Kishan Barot is a partner and tech litigator in the Firm’s Los Angeles office. Once an open-source programmer, he possesses a technical acumen unique among trial lawyers. He handles complex, high-stakes civil litigation for founders, investors and companies large and small.

His experience includes data privacy, trade secret, investment fraud and post-M&A cases, as well as founder and business control disputes, software deployment controversies and intellectual property (IP) licensing and royalty claims.

A versatile and results-oriented advocate, Kishan takes cases through trial and appeal, and has secured victories on behalf of both plaintiff and defendant clients in state and federal court, and in arbitration. His representative matters include:

• Served as trial counsel for an acquirer in a post-acquisition earnout arbitration, obtaining a favorable multimillion-dollar adjustment, plus recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs.
• Served as trial counsel for investors defrauded by a company founder in an arbitration, and secured a $5 million award in addition to punitive damages and attorneys’ fees and costs.
• Served as trial counsel for an entertainment company defrauded by a former business partner in an arbitration, winning a total victory, including a declaration affirming the client’s IP rights, recovery of all damages alleged and dismissal of all counterclaims.
• Represented a health insurer following a nationally publicized alleged data privacy breach, including defending the insurer against patient claims, as well as pursuing a series of indemnity actions on behalf of the insurer.

Kishan also writes on legal and business issues related to artificial intelligence and climate tech. In addition, he maintains a vibrant pro bono practice and regularly represents asylum applicants facing removal in immigration court.

Prior to joining Manatt, Kishan was a law clerk to the Honorable Jay C. Gandhi, U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In law school, Kishan interned at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.