Kalpana Srinivasan, Managing Partner at Susman Godfrey

Today, my guest is Kalpana Srinivasan, the Managing Partner at Susman Godfrey. Kalpana tries high-stakes cases for plaintiffs and has secured significant victories for her clients in trade secret, antitrust, patent, copyright, class action and other complex disputes.

Kalpana has been described as an “engaging, exceptionally smart and approachable lawyer” with the ability to “handle and manage large cases” by Chambers USA; deemed a Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360; and recognized by Benchmark Litigation as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America, its California Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney of the Year, Plaintiff Attorney of the Year, Trial Lawyer of the Year in California and one of the Top 10 Women Litigators.  The Legal 500, in its Tier 1 rankings, described her work at “the intersection of intellectual property and unfair competition, all while displaying strong know-how of the technology industry.” She was also featured in Lawdragon’s Plaintiff Issue. Kalpana holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from Stanford Law School.

In this candid conversation, Kalpana shares her journey from a telecommunications journalist to becoming the Managing Partner of Susman Godfrey, discussing her plaintiff-side trial practice, the firm’s unique democratic culture, and her commitment to leading by example in the courtroom.

1. The Journalism Foundation. Kalpana revealed that before attending law school, she worked as a reporter for the Associated Press covering the rollout of high-speed broadband in the telecommunications and media sectors. She found that the skills she developed to understand highly technical subjects—like copper loops and co-location—and translate them for a broad consumer audience perfectly prepared her for her legal practice. Today, she uses those exact same storytelling and interviewing skills to break down complex intellectual property, patent, and trade secret issues so that juries can understand why enforcing those property rights matters.

2. The Generalist Advantage. Now specializing primarily in plaintiff-side intellectual property and antitrust litigation, Kalpana noted that Susman Godfrey uniquely avoids formal practice groups for its younger attorneys. As an associate, she was actually required to try different areas of the law, which included handling large defense-side class actions, before she naturally gravitated toward technical IP disputes. This broad training aligns with the firm’s ultimate goal of developing versatile, stand-up trial lawyers rather than narrow specialists.

3. The Managing Partner Election. Following the unfortunate passing of the firm’s legendary founder, Steve Susman, Kalpana was officially elected to the Managing Partner role by her peers. Based in Los Angeles rather than the firm’s original Houston headquarters, she views her election as a testament to the firm’s dynamic and forward-thinking nature. She emphasizes that Susman Godfrey maintains a highly democratic culture, noting that the firm operates with a nearly one-to-one partner-to-associate ratio and requires every single lawyer—from a first-week associate to the managing partner—to vote on whether the firm should take on new contingent fee cases.

4. The Practicing Leader. Despite her significant executive responsibilities in managing and growing the mid-sized firm, Kalpana intentionally maintains a full-time legal practice, dedicating roughly 65% to 70% of her time to her own cases. By actively litigating and continuing to develop her own business, she believes she can better relate to the day-to-day challenges her partners face. Furthermore, she is deeply committed to carrying on Steve Susman’s legacy of motivating the entire firm by actively modeling what a trial lawyer should be doing from the front lines.

Hsu Untied interview with Kalpana Srinivasan