Kat Li

I'll verify this attorney's background before drafting.

Kat Li — Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Austin)

Focus areas. Li is an IP litigator whose practice centers on patent and trade-secret litigation. Kirkland's and her prior McKool Smith bios describe work across computer security, mobile devices, semiconductors, telecommunications, medical devices, and oil and gas, and she holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in materials science and engineering from MIT, which tracks the technical mix in her docket. The two tracked matters reflect that range: VirtaMove Corp. v. Microsoft involves software application/OS virtualization, and the Malikie Innovations v. Samsung matter involves a non-practicing entity asserting patents it acquired from BlackBerry, which in related campaign litigation have been pleaded as IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard-essential patents. Her docket history also includes medical-device (Sight Sciences v. Ivantis) and oilfield-equipment (GD Energy Products v. UTEX) disputes, and she has spoken and written on venue, post-grant strategy, and enforcement in China.

Side preference. The tracked data shows a defense-side practice: 0 plaintiff-side and 2 defendant-side appearances, both for operating companies (Samsung; Microsoft). That is consistent with her current practice defending technology and industrial clients, but it understates the scope of her career — at McKool Smith she was part of the team that obtained a $15 million patent-infringement judgment for Summit 6 against Samsung (Bloomberg Law, Jan. 2022), i.e., patent-owner-side trial work. Her Law360 docket history also reflects defense work for Google (Google v. Rockstar) and other large tech defendants. Net: she is best characterized as a defense-leaning trial lawyer who has handled both sides.

Firm and notable results. Li joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in the Austin office in January 2022, coming from McKool Smith, where she was a principal and firmwide hiring principal; she was recruited to help build Kirkland's Texas IP litigation practice. Before that she clerked for Judge Arthur J. Gajarsa on the Federal Circuit and Chief Judge Leonard E. Davis in the Eastern District of Texas. In the tracked matters, Kirkland defended Microsoft in VirtaMove v. Microsoft (W.D. Tex., Austin Div., No. 1:25-cv-00794), which the parties jointly dismissed with prejudice in August 2025 with each side bearing its own costs; the same plaintiff's parallel campaign against IBM and HPE proceeded in E.D. Tex. with extensive IPR activity by the defendants. In August 2026 Kirkland announced a win for GD Energy Products against UTEX Industries over fracking-pump header-ring patents in Judge Albright's court, which The American Lawyer recognized as a Litigator of the Week runner-up; Li was named on the team. She received the 2025 J. Stephen Ravel Award from the Central Texas Federal Bench Bar.

PTAB/IPR and credentials. Li is a registered patent attorney (Reg. No. 64,857) and appears in PTAB proceedings, including as listed counsel in inter partes reviews; Kirkland's VirtaMove defense involved a substantial IPR program (Microsoft v. VirtaMove, IPR2025-00849 through -00855). Her practice description expressly covers PTAB and Federal Circuit work. Education/admissions: J.D. with honors, University of Texas School of Law (2009), where she was editor-in-chief of the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal; S.B. (2005) and M.Eng. (2006), MIT; admitted in Texas (2009), the Federal Circuit, and several Texas federal districts.

Note: I could not independently verify the outcome or current status of the Malikie v. Samsung matter beyond the tracked appearance; the Wi-Fi SEP characterization above is drawn from related Malikie campaign filings, not from the Samsung case record itself.