Bracewell LLP

Intellectual Property

Christopher (Kit) Crumbley draws on his two decades of experience serving within the US Patent & Trademark Office and the Department of Justice to provide comprehensive intellectual property advice and counsel to businesses across all technology fields, with a particular focus on post-grant validity challenges and the appeals of those proceedings.

From 2012 to 2023, Kit served as an Administrative Patent Judge with the US Patent & Trademark Office’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB), including nearly seven years in PTAB leadership as a Lead Administrative Patent Judge. During his 11-year tenure with PTAB, he participated in more than 400 panels deciding the outcome of AIA petitions and ex parte appeals, and he personally authored over 100 decisions on institution and more than 70 final written decisions. He also frequently advised agency leadership and was deeply involved in significant PTAB and agency reform efforts, including PTAB’s Consolidated Trial Practice Guide, rulemaking on motions to amend and decision-making procedures.

Prior to being appointed to PTAB, Kit served for nearly a decade as a trial attorney with the Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, defending the government in patent litigation suits before the US Court of Federal Claims and appeals before the Federal Circuit.

University of Virginia School of Law,  J.D. 2000 Rice University, B.A., Chemistry and Political Science 1997, cum laude