Suarez, Christopher

Christopher A. Suarez is an outside-the-box thinker with a passion for helping clients understand and manage risks in high-technology. As an intellectual property litigator, he focuses his practice on patent, copyright, and trade secret trials and appeals before every level of the US court system, including federal district courts, US courts of appeals, the US Supreme Court, the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and other administrative tribunals. Chris's experience spans all phases of litigation, including overseeing fact discovery; taking and defending fact and expert depositions; arguing dispositive motions, claim construction, and appeals; and examining witnesses at trial.

In high-stakes IP litigation, Chris has represented both plaintiffs and defendants, which allows him to see each case from multiple angles. For example, recently, he played a critical role in asserting his client’s website patents at trial, resulting in a $40 million verdict, and in a different case, he defended a client against allegations of standards essential patent infringement involving WiFi technologies, resulting in a favorable outcome. Chris also has counseled clients in dozens of appeals at the Federal Circuit, which informs the trial strategies he develops with clients in the District Court.

Aside from litigation, Chris provides counseling at the intersection of IP and emerging technology. He has written and spoken extensively on topics at the intersection of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and helps his clients navigate the challenges and opportunities with those technologies. To that end, Chris assists clients with developing their IP policies and procedures—including their efforts to balance patent, trade secret, and copyright protections in the context of AI and IoT technology. He is an adept advisor on patent licensing, having both litigated and drafted IP licenses for his clients, including those involving standards essential patents in the fields of wireless technologies (such as 3G, 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi) and in computer hardware. As a CIPP/US certified attorney, Chris also advises his technology clients on privacy issues related to emerging technologies.

Chris is passionate about advancing the legal profession through leadership. He is the Budget Officer of the American Bar Association’s Science and Technology Section and serves in the leadership of numerous bar organizations, including the Giles Rich American Inn of Court, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, Intellectual Property Owners Association, and the American Intellectual Property Law Association. He is also active in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) and a member of Steptoe’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Beyond IP, Chris maintains a robust pro bono practice where he has represented criminal defendants before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, K-12 students facing educational injustices under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and federal employees under the employment discrimination and civil service laws. His federal employee representations have included successful representations of employees afflicted with psychiatric disabilities and brain injuries, including the Havana Syndrome, as well as whistleblower cases on behalf of federal employees who have served our country in the U.S. Department of Labor, Department of State, and the Patent and Trademark Office.

Chris is a former elected official and public school board member, and has served on several nonprofit boards in both DC and Northern Virginia.