Susman Godfrey Names New Managing Partner After Founder’s Death

Texas-founded trial firm Susman Godfrey has named Kalpana Srinivasan as a co-managing partner following the death of founder and longtime managing partner Steve Susman last month.

Susman, a dean of the plaintiff’s bar and a prominent trial lawyer, died in Houston July 14 from complications of a bicycle accident suffered in April.

“It is bittersweet to come into this role because of Steve’s passing,” said Srinivasan, who was elected by the firm’s partners last week. “He has built an enormous legacy here. And I think we all feel that we owe it to him to carry on that legacy and to embrace the future because that was his character. He was adaptable and thinking about change all the time.”

Srinivasan, 45, is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office. She is the first Susman Godfrey lawyer to rise from the ranks of associate to managing partner and the first woman to serve in this position at the 40-year-old firm.

“It says a lot about the firm as an institution that we now have been around long enough that we’re cultivating and growing leadership from within our ranks,” Srinivasan said.

“I hope that this serves as confirmation for many young women and diverse lawyers in the profession that there is a future for them, that there is potential to move up in the profession,” she added.

Srinivasan will work alongside co-managing partner Neal Manne. The two will share duties equally, according to Srinivasan.

“Kalpana has been a superstar from her first day at Susman Godfrey,” Manne said in a statement. “She is deeply respected throughout the firm for her intellect, her vision for the firm, and for her wisdom and sense of fairness.”

She served as co-lead counsel representing the rock group The Turtles in a copyright infringement case against satellite radio company SiriusXM Holdings Inc., represented a class of millions of consumers in a multi-district antitrust suit against Qualcomm Inc., and won a class action settlement valued at over $100 million with Spotify.

She also served as co-lead counsel to real estate analytics company HouseCanary in a trade secret case against Title Source, Inc., winning a jury verdict valued at over $700 million, although that verdict was later overturned and the case is currently subject to appeal.

She joined Susman Godfrey as an associate in 2005 and became a member of the firm’s executive committee in 2016.

Srinivasan has also served on the California Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and as vice president of the Western Justice Center.