About Suzanne
Suzanne Badawi is admitted to practice in California and Illinois and serves as Special Counsel at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. She has built a practice centered on courtroom work and pretrial strategy. Colleagues describe her as practical and direct in handling contested matters.
Her professional path has been shaped by litigation. At Sheppard Mullin she takes on complex civil disputes, advising clients on procedural strategy and managing key stages of litigation. Her role often requires drafting pleadings and motions, coordinating discovery, and preparing witnesses for testimony. She works with trial teams and outside experts, helping turn large, technical portfolios into manageable case plans.
Outside firm work she has been active in professional organizations. She became a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America in 2014, a position that brings together lawyers experienced in trial practice. Since 2012 she has served on a California Bar Association committee that includes members of COPLI. Those affiliations have given her regular contact with peers who handle professional liability and courtroom practice issues.
The cases she handles tend to involve multi-party disputes and high-stakes coverage questions. She pays attention to the mechanics of case management and timing. That approach helps in cases where deadlines, discovery burdens and complex factual records can tip outcomes one way or another. She brings practical judgment to settlement discussions and to decisions about when to push for dispositive rulings.
Her written work supports courtroom presentation. Submissions are concise and focused on the legal issues that matter to judges. In depositions and hearings she aims for clarity and efficiency. Peers say she prepares thoroughly and expects each stage of a case to be treated as part of a larger narrative rather than an isolated skirmish.
Outside formal practice she participates in bar events and continuing legal education programs relevant to litigation. That involvement keeps her current on procedural developments and shifts in court practice. She is based at Sheppard Mullin and maintains her licenses in both California and Illinois. Her current practice concentrates on litigation and related civil matters.
