Kalpana Srinivasan

Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Entertainment, Media & Gaming, Class Actions

Kalpana Srinivasan tries cutting-edge cases at the intersection of technology and competition. She serves as Susman Godfrey’s managing partner and a member of its executive committee, leading the 150-lawyer litigation firm in its handling of high-profile matters across the nation.

A fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, Ms. Srinivasan has been repeatedly recognized as one of the leading 500 lawyers in America by Lawdragon and as an Intellectual Property MVP by Law360. The National Law Journal has recognized her as both a Winning Litigator and an Intellectual Property Trailblazer. Ms. Srinivasan also been named a Power Lawyer by The Hollywood Reporter and was featured in Lawdragon’s Plaintiff Issue.

Ms. Srinivasan and her co-counsel received a California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year award for their work in Flo & Eddie v. SiriusXM, a copyright class action involving pre-1972 sound recordings. Ms. Srinivasan argued the appeal of the underlying issue to the 9th Circuit in 2021.

In California, Ms. Srinivasan has been recognized as one of the state’s Top 100 Lawyers and repeatedly as one of its Top IP Lawyers and Top Women Lawyers by the Daily Journal. The Recorder has included her among the Women Leaders in Tech Law and named her a California Trailblazer.

The National Law Journal has named Ms. Srinivasan an Elite Woman of the Plaintiff’s Bar and one of the nation’s 75 Outstanding Lawyers.

Ms. Srinivasan has worked tirelessly toward advancement of diverse and female lawyers in the profession. She is the recipient of the Cornerstone Award from the South Asian Bar Association of North America and the Gender Diversity Lawyer of the Year from Chambers for her efforts.

Ms. Srinivasan currently serves on Senator Alex Padilla’s Judicial Evaluation Commission for the Central District of California and previously served on the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission of the California State Bar. Ms. Srinivasan previously acted as VP for the Western Justice Center and held leadership roles on the EC of the South Asian Bar Association. She has also taught a course on Class Actions at UCLA Law.

Ms. Srinivasan previously reported for The Associated Press in Washington D.C., covering national media and telecommunications policy.

Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, invitation only legal association that limits Fellowship to 500 active trial lawyers from the United States. Trial lawyers become Fellows only after an extremely rigorous vetting process, which includes both peer and judicial review.

Member, Senator Alex Padilla’s Judicial Evaluation Commission for the Central District of California

Former Commissioner, Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission of the California State Bar, which vets the governor’s potential judicial candidates

Former Vice-President, Western Justice Center, an organization of judges, lawyers and civic leaders that promote conflict resolution skills among youth, educators, schools, and community partners

Former Board Member, California ChangeLawyers, which aims to promote access to justice for underrepresented communities in California

Executive Board Member, South Asian Bar Association of North America and of Southern California

Fellow, American Bar Foundation

Member, Litigation Counsel of America

To learn more about Ms. Srinivasan's winning work, read about all of her Notable Representations here:

https://www.susmangodfrey.com/attorneys/kalpana-srinivasan/#notable-representations

Examples include:

- HouseCanary Inc. v. Amrock / Rocket Close (Bexar County, Texas). Served as co-lead counsel real estate analytics company, HouseCanary, in a trade secret and fraud dispute against Amrock (now Rocket Close). After a four-week trial, a San Antonio jury awarded $175 million in damages after finding that Amrock misappropriated HouseCanary’s proprietary home-valuation technology and defrauded the company—marking the second jury to conclude that Amrock stole HouseCanary’s trade secrets. Srinivasan served as co-lead counsel at both trials and for the entirety of the nearly decade-long litigation

- Paltalk v. Cisco (W.D. Tex.) Won a $65.7 million jury verdict on behalf of Paltalk Holdings, a global communications software innovator, in a patent infringement lawsuit against Cisco Systems for Webex’s audio server technology. The result was covered by Bloomberg Law, Law360, Reuters, and USA Herald, among others. Ms. Srinivasan and her co-lead counsel were interviewed by World Intellectual Property Review regarding this win.

- Black Knight v. PennyMac (Fla. Arbitration). Obtained an arbitration award, confirmed by a state court judgment, of nearly $160 million on behalf of client mortgage servicing technology company Black Knight based on former customer PennyMac’s misuse of confidential information. The award followed nearly two months of arbitration in Jacksonville, Florida. The arbitrator also awarded no damages to PennyMac on its antitrust counterclaims against Black Knight and found that PennyMac had engaged in spoliation of evidence.

- Federal Trade Commission v. Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) and Black Knight, Inc. (N.D. Cal./Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Served as lead trial counsel for ICE in injunctive proceedings brought by the FTC in federal court in California and in an administrative hearing in the FTC related to ICE’s $11.7 billion proposed acquisition of Black Knight. The FTC dismissed its injunction before the parties then reached a consent order.

- In re Sunday Ticket (C.D. Cal) Following three-week jury trial, obtained a finding that the NFL engaged in a conspiracy and violated the antitrust laws through its Sunday Ticket offering. The jury-awarded damages amount was vacated by the trial court on a post-trial motion, but the court left untouched the jury’s determination that the NFL violated two different provisions of the Sherman Act. Proceedings in the matter are ongoing.

- KSFB Management, LLC v. Focus Financial Partners, LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (Los Angeles S. Ct.). Represented Focus Financial Partners – which partners with various independent, wealth management firms — in lawsuits brought by KSFB. Successfully defended Focus against New York law claims, obtaining a full dismissal in state court.

- Universal Cable Productions LLC (UCP) et al. v. Atlantic Specialty Insurance Co. (C.D. Cal.)Served as lead trial counsel for NBC Universal subsidiary, UCP, in its dispute with insurance carrier, Atlantic, over the cost to relocate filming the TV miniseries “Dig” out of Jerusalem due to bombing by Hamas. UCP received a full win on liability before the court. The case settled the day before trial for bad faith denial of coverage and damages.

- Flo & Eddie v. Sirius XM/Pandora (C.D. Cal.)Served as co-lead counsel representing Flo & Eddie (the founding members of 60’s music group, The Turtles) along with a class of owners of pre-1972 sound recordings for copyright violations by music provider Sirius XM. Flo & Eddie settled with Sirius XM and Ms. Srinivasan and her co-leads were named “California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year” by The Daily Journal for their legal work on this case. Ms. Srinivasan argued the appeal of the underlying issue in the Sirius XM cases before the Ninth Circuit in 2021.

- Bernstein et al v. Cengage (S.D.N.Y.) Represented authors of higher education textbooks for failure to pay royalties owed on their contracts when those texts were offered on the company’s online platforms. Secured a non-reversionary settlement of $21 million approved by the court for past damages.

- Melissa Ferrick et al v. Spotify USA Inc. et al (S.D.N.Y.) Secured a deal worth over $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with music streaming service, Spotify, brought on behalf of music copyright owners.

- Johnston v. Rawlings (Kentucky State Ct.)Won a defense-side jury verdict on behalf of The Rawlings Company in a certified class action challenging the company’s classification of its employees following a three-week jury trial. The jury verdict was featured in the American Lawyer.

Former Law Clerk to the Honorable Raymond C. Fisher, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit