Explore every episode of the podcast Khurram's Quorum

Gopi Panchapakesan is a first-chair trial lawyer and an introvert. He's developed an understated approach that is an effective antidote to the typical loud trial lawyer persona.

After nine trials, five in the last three years, Gopi broke down the trial techniques he's developed. We cover specific and contrarian tactics for objections, admissions, void dire, impeachment, storytelling, demonstratives, and dismantling the other side’s story. 

We also discuss the benefits of constraints at trial, especially in second-guessing the evidence. And we talk about his thoughtful periodic digests that he sends to his network on lessons learned from his trials.

If you liked this episode, you'll like these:

• Ep 049: Louis Tompros on creating adjacent bets
  Great advocacy can feel less like persuasion and more like giving jurors the tools to decide for themselves.
• Ep 048: Neel Chatterjee on testing assumptions
  Juries are powerful credibility judges, and that should shape how lawyers present witnesses, facts, and themselves in court.
• Ep 045: Joe Ahmad on sincerity over polish, and empathy and risk in trials
  Honest, disciplined advocacy can be more persuasive than trying to win every point or oversell a case.

This episode is about chopping wood. While the headlines about litigation finance involve splashy deals and volatile policy, Adam Gill takes us to the backroom to show the work of litigation finance is risk management.

This is a rare opportunity to examine the operations of litigation finance. Adam discusses how he considers the law firms, parties, budget, appellate risk, settlement posture. The work is aligning incentives for the stakeholders - dealmaking.

I'm happy to bring Adam back - he was the first podcast guest and an early supporter in my entrepreneurship.

If you liked this episode, you'll like:

001 Adam Gill: how trading stocks led to litigation finance. Adam’s first conversation gives the origin story behind this return episode: how patent-litigation curiosity, public-market analysis, and writing opened the door to litigation finance.

046 Mani Walia: the lunch that launched a fund a decade later - trust, focus, and alignment. Mani shows a different path from trial lawyer to funder, where old relationships and aligned downside become the foundation for a litigation fund.

049 Louis Tompros: what trial lawyers need to understand about winning — Louis gives the trial-lawyer version of a question Adam treats as underwriting: what actually counts as a win for the client?

Rohit Nath's story includes crafting a $1.5 billion settlement with Anthropic, which if approved would be the largest copyright class action settlement ever.

But I think what's much more interesting is the process Rohit used to get here: following curiosity and overlooked opportunities.

We discuss:

• What Rohit discovered by reading a Supreme Court decision 100 times
• The deliberative and iterative process to crafting a path to victory in a frontier dispute
• Visualizing arguments to guide whether to take on a challenging matter
• How Rohit hones his craft by listening to Supreme Court arguments
• The advantages of following legal issues others find boring

If you like this episode, here are three more you might like:

• 049 Louis Tompros: creating adjacent bets — how small, adjacent matters can become the training ground for a frontier practice.
• 047 Tim Yoo: how to study elite performers to find an edge — turning preparation into a performance system when the stakes move from the brief to the courtroom.
• 046 Mani Walia: the lunch that launched a fund a decade later - trust, focus, and alignment — how lawyer-to-lawyer trust becoming real business years later, this is the relationship-compounding companion episode.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Tim Saulsbury is an IP litigation partner at MoFo. Tim's story is about doing the up-front work. Whether it’s:

• commanding the technical record to make the most out of trial advocacy, 
• looking for creative early wins, or
• building a moat in Japan with relationship-driven client development

Tim anticipates risks by taking a client-centric view of what success looks like and builds a responsive practice. 

This is another episode that explores the relationship between being strategic and making the most out of opportunity, and the relationship between focus and diversification. 

If you liked this episode, here are 3 others you might like:

• 047 Tim Yoo: how to study elite performers to find an edge - preparation, physiology, and treating trial work as a craft you can train for.
• 048 Neel Chatterjee: testing assumptions - juries, credibility, and how great trial lawyers revise their assumptions after real-world feedback.
• 049 Louis Tompros: creating adjacent bets - being ready for openings before they appear and building a career through smart adjacent opportunities.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Alamdar Hamdani is a former U.S. Attorney who now helps clients anticipate where enforcement priorities are forming before they are fully revealed. In this episode, we explore how Alamdar synthesizes executive orders, DOJ messaging, leadership signals, charging patterns, and institutional incentives to help clients see around the corner.

This is a rare opportunity to learn how an experienced prosecutor builds a practice from the ground up. This episode demystifies how this new chapter gets written.

If you liked this episode, here are 3 others you might like:

• 049 Louis Tompros: creating adjacent bets
  • How to find your edge and create opportunities before the market hands them to you. 
• 047 Tim Yoo: how to study elite performers to find an edge
  • Building repeatable systems and using deliberate preparation to create real advantage. 
• 046 Mani Walia: the lunch that launched a fund a decade later - trust, focus, and alignment
  • How to compound relationships for years before they turn into visible business outcomes.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Shashi Kewalramani has built a nonlinear career across elite private practice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, criminal defense, the bench, and now mediation.

This episode is about how skills compound across those chapters.

Some of the most valuable legal skills are not built in the most obvious places. In this episode, we explore:

Nonlinearity

openness to roles that do not look “on path” from the outside

why the safe path is not always the path to the best skill development

how varied experiences can clarify what you are actually good at

CJA

trust is built through time, transparency, and action

indigent defense can be elite training in client counseling

the hardest thing is often getting the truth from your own client

Magistrate jurisprudence

magistrate roles are underrated schools for writing, discovery, and case management

repetition builds judicial pattern recognition

Compounding advantage

skills learned in one role transfer into the next

deep listening, credibility, and clear explanation become differentiators later

a nonlinear career can produce a more durable kind of expertise

If you liked this episode, here are 3 others you might like:

• Judge Vince Chhabria for more on why process is substance, and how judges think about managing real cases in real time.
• Judge Matthew Kennelly for a deeper look at judicial decision-making, docket management, and what credibility looks like from the bench.
• Louis Tompros for another conversation about nonlinear legal careers, adjacent opportunities, and building something distinctive over time.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Judge Richard Linn first pointed me to Louis Tompros years ago, when he told me my entrepreneurial approach to breaking into patent litigation reminded him of one of his former clerks. The story he shared stayed with me: Louis created his own chance to argue at the Federal Circuit by stepping into a pro bono inventor appeal.

In this episode, we explore how Louis has built durable edge through high-agency adjacent bets:

Agency

• create your own reps instead of waiting for permission
• take manageable risks to accelerate learning
• use pro bono work, teaching, and relationship-building to create career-accelerating opportunities

Adjacency

• bounded adjacent bets strengthen the core rather than distract from it
• trial and appellate work sharpen each other
• patent, copyright, and trademark work inform each other
• plaintiff and defense work reveal the other side’s blind spots

Teaching

• teaching forces you back to first principles
• it makes you more creative as a practitioner
• in a mistrust-heavy courtroom, the best advocates help the audience feel capable of deciding

Client perspective

• the client is the fourth audience
• you can win the case and still miss what matters most to the client

Gift-giving

• long-term business development starts with doing useful things for people before there is any immediate return
• relationships compound on an uneven timeline
• doing good work and doing the right thing are not separate strategies

The throughline is simple: create your own reps, make bounded adjacent bets, and let the learning compound.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Neel Chatterjee has been testing some assumptions. In Neel's return to the podcast, we discuss what's changed in how he works.

The recurring theme of this episode was testing assumptions. That includes:

• testing what jurors really think about "big tech companies"
• building consensus through a new model of a professional association of lawyers, Law Firm Partners United
• changing his belief of how to go to trial based on what he learned from fifth-graders.

We also talk about specific techniques to use to invest in your network, like looking for the "twofer".

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Timothy Yoo is a first-chair trial lawyer who treats litigation like sport. Tim models his preparation and execution based on principles elite performers use:

• Prepare your physiology. Cortisol and adrenaline are part of the job; rehearsal is how you meet the moment.
• Pre-commit decisions. Use decision trees in outlines so you avoid reactivity under pressure.
• Credibility isn't just what, it's also how. Factfinders and clients read conviction, nuance, and authenticity through delivery.
• Be a reliable narrator. Your job is to help factfinders see the other side and draw their own conclusions.
• Adversaries are opportunities. Opposing counsel is your foil/dance partner, then you shake hands at the net.
• You'll use everything. Variety across matters compounds into mastery for the next big stage.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

When Mani was an associate at Susman Godfrey, he took a new colleague out for lunch for a vulnerable conversation about the demands of elite practice.

A decade later, Mani's lunch friend was now a rainmaker - and Mani was who he called for funding.

In this episode, we explore how Mani has used principles of trust, focus, and alignment to go from trial lawyer to GC of a multi-strategy fund to launching a litigation fund:

• Trust
  • being trusted as a peer trial lawyer created the relationships that led to the fund
  • the intangibles become the tangibles
• Focus
  • focusing on Texas trial lawyers creates operational excellence
  • it also enables them to act faster on decaying assets using limited information
• Alignment
  • aligning upside and downside with firms creates a flywheel for trust and repeatability
  • it also allows them to take risks others shy from

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Joe Ahmad is a trial lawyer who’s tried 100+ cases and built his entire approach around a simple premise: trials are a risk sport. If you need certainty, don’t go to trial. 

In this conversation, Joe breaks down what separates persuasive advocates from “polished” advocates, and why the jury can sense the difference immediately. He shares specific stories (including a New Year’s Eve mistrial decision he’d never repeat) and practical techniques for dealing with bad facts, corporate narratives, and the emotional game of the courtroom.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Patti Burris had two kids and an associate's degree when she started her path towards law school. Yet she made her way to the top of her class by building systems to succeed even when there wasn't a safety net. And she's reframing her biglaw path from a necessary drudge to an opportunity to build a rewarding life. 

Patti's law school story begins with walking into the wrong job interview, which led to a life-changing mentorship. She shares the principles she used to call her shot in law school and end up at the top of the class through relationships with peers and professors, systems for learning, and cycles of sprints and rest.  

Now, as a driven biglaw funds lawyers, Patti shares the formula she uses to ensure she's investing in herself every week. Patti also shares how she stacks goals (social, academic, professional) for exponential returns.

This episode is special because it's both incredibly inspirational and full of practical techniques to achieve more with limited time. Patti has challenged me to make the most out of my time to ensure I'm living in line with my values and ambitions. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Priyanka Timblo left the comfort of Paul Weiss to join a five-year-old litigation boutique, betting on a place where she could practice the skill she knew she was best at: being on her feet in court. That calculated risk paid off spectacularly, culminating in a $101 million jury verdict against Walmart in Arkansas, one of the largest verdicts in the state's history.

Her path wasn't conventional. A Canadian law school graduate who was told by recruiters to pursue business development instead of litigation, Priyanka has built her career on being underestimated and using it as fuel. Priyanka lays out how starting as an associate, she leveraged being underestimated to prevail in overlooked opportunities. We also explore the anti-optionality path in law — the competitive advantage in getting good at one thing and sticking with it. 

Priyanka talks about what it takes to continue down this path: the sacrifices in her personal life and the challenging and rewarding inner-game of skill mastery. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Judge Vince Chhabria is a district court judge in the Northern District of California. When I shared with previous podcast guests I was interviewing Judge Chhabria, the excitement was palpable - these experienced litigators think of Judge Chhabria as "insightful", "focused", and "sharp", and this is a rare opportunity to learn how an influential judge thinks.

Judge Chhabria and I talked about:
- his unexpected path from the office of the San Francisco City Attorney's Office to the bench, any why city attorney roles are so valuable. 
- the surprising impact of case management on justice, and how few motions are decided by precedent
- what keeps the job interesting 11 years into the role
- why moving cases forward is an underrated part of public service
- the "memdispo" technique that efficiently allocates judicial resources to opinions 
- what he misses most about not being a federal judge
- his most important career advice for his clerks

We also discuss how he researched and considered precedent for the recent Kadrey v. Meta decision on fair use in generative AI. 

Any lawyer looking for an original approach to career decisions and how they practice should listen to this episode. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Rakesh Kilaru is a partner at Wilkinson Stekloff. In a few years, Rakesh has resolved headline-making disputes, including defeating a $21 billion challenge to the NFL’s media model, defeating the FTC’s challenge to Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and negotiating an innovative settlement over the NCAA’s compensation rules. 

And he's barely over 40. 

I reached out to Rakesh to learn more about his practice, and the conversation  flowed. For someone of his accomplishments, Rakesh is remarkably humble. He's driven by excellence and impact. We could easily have recorded a much longer episode. 

In this episode we discuss these frame-shifting principles:

- Practice making decisions under uncertainty. From his time at the White House, Rakesh learned to map the real stakeholders, build trust as an honest broker, and make sure everyone who needs a say is actually in the loop before deciding

- Choose environments that improve decisions. A fixed-fee model  removes distortions, encourages collaboration, and lets teams right-size effort to outcomes.

- Focus. Work out from first-principles what is helpful to a jury or judge, and continually ask what are the 1-3 issues that matter. 

- Challenge assumptions. Don't rely on conventions from the practice area, but identify your own solutions. 

- Develop a generalist mindset. You can settle cases, you can try them. You can take principles learned in products liability to antitrust cases and beyond. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Dai Wei Chin Feman is Managing Director and Corporate Counsel at Parabellum Capital, a litigation funder. This conversation gets practical in breaking down the system Dai Wai has built for career success: a diversified portfolio of relationships, skills, and value-creation mechanisms. 

Business development creates differentiation when technical skills are commoditized. 
Optionality multiplies this by developing multiple career paths simultaneously. 
Affinity networks become firm-wide value platforms, not just personal networking.

Deliberate generosity treats relationships like portfolio diversification - invest broadly since you can't predict which connections matter. 
Policy expertise becomes a defensive moat in niche industries.

Progress from "say yes" to strategic "no" to protect your systems while preserving ability to seize high-value opportunities.

Daily habits (20-minute social support + real-time alerts) create information arbitrage at scale.

Raw talent isn't sufficient. These strategies build transferable assets that maintain value across market conditions.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

When tech platforms face “bet-the-company” speech fights, they call Ambika Kumar. We dig into how Ambika built a First Amendment practice from Seattle, argued a 7:30 a.m. TRO that blocked the first TikTok ban, and balances high-stakes litigation with raising two kids.

Ambika explains why eagerness is an asymmetric bet, how concise emails and phone calls keep clients calm, and what Section 230’s future means for AI. She also opens up about career inflection points, from early mentor hacks to leading headline-grabbing cases.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Quinn Emanuel partner Manisha Sheth has moved twice between elite private practice and high-stakes public enforcement. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss:

• how to bet on yourself to cultivate new skills
• how she ran 250 lawyers at the N.Y. Attorney General’s office and sped up investigations with two simple process tweaks
• the hottest state-level enforcement trends in climate, consumer finance, and AI
• dangling from an ice face at 19,000 ft

Listen for practical insights on career strategy, process and delegation as competitive advantages, and a couple mountaineering stories that will make your palms sweat.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Want a 20-minute bootcamp for your LinkedIn presence? Episode 037 for Khurram's Quorum is a little different. My guest is Sunny Kim, who went from biglaw to make a big reset for her career helping lawyers find their voice in social media. 

We cover how Sunny tinkered her way into discovering some of the best ways for lawyers to share their stories to build trust and authority with peers and clients, and get into brass tacks about how to position yourself on LinkedIn through your profile and posts. 

At the end of this 50 minute episode, you'll understand why you should bother sharing your ideas on LinkedIn, and have an easy playbook for getting started. 

Randy Gaw is the co-founder of Gaw Poe LLP. Randy left biglaw for a more direct path to first-chair trial work and strategic autonomy. At his boutique, Randy focuses on complex business litigation and high-value contingency work. We discuss:

• why case selection is about narrative, not just legal theory
• how poker and parenting made him a better litigator
• what he learned from jury consultants that changed how he prepares for trial

As a partner at HWG, Hilary Gerzhoy advises law firms, partners, and GCs on the messiest, most human decisions lawyers make. In this episode, Hilary and I talk about why most ethics violations are rooted in fear, not greed, what really motivates risky behavior during lateral moves, and why great lawyers lead with empathy - and still set boundaries.

Jamie Nawaday is Head of Seward & Kissel's Government Enforcement and Internal Investigations Practice and the founder of Disrupting Drinking, where she speaks on personal change and cultural change to disrupt the corporate cocktail culture. Jamie has the unique insight that drinking isn't just about wellness - it reflects how the legal profession handles stress, bonding, and belonging. We explore how storytelling and authenticity are not side skill, they’re core to both legal persuasion and personal transformation. That change doesn't have to come from quitting your job and going all in - you can start a courageous conversation from within. 

Vishal Shah is the founder of Shah Litigation, a high-stake employment litigation firm. This is a unique opportunity to examine the strategy and values a biglaw associate used to launch and grow a successful law firm. We talk about the decision to switch to the other side of the v., how he researched the opportunity to identify his niche, his approach to a national trial practice, the unique dynamics of the plaintiffs' bar, and business development strategy.

• (01:30) - from small-town Alabama to big-city biglaw
• (15:35) - how personal tragedies and a desire for control over Vishal's career motivated his move to launch his own firm
• (19:05) - key insights from successful law firm founders
• (21:31) - how Vishal leverages his network, LinkedIn, and relationship-building for client development
• (33:21) - case selection philosophy
• (38:46) - litigation approach and pre-trial blueprint
• (01:04:49) - the impact of the unique collegiality of the plaintiff's bar
• (01:19:39) - advice for rising biglaw associates

Pratik Shah is the Practice Head of Akin’s Supreme Court and appellate practice. Pratik breaks down his achievements and shares the values and principles he used to challenge himself and create opportunities. This conversation explores three underdiscussed topics, the market for appellate litigation, the business of appellate litigation, and the seismic shift in appellate practice in the past couple decades. We also explore  how to make decisions about the kind of practice to join and build. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Tim Yoo is a partner at Bird Marella and probably one of the few lawyers who can reference both the second fundamental theorem of calculus and The Undertaker. This free-ranging conversation explores how lawyers can use basic concepts from applied mathematics for decision principles and strategy. We also cover what lawyers can learn about storytelling and character development from professional wrestling. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Lora Krsulich is an associate at Goodwin and a rising star. After clerking in the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit, Lora litigated at Susman Godfrey before joining Goodwin. She shares her story of finding her voice and confidence in law as a first-gen lawyer, and the values she's followed as she's pursued success and excellence. 

• (00:58) - - “Covered in Masking Tape”: Lora's father’s pride in his work and how it influenced her.
• (08:01) - - “Fear as Fuel”: Facing debt and fear in her first year of law school, then finding her footing with other first-gen lawyers
• (12:32) - - Clerkships: the transformative experience of clerking for two federal judges.
• (22:06) - - Role of Advocacy: Always advocating subtly, even in procedural moments.
• (38:16) - - Parenting and Litigation: How becoming a mom reshaped her work habits and time management.
• (49:46) - - Lora reflects on how her experience of being "swindled" as a first-generation student seeking financial aid information led her to be more open to asking for help and building trust-based relationships.
• (01:07:18) - - “Knowing When a Witness Needs a Bathroom Break”: How her deposition skills reflect her ability to connect.
• (01:09:11) - - “I Wanted to Be Trusted”: Laura’s early courtroom experiences at Susman Godfrey.
• (01:18:06) - - Transition to Goodwin: Why she joined Goodwin and her focus on IP litigation.
• (01:25:00) - - “Inverting Weakness into Strength”: Turning her non-technical background into an asset in IP cases.
• (01:26:47) - - Being Strategic and Ambitious: Embracing those traits to focus her career path.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

This episode with Sonal Mehta is a masterclass on decision-making. We explore her early rise to partner and the path that led her to the management committee at WilmerHale by walking through the tradeoffs and opportunities she identified at each step. We also explore the role intuition plays in legal analysis. And we discuss Sonal's journey through challenging parts of her practice and what's led to her success. Sonal is remarkably down-to-earth for her accomplishments, so this was a fun interview. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Silpa Maruri graduated from law school in 2011, but she's already been partner at renowned trial firm Quinn Emanuel and is now founding partner at Elsberg Baker Maruri, an elite commercial litigation firm. How did she do it? 

In this episode, we discuss the techniques and principles Silpa used to practice creativity and self-advocacy. Launching a new firm can seem daunting, but Silpa breaks down some of the key components and the path that got her here. 

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Listening to this episode, you can't miss Samuel Levine's passion for consumer protection. It would be a mistake to look at his remarkable ascent from Harvard Law School to become Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC as a strategic arc to power. Samuel's story illustrates why lawyers should get their hands dirty and find work you're passionate about.

I've largely advocated for a more strategic approach to career, and Samuel's approach is a nice counterbalance. I enjoyed this conversation, I hope you will to. 

Heather Stevenson went from litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell to running a juice bar, then returned to law as a transactional lawyer at the Boston Globe where she rose to Deputy General Counsel, then became General Counsel at Red Cell Partners, an incubation firm. I've been influenced in more ways than one by Heather's adventurous career, and I admire her first-principles approach to thinking about what's important in career. 

Kalpana is known as one of the top trial lawyers in the country. She’s also co-chair of one of the leading trial firms in the country, Susman Godfrey. That’s a rare combination. I took this opportunity to explore themes in Kalpana’s career and professional decisions, there’s a ton of great principles covered in this conversation.  In this episode, we talk hip-hop dancing, the role of gut decisions in career, how she approaches business development, and more. 

• (00:00) - why Kalpana practices hip hop dancing
• (10:27) - the role gut decisions have played in her career
• (15:27) - how to benefit from gut decisions
• (18:57) - how should lawyers think about joining a growing office
• (26:47) - what Kalpana is willing to sacrifice for success
• (31:27) - how Kalpana allocates her time and effort to new cases
• (36:17) - how the firm gets new ideas
• (45:07) - a firm Kalpana admires
• (51:57) - how a trial practice helps with running a firm and vice versa
• (01:00:47) - how Kalpana balances the history of the firm and its future
• (01:04:47) - the most impactful tip she picked up in her training
• (01:12:07) - how Kalpana litigates differently from Steve Susman
• (01:13:47) - Kalpana’s favorite phase of litigation
• (01:22:27) - my take on Kalpana’s superpower
• (01:26:17) - how Kalpana approaches business development
• (01:36:37) - “show, don’t tell”
• (01:40:27) - what Kalpana is most excited about in her career
• (01:45:37) - why she believes in doing both plaintiff and defense work
• (01:50:47) - Kalpana’s advice for lawyers

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Ryan McCarl is a founding partner at Rushing McCarl LLP and author of Elegant Legal Writing. I was intrigued by the practicality and the eclectic range of influences Ryan draws on for this latest contribution to the pantheon of legal writing books. Ryan pulls ideas from disciplines like graphic design and marketing and from authors in nonfiction and fiction alike. The result is clear guidance on how to write to be helpful, enjoyable, and original.

Moez Kaba is the managing partner of Hueston Hennigan, the elite trial firm. Moez’s father drove a cab, and now Moez is one of the most sought-after trial lawyers in the country, and he’s only 42. We spent a lot of time exploring Moez's approach to trial and the role serendipity and boldness played in guiding his path through law. 

• (00:45) - how he joined his firm based on a conversation on the subway
• (09:51) - how boldness can help first-gen lawyers get a seat at the table
• (19:45) - what’s special about cross-examination
• (22:07) - what’s the trial moment he keeps revisiting
• (31:03) - trying cases the Hueston Hennigan way
• (33:01) - what’s a principle from everyday life that impact your practice
• (34:50) - how Moez found his voice at trial
• (41:00) - why the best trial teams are like an orchestra
• (48:01) - how to respond to events out of your control
• (59:24) - how has Moez related to ambition over time
• (01:01:19) - what drove Moez to go to law school
• (01:14:15) - Moez react to headlines about him
• (01:25:15) - who would play Moez in a biopic

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Nimesh Gupta is the founder of Briefly, a legaltech generative AI company. I met Nimesh through a mutual friend, and we hit it off - our patent litigation background, views on parenting, therapy, and entrepreneurship. 

We take Nimesh’s unconventional moves from biglaw to big tech to startups and dig into the decisions. We explored how to assess risk and opportunities in new technologies and businesses, including legaltech and generative AI. Along the way we explore how mindfulness and authenticity provided a north star for career decisions.

Disclosure: I’m an advisor to Briefly. 

Neel Chatterjee is a partner at Goodwin. Neel is fascinating because on one hand he’s a trial lawyer that handles serious high-stakes tech disputes, and on the other hand he’s the kind of guy who has “partner and very handsome man” written on his firm business card.  We spend some time going deep on these aspects of Neel, where they came from, and how they converge. 

• (31:40) - a counterintuitive decision career
• (00:00) - Chapter 2
• (36:00) - a pattern in his career
• (00:00) - Chapter 4
• (38:30) - his rule of thumb of building a book of clients
• (00:00) - Chapter 6
• (42:30) - how Neel gets things done
• (00:00) - Chapter 8
• (45:40) - how Neel manages peers
• (00:00) - Chapter 10
• (49:00) - the inflection point to rainmaking
• (00:00) - Chapter 12
• (01:01:30) - how do you think about risk and diversification in your career
• (00:00) - Chapter 14
• (01:05:30) - is Neel a salesperson?
• (00:00) - Chapter 16
• (01:06:50) - Neel’s superpower
• (00:00) - Chapter 18
• (01:10:40) - how Neel crafts trial strategy
• (00:00) - Chapter 20
• (01:17:30) - how Neel balances all the work
• (00:00) - Chapter 22
• (01:31:50) - why aren’t there more people experimenting with outsized marketing?
• (00:00) - Chapter 24
• (01:36:10) - does Neel feel like he’s arrived?
• (00:00) - Chapter 26
• (01:46:20) - where Neel’s practice is heading
• (00:00) - Chapter 28
• (01:49:40) - how should lawyers figure out where to direct their career
• (00:00) - Chapter 30
• (01:51:30) - ChatterjeeGPT

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Paul Grewal is the Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase. As the highly visible head lawyer at a company perennially making headlines, much of Paul's story and approach is well-known. This interview explores the lesser-known aspects of Paul's career moves: how Paul thinks about risk, the key question to ask in making a career change, and a conspiracy theory he can't shake. 

• (09:12) - the financial and emotional changes in leaving practice for the bench
• (15:30) - the most challenging part of being a judge
• (22:10) - the most skillful advocacy he observed
• (48:27) - what made Coinbase an asymmetric bet
• (01:07:12) - how can more lawyers take risks
• (01:15:32) - what’s a decision he made that he wasn’t sure he got right
• (01:20:02) - what’s a conspiracy theory Paul believes in
• (01:26:20) - why Paul is so active on social media
• (01:36:40) - what Paul’s learned about storytelling
• (01:39:48) - the number one question to ask to make career decisions
• (01:41:55) - what his peers would say Paul is particularly good at

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Alamdar Hamdani is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, one of the most important jurisdictions in the country. What I love about his story is that it’s the classic  American story of how the son of poor immigrants in small-town Texas became the US attorney for one of the most important jurisdictions in the country. 

But I discovered another equally American part of this story I hadn’t heard elsewhere - the story of the entrepreneurial civil service that led him to where he is today. 

• (16:00) - the decision that changed his career
• (19:00) - how selling Sesame Street books led to the decision that changed his career
• (39:30) - how the South Asian bar led Alamdar to the US Attorney’s Office.
• (42:30) - the shocking story of how Alamdar accepted his role as Assistant US Attorney
• (47:00) - what role does taking big risks in your career
• (58:00) - the lawyers Alamdar met early in his career
• (01:11:30) - the “Mama rule”
• (01:27:30) - what’s the most underrated risk the US faces
• (01:32:30) - what are national trends in enforcement

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

Gurbir Grewal's meteoric ascent to the Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement may seem charmed, but here Gurbir shares the tradeoffs and costs of the steps he took. Gurbir is uniquely down-to-earth for someone so public and prominent, and this interview went deep into the decisions and experiences that shaped his path.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

It's inspiring to hear the origin of The Sikh Coalition in the aftermath of 9/11 and the disproportional impact on the Sikh community. But it's all the more remarkable to hear how Winston & Strawn partner Amandeep Sidhu and his cofounders built an organization around consensus-building causes that benefit multiple communities. And how Amandeep did it by getting stakeholders at his law firm to support him along the way. This episode is for anyone looking to make a social impact and learn how to develop thoughtful responses to the inevitable crises and opportunities.

As the CEO of Litera, Avaneesh Marwaha is responsible for setting the pace of innovation at a leading legaltech company. So when Avaneesh shared some of the goals he set for himself at 25 that he's still carrying out at 40, I had to dig in to learn more. A company like Litera has a powerful lens on the legal industry and where it's headed. So we spent a lot of time talking about core insights like what makes clients stick with law firms. We also discuss the three areas Avaneesh sees opportunities for lawyers to move into legaltech, and the #1 skill lawyers need to develop now to advance their practice. This conversation is for anyone interested in learning what it feels like to bet on yourself and to move into a growing frontier.

When I was introduced to Kenneth Anand, I was equal parts excited and anxious. I'm no more than a casual fan of Kanye's work and I've never been into streetwear. But how could I say no to meeting the ex-GC of Yeezy? Kenneth and I ended up having a sprawling conversation about his new book Sneaker Law and how it departs from traditional legal casebooks. We talked about his journey from producing hip hop to law and how after 15 years of practicing law he oriented himself back to his roots in streetwear. We talked about how the methods and culture around sneakers and streetwear is moving into other industries. And we talked about lessons learned from Kanye himself.

It's hard to picture a better time to grow a cold chain technology company like Therma, and it's even harder to picture the legal clinic origins of the business. Manik Suri has made a career out of synthesizing surprising insights and finding talent to partner with. In this episode we discuss what Manik learned from a friend that ended up as a presidential candidate on how to channel your inner confidence. You'll learn a new question to ask yourself "what kind of energy am I burning?" And we talk about how to manage downside risk by getting over the fear of failure.

Federal judges are fascinating because they resolve high stakes matters addressing a wide swath of issues touching on every aspect of society. And because of their limited resources and the 30-some new cases they get a month in a busy court like the Northern District of Illinois, they have to become experts at building systems for making decisions. So I'm happy that I got to spend two hours with Judge Matthew Kennelly to learn about what he does. We explored the tools he's developed for helping bring disputes to resolution in the 22 years he's been on the bench. We talked about some of the interesting implications of lifetime tenure, how he's changed how he manages his docket, new ideas and how they spread among judges, what's difficult about sentencing, and the tradeoffs between standardization and individual attention on cases. Judges are used to people laughing at their jokes, but Judge Kennelly is actually funny (although I won't repeat that he's a "pillar of our community" because apparently he's heard that enough times). I hope you'll enjoy this rare in-depth conversation.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

I'm thrilled to share this interview Chief Judge James Holderman (ret.) formerly of the Northern District and now a mediator at JAMS ADR. Externing for Judge Holderman in law school was an inflection point in my legal development, and I feel like I've been riding that wave ever since. It's rare to get a chance to sit with a federal judge and explore lessons from 30 years on the bench. We talked about his upbringing on a farm in Southern Illinois and some of the surprising legacy that's had on his judicial career. We discussed how he wielded authority from the bench, and the hardest task he faced on the bench. Judge Holderman shared some of his prescriptions for improving how federal litigation is conducted.

About the host:

Khurram Naik is a partner at Freshwater Counsel, a boutique recruiting agency focused on patent litigators. Before founding the agency, he practiced patent litigation at Goodwin. Khurram hosts Khurram’s Quorum, a podcast with in-depth conversations with federal judges, first-chair trial lawyers, and chief legal officers on their career challenges and successes. Khurram also shares insights on LinkedIn.

When Archit and I planned to do this episode in the new year, we didn't quite expect this much attention on Robinhood. We explore Archit's arc from the first lawyer at Robinhood to general counsel. We talked about the lessons learned from building a team of dozens of lawyers, and how he approached the novel legal and regulatory issues along the way. We covered the regulatory landscape for fintech companies, reasons to be bullish on crypto, and yes, we talked about Gamestop.

I didn't expect to interview someone at another Florida sports franchise so soon, but I'm glad I had a chance to talk to Megha Parekh, Chief Legal Officer of the Jacksonville Jaguars. One of the most interesting themes from the conversation was around work-life integration and the systems she's used to foster it in herself and others. There were insights into the relation of remote work and inclusivity, and lessons on the perils of perfectionism. This interview is for anyone interested in being unapologetically yourself and refusing to cut out the fun in your life.

Kunal Patel and I something less of a conversation and more of a jam session. We explored his career as a creative and a lawyer to creatives and the multi-year grit it took to land the roles he took on. I don't know how many lawyers once drove for Uber or took a paralegal role to get a foot in the door at the right company. We also explored his ambitions for South Asian creatives and why representation in media really matters. One quote from Kunal has stayed with me: "there can't be a first unless there's a second and a third and a fourth." This interview was a first.

Bilal Zaidi is the host of one of my favorite podcasts, Creator Lab. We explored the genesis of his podcast and the connections it drew between his influences from Pakistani, the UK, and the US. We dove into some of the patterns Bilal has discerned from interviewing CEOs, investors, and writers. We also compared experiences growing up Pakistani in the UK and the US and some of the surprising differences.

You probably know more about baseball than me, but I'm glad I had a chance to learn a little about the business of the game with Ashwin Krishnan, General Counsel of the Miami Marlins. As soon as you start talking with him, you can tell he's built differently than other attorneys - there's no jargon and he's high-energy. It was fascinating to hear about how the Marlins is thinking about its place in entertainment as it competes not just with other franchises but Disney, gambling, and even Netflix. For those contemplating a move to Miami, Ashwin has the perfect pitch. And for those who want to forge their own career, Ashwin's example is inspiring.

Sachin Shivaram is CEO of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry Co. I was fascinated with Sachin's journey that started with every credential imaginable and led him to running an aluminum foundry in Manitowoc, WI. We talked about the surprising revelation he had from reading Atlas Shrugged that led him to the steel industry, a panic moment when hosting Joe Biden, and what's special about Wisconsin.