Kalpana Srinivasan

Ms. Srinivasan is a partner in Susman Godfrey's Los Angeles office where she litigates high-stakes civil disputes with a focus on preparing cases for and bringing them through trial. To read about Ms. Srinivasan's recent jury trial experience, click here.

As a trial lawyer, Ms. Srininvasan handles cases that span the spectrum of complex commercial matters, including patent infringement claims, antitrust violations, and class action disputes. To achieve the best and most efficient results for her clients, Ms. Srinivasan immerses herself in all aspects of their cases: from conducting pre-suit investigations and filing complaints to deposing key fact and expert witnesses to drafting and arguing case-critical motions and ultimately, to trying their cases to a bench or jury.

Ms. Srinivasan received her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, where she completed a double major in Comparative Literature and Yale’s program in Ethics, Politics and Economics. She earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she graduated with distinction, served as editor of the Stanford Law Review and won Stanford’s Marion Rice Kirkwood Moot Court Competition.

Ms. Srinivasan clerked for Judge Raymond C. Fisher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

• Upcoming: International Bar Association, Best Practices in Alternative Fee Arrangements, May 10, 2012, New York.
• Upcoming: Practising Law Institute, Managing Wage & Hour Risks 2012, Trial of Collective and Class Actions, New York, February 13, 2012.  Click here to view the webcast.
• The Beginning of the End: Preparing for Trial, North American South Asian Bar Association, Los Angeles, June 2011
• How to Prepare for The Big Event: Trial (The Last 90 Days), Women Antitrust Plaintiffs' Attorneys,Minneapolis, October 2010
• Moot Court Argument: United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, North American South Asian Bar Association, Boston, June 2010Ninth Circuit Roundtable, Pincus Professional Education, 2006

In 2011, Ms. Srinivasan won a full defense verdict on behalf of The Rawlings Company in a class action challenging the company's classification of its employees as exempt.

Ms. Srinivasan actively participates in a range of legal and philanthropic organizations in Los Angeles and nationwide.

• Ms. Srinivasan sits on the board of the Western Justice Center, an organization of judges, lawyers and civic leaders that promote research and legal education on alternative forms of dispute resolution and justice reform. http://www.westernjustice.org/home
• Ms. Srinivasan currently co-chairs the litigation section of the North American South Asian Bar Association. http://www.nasaba.com
• Ms. Srinivasan currently sits on the Board of Directors of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California. http://www.sabasc.org
• Ms. Srinivasan sits on the Los Angeles Board of Pratham, the largest education non-profit in India. http://www.prathamusa.org
• Ms. Srinivasan serves on the programming committee of the Young Advocates Committee of the American Bar Association litigation section.

• In 2011, Ms. Srinivasan won a defense verdict on behalf of The Rawlings Company in a class action challenging the company’s classification of its employees as exempt. During the three-week jury trial in Kentucky state court, Ms. Srinivasan handled the examination of company executives, a class representative, and one of the defense’s expert witnesses. For more about the case, click here. The case was featured in the American Lawyer.
• Ms. Srinivasan was hired six-weeks before trial to represent an affiliate of a multi-billion dollar private equity fund seeking to enforce an indemnity provision in a property sales contract. The parties reached a resolution in January 2011--the day they were set to pick a jury.
• Ms. Srinivasan currently represents PalTalk Holdings, Inc., the nation's premiere Internet video chat community, in its patent infringement case against Sony and Activision Blizzard. The case is pending in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and is set for trial in October 2011. For more information on this case, click here. Ms. Srinivasan previously litigated PalTalk's patent infringement claims against Microsoft Corporation, culminating in a March 2009 trial before Judge Folsom and a jury in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The parties settled on the fourth day of trial – following Ms. Srinivasan's cross-examination of Microsoft's first witness – with Microsoft agreeing to take a license to the two PalTalk patents for an undisclosed sum of money. For more information on this case, click here.
• Ms. Srinivasan represents Tessera Technologies, Inc., a Silicon Valley company that develops key semiconductor packaging technology, in its antitrust action against major chip manufacturer Hynix. Tessera alleges that Hynix engaged in a horizontal conspiracy with other chip manufacturers. Ms. Srinivasan succeeded in defeating Hynix's motions for summary judgment on its antitrust claims, and the case is awaiting a trial date.
• Ms. Srinivasan and a team of Susman Godfrey lawyers litigated to verdict a three-month class action representing one of the nation's largest retailers in Minnesota state court. At trial, Ms. Srinivasan conducted the direct and cross examinations of more than a dozen fact witnesses.