Bar Association of London.
