Nikku Khalifian: A Point of View Like No Other

Scroll to keep reading or listen to Nikku talk about her career and life trajectory, in her own words.
Listen and subscribe to Womble Perspectives wherever you get your podcasts.

Litigation can be tiring, stressful work, both for the clients and the attorneys dedicated to representing them. Every litigation lawyer needs a place where they can recharge their batteries and refresh their minds.

For Nikku Khalifian, that refuge is at the piano. When she’s not meeting with clients or preparing for a case, Nikku finds joy in creating music.

“When I was 9 or 10 years old, I got a keyboard and the keys would light up and teach you how to play a song,” she said. “I fell in love with playing music from the get-go, and I knew music was something I was going to do for the rest of my life.” 

Today, she keeps an upright piano in her Southern California apartment and sets aside daily time to practice. Frédéric Chopin is a particular favorite, and Nikku said she wants to learn all 21 of Chopin’s nocturnes at some point.

As with music, Nikku’s interest in the law dates back to her youth. When a favorite high school history teacher restarted the school’s mock trial team, Nikku signed up.

“I realized I loved the investigative aspect of it, diving into the facts and figuring out what the best approach was for the case,” she said. “It was a really awesome experience. I realized this is something that could be super interesting.”

Nikku still thought she might want to pursue a career in medicine. But in college, she took criminal justice courses and found that she enjoyed those even more than the math and science classes she was taking for her major. She took the LSAT, did well on it, and decided to enroll at Loyola Law School. There, her current team leader, Kristin Walker-Probst, served as one of her professors.

“I knew that being a litigator was the route I wanted to take,” she said. “I loved public speaking and diving into the facts.” At Womble, her practice focuses on employment litigation, including wage and hour disputes and class actions, as well as TCPA cases and other financial services litigation.

She said playing music has taught her the importance of pacing and patience—skills that translate well to litigation.

“In deposition, for example, you have to know when to keep pushing and when to say, ‘I’m happy with this line of questioning and I’m going to keep it at that,’” she said. 

It takes a deft touch—just like mastering a Chopin nocturne. And it’s part of the one-of-a-kind perspective Nikku brings to her litigation practice.

Discover more about our unique perspectives here.