Kalpana Srinivasan of Susman Godfrey. (Courtesy photo)

Kalpana Srinivasan scored one of the biggest (if not the biggest) jury verdicts of the year in a trade secrets, fraud and breach-of-contract suit—a $706.2 million win for her real estate valuation client HouseCanary. A San Antonio jury decided a Quicken Loans affiliate used a license as a pretense to reverse-engineer its own competing valuation model.

What's the best piece of career advice anyone ever gave you?

Show don't tell. Nothing says more about your abilities than the quality of your work.

No. 1 survival tip in a work crisis:

Hazelnut americanos.

In 50 words or less, how far has the tech industry gone toward tackling its gender gap since you started practicing?

Two steps forward, one step back. But we can't let the setbacks along the way overshadow the strides that have been made.

What's one way you've had to change your thinking toward practicing law to succeed with tech industry clients?

Tech clients are used to moving fast and want input and guidance succinctly and quickly.

What's the best part about working in the tech sector?

Innovative and interesting clients.

What's the biggest challenge?

Keeping track of developments in a wide range of dynamic fields.

What piece of advice do you give to lawyers considering a career in tech law?

Jump in.

What's one way technology has made your life easier?

Being able to set up a mobile office anywhere in the world.

One way it's made your life more difficult?

It takes more time to manage communications across so many different platforms.

Name an important opportunity you got early in your career and what you did with it?

I tried a patent case very early in my career as an associate, and I made sure I had stand-up time in front of the jury through witness examination and argument.