Khurram's Quorum

After nine trials, five in the last three years, Gopi Panchapakesan breaks down practical techniques he's found effective. In this episode, we cover specific and contrarian tactics for objections, admissions, void dire, impeachment, storytelling, demonstratives, and dismantling the other side’s story.  Gopi's distinctive advice flows from his unique posture: he is both a first-chair trial lawyer a...

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 w...

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 p...

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 practi...

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 prose...

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 out...

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...

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 g...

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 h...

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 launc...

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 decisi...

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 le...

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...

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: - h...

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 Ra...

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...

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 fu...

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 fina...

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 client...

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 ch...

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 exp...

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 dynam...

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 coup...

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 wre...