Overview

Prashanth Chennakesavan is a first-chair trial lawyer and a partner in the firm’s complex commercial litigation, class action and intellectual property practice groups. He has extensive experience representing clients in federal and state courts, and before arbitration panels, throughout the country in a broad range of cases, including trade secrets, antitrust, intellectual property, and other complex commercial litigation.

Prashanth has served clients of all sizes—ranging from start-ups to the largest companies in the world—across numerous industries, including technology, financial services, retail, and entertainment. He carefully manages each stage of the litigation—from initial evaluation through trials and appeals—with an eye towards achieving clients’ business goals and getting results. In just the past couple of years, he has successfully defended clients at trial, obtained dismissal of multiple class actions at the pleading stage, and won numerous appellate and dispositive arguments in the Ninth Circuit and federal courts in California and New York.

Before joining the firm, Prashanth practiced in the New York and Los Angeles offices of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.

Prashanth is admitted to practice in New York and California, and maintains offices in New York City and Los Angeles.

Notable Representations

• Successfully defended client, a Korean corporation, in jury trial where plaintiff, another Korean company, was seeking over one hundred million dollars in damages based on alleged global conspiracy.
• Successfully argued Ninth Circuit appeal on behalf of an entertainment company that resolved a decades-long dispute over allegedly unpaid royalties.
• Obtained complete dismissal of a false advertising consumer class action at the pleading stage on behalf of an electronic device distributor.
• Obtained complete dismissal of all class allegations in a putative class action challenging the legality of a start-up’s business practices.
• Obtained summary judgment for defendant in a complex contractual dispute alleging millions in liability for failure to deliver promised advertising leads.
• Obtained summary judgment (and attorneys’ fees) for defendants in complex partnership dispute, in which plaintiff claimed tens of millions in unpaid royalties over decades.
• Obtained complete dismissal of antitrust, contract, and unfair competition claims on behalf of a nationwide radio broadcaster for an alleged exclusion of radio programming producers.
• Obtained summary judgment, and affirmance on appeal, of antitrust claim in for a satellite television distributor accused of improperly excluding retailers from the marketplace.
• Obtained favorable settlement on the eve of trial in a trade secrets misappropriation action for a nationwide roofing supply distributor.
• Obtained favorable settlement, after filing summary judgment motion, in a trade secrets misappropriation action on behalf of a multinational venture capital.
• Successfully represented smartphone manufacturer in complex, multi-year intellectual property litigations in the Northern District of California that included three jury trials and numerous appeals.

Education

Columbia Law School (J.D., Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, 2011); Finalist, Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition; Editorial Board, Columbia Human Rights Law Review
University of Southern California (B.A.)

Admissions

Mr. Chennakesavan is admitted to practice in California and New York.

Prior Affiliations

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP