Cleary Gottlieb Further Expands Premier IP Litigation Team with Addition of Kristina Cary

Cleary Gottlieb announced today that Kristina Cary joined the firm as counsel in its rapidly growing intellectual property (IP) litigation practice.

She is based in New York.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kristina to our firm,” said Cleary Managing Partner Jeff Karpf. “She is an outstanding addition to our rapidly growing IP litigation practice and brings sophisticated technical and trial experience to our team.”

Kristina’s arrival marks further expansion for Cleary’s IP litigation group, which saw significant growth in 2025 with the addition of a premier five-partner team. This team of top-tier IP trial lawyers deepened Cleary’s “bet the company” capabilities across the U.S. for today’s most complex patent, trade secret, copyright, and trademark disputes, with partners joining in New York, California, and Washington, D.C. The group, which includes partners Clement Naples, Bert Reiser, Giri Pathmanaban, Greg Sobolski, and Thomas Yeh, was recently recognized by The American Lawyer as one of the most significant lateral hires of 2025. Sami Al-Marzoog, an experienced patent and trade secret lawyer, was also promoted to partner this January, adding to the team’s strength.

Kristina is a skilled patent litigator and trial attorney and has acted as the technical and litigation lead in cases involving the world’s largest technology and healthcare companies. With a background in electrical and computer engineering, Kristina has litigated complex matters involving medical devices, radio frequency (RF) circuitry, embedded microprocessors, consumer telecommunications systems, software and operating systems, and mobile communications infrastructure. She regularly advises on hardware and software matters in federal district courts and in Section 337 investigations before the International Trade Commission (ITC) and has led both discovery and trial teams to success. 

“Kristina is a superb addition to our IP trial team,” said Clement Naples, a partner and head of the group. “Kristina combines deep patent litigation experience with technical fluency and has repeatedly delivered results in court. She will be an important part of how we continue to build the practice.” 

“I am excited to join Cleary’s high-caliber team of IP litigators, particularly at this critical juncture in the group’s expansion,” said Kristina. “I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues on sophisticated trial strategies that lead our clients to success.”