Kathryn J. Fritz is a partner in the Litigation, Intellectual Property and Privacy Groups and serves as Managing Partner of Fenwick & West, a law firm specializing in technology and life sciences matters. Ms. Fritz is resident in the firm's San Francisco office.
Ms. Fritz's practice concentrates on business and intellectual property litigation, with an emphasis on trademark, right of publicity and copyright, especially as applied to new technology areas. She has litigated cases in federal and state courts throughout the country and through alternative dispute mechanisms. She has represented and advised software publishers, computer hardware manufacturers, gaming and digital media companies, entertainment companies, traditional media publishers and consumer products companies on a wide variety of commercial and intellectual property issues.
Ms. Fritz received her B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a University of California Regents' Scholar. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where she was Research Editor of the American Criminal Law Review.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITES AND RECOGNITION
Ms. Fritz is a member of the Litigation and Intellectual Property Sections of the California Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. She has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She is an active speaker on issues relating to law firm management and change, and is active in diversity initiatives in the profession, including serving as Chair of the Santa Clara County Bar Association's Diversity Committee and speaking on diversity issues before numerous organizations and groups.
She writes and speaks regularly on intellectual property issues to groups that include the Federal Judicial Center and Practicing Law Institute, and since 1999 has taught an advanced trademark law seminar at UC Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall.
PRO BONO INVOLVEMENT
Ms. Fritz has been actively involved on behalf of pro bono clients. She has represented documentary filmmakers in intellectual property matters, for many years was on the capital defense team for a client on California's death row, ultimately achieving a reversal of his death sentence, and has assisted clients in obtaining political asylum.
Ms. Fritz is also active in the greater pro bono community. She has co-chaired the Bar Association of San Francisco's Pro Bono Committee, is a member of the Pro Bono Institute's Law Firm Advisory Board, and was a member of the Legal Service Corporation's Pro Bono Task Force and co-chair of the Subcommittee on Technology Best Practices.