Cristina M. Finn

I'll research this attorney before drafting.

Identification caveat. The tracked record spells the name "Cristina M. Finn," while court filings and law-firm biographies use "Christina M. Finn." The firm, side, and subject matter match, so the two appear to be the same attorney; the spelling should be reconciled against the docket before this is used externally.

Specialty / focus. Her practice is intellectual property litigation — primarily patents, with trademark, trade secret, copyright, and technology-contract work alongside it — concentrated in the computer and telecommunications sectors. The tracked plaintiff-side matter and every publicly filed appearance I could locate involve network-security/cybersecurity patents (Centripetal Networks, in the Eastern District of Virginia). Firm-published matter descriptions also list wireless router and beam-forming technology, hard drive and secure storage, semiconductors and solid-state devices, motion-control software and robotics, and collection/transmission of aircraft flight-performance data. Nothing in the sources indicates life sciences/pharma or standards-essential Wi-Fi (FRAND/SEP) work — her telecom matters are security and platform patents, not standards litigation.

Side preference. The authoritative data shows one appearance, 100% plaintiff side, as trial counsel, and the public record is consistent: her documented filings are for Centripetal Networks as patent holder/plaintiff. That said, firm biographies (Kramer Levin/HSFK and Brown Rudnick) describe a two-sided practice representing both rights holders enforcing patents and companies defending infringement claims, including defendant-side E.D. Tex. matters in hard drive manufacturing and motion-control/robotics technology. Treat the plaintiff-only count as an artifact of the small tracked sample, not as a demonstrated NPE/PAE-oriented practice.

Firm context. She was Special Counsel in Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel's Silicon Valley office (Menlo Park / Redwood Shores) at the time of the tracked appearance; Kramer Levin's combination with Herbert Smith Freehills produced the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer branding, under which she is still listed as Special Counsel. A Brown Rudnick profile describing her experience as "prior to joining Brown Rudnick" indicates a subsequent move to Brown Rudnick. I could not verify from a primary source the timing or sequence of that move, or any firms prior to Kramer Levin.

Notable matters and outcomes. The most prominent is Centripetal Networks v. Palo Alto Networks (E.D. Va. 2:21-cv-00137): a Jan. 31, 2024 jury verdict of $151.5 million finding Palo Alto's Next-Generation Firewalls infringed all four asserted Centripetal patents, with the Kramer Levin press release naming her as special counsel on the trial team (the firm later received Managing IP's 2025 Impact Case of the Year award for the matter); the court subsequently granted JMOL of non-infringement as to the '437 patent and reduced the award, and Palo Alto stated it would appeal. She also appeared for Centripetal in Centripetal Networks v. Keysight Technologies (E.D. Va. 2:22-cv-00002), opposing a stay pending ITC proceedings. Outcomes in the Keysight strand have since gone against the client: 2026 Federal Circuit decisions affirmed PTAB findings that several asserted Centripetal patents are unpatentable and upheld the ITC's no-infringement determination for Keysight. Firm bios also claim "back-to-back" trials against major technology companies with significant damages awards; the Cisco matter is the likely reference, but her specific role in that trial is not documented in the sources I reviewed, so I have not credited it.

PTAB / IPR experience. Yes, but limited and in a backup capacity: the Board granted her pro hac vice admission as backup counsel for the patent owner in five related IPRs (IPR2019-01238, -01239, -01242, -01243, -01244, covering U.S. Patents 8,068,108; 9,785,400; and 6,598,228) in September 2019, with a registered practitioner as lead counsel. She is not shown as a registered patent practitioner.

Bar / education. Admitted in California (2006); admitted to the C.D. Cal., N.D. Cal., Ninth Circuit, and Federal Circuit. J.D., cum laude, Indiana University Maurer School of Law (2006); B.S., magna cum laude, computer science, Saint Louis University (2003).