Khurram's Quorum

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.