049 Louis Tompros: creating adjacent bets

049 Louis Tompros: creating adjacent bets

From Khurram's Quorum by Khurram Naik

March 17, 2026 · 1h 42m

About this episode

In this episode, Louis Tompros discusses how to create career opportunities through strategic risks and pro bono work.

Judge Richard Linn first pointed me to Louis Tompros years ago, when he told me my entrepreneurial approach to breaking into patent litigation reminded him of one of his former clerks. The story he shared stayed with me: Louis created his own chance to argue at the Federal Circuit by stepping into a pro bono inventor appeal. In this episode, we explore how Louis has built durable edge through high-agency adjacent bets: Agency create your own reps instead of waiting for permission take manageable risks to accelerate learning use pro bono work, teaching, and relationship-building to create career-accelerating opportunities Adjacency bounded adjacent bets strengthen the core rather than distract from it trial and appellate work sharpen each other patent, copyright, and trademark work inform each other plaintiff and defense work reveal the other side’s blind spots Teaching teaching forces you back to first principles it makes you more creative as a practitioner in a mistrust-heavy courtroom, the best advocates help the audience feel capable of deciding Client perspective the client is the fourth audience you can win the case and still miss what matters most to the client Gift-giving…

People in this episode

Host: Khurram Naik

Guest: Louis Tompros

Topics covered

  • patent litigation
  • entrepreneurship
  • pro bono work
  • career development
  • adjacent bets

Keywords

  • patent litigation
  • entrepreneurship
  • adjacent bets
  • pro bono
  • career opportunities

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