A trial lawyer at heart, Evan Caplan defends corporations in high exposure catastrophic casualty claims, beginning at the initial claim stage and continuing through trial and appellate practice. He focuses his practice on complex tort litigation, including construction law, product liability, environmental and occupational exposure claims, liquor liability, aviation law, and trucking litigation.
A substantial portion of Evan’s practice is dedicated to serving as lead counsel in the investigation and emergency response stages of major casualty events. At the outset of a major casualty event, he is often brought in to orchestrate organizational responses to construction and worksite accidents. In this role, he assists clients in mitigating corporate risk and exposure, forming public relations messaging, interfacing with OSHA inspectors, investigating and documenting critical facts, and fending off potential spoliation of evidence claims.
Evan’s role continues from early stage investigation through litigation, whether it involves bodily injury litigation, safety issues, or appeal/mitigation of OSHA citations. He has vast litigation and trial experience representing corporations in lawsuits arising from product defect; representing building owners and major construction companies in the defense of environmental pollution and property damage claims; and representing corporations, manufacturers, municipalities, building owners, and managers in the defense of casualty claims arising from various product defects and toxic exposures. Evan also has experience litigating environmental pollution and exposure matters before the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. At ease in front of both judge and jury, Evan has tried numerous high exposure cases in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania state courts and has argued hundreds of pretrial and trial motions.
Evan has lectured on a wide array of topics, including spoliation of evidence, strict products liability, worker’s compensation, statutory employer and borrowed servant defenses, civil procedure, and OSHA regulations. He has provided Continuing Legal Education seminars before the PADC and on behalf of industry teams and clients and he has taught loss mitigation and evidence preservation courses on behalf of his construction clients. Evan takes pride in his service as a faculty member of Cozen O’Connor’s trial advocacy and deposition training programs, where he regularly instructs junior lawyers on deposition and litigation skills.
Evan is a member of the Defense Research Institute and the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel. He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey.
Active in the handling of pro bono legal matters in his community, Evan spent eight years as a board member of the Legal Clinic for the Disabled (LCD) and is a former member of the LCD's fund raising subcommittee. Evan has been widely recognized for his pro bono achievements, receiving the 2008 White Hat Award from the LCD, being named to the First Judicial District Honor Roll in 2007, 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2015 and being recognized by Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program (VIP) as volunteer of the month in June 2014 and June 2023. Evan regularly provides pro bono legal services, including preparing living wills and health care directives for clients of the Associated Services for the Blind and facilitating access to health and medical care for clients of VIP. Evan is also a member of Cozen O’Connor’s pro bono committee.
Evan received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware in 1995. In 1998, he received his law degree from Rutgers University School of Law at Camden, where he served as articles editor of the Rutgers Law Journal.