Karla Sanchez is a general commercial litigator.  In addition to a wide-range of general commercial disputes, Karla’s practice focuses on (a) intellectual property litigation, including patents, trade dress and false advertising; (b) complex financial litigation involving residential mortgage-backed securities; (c) licensing disputes; and (d) products liability.  She has successfully litigated before courts and arbitration panels throughout the country representing both plaintiffs and defendants involving a broad range of products and disciplines, including residential mortgage-backed securities, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, underwater sea cables, and consumer products such as no-calorie sweeteners, personal lubricants and pizza.

Given the nature of Ms. Sanchez’s practice, her cases often involve resolution through preliminary injunction hearings.  Ms. Sanchez has also tried a number of cases, including both jury and bench trials.

Ms. Sanchez has extensive experience with all aspects of electronic discovery, including for large scale projects.  She has run cases involving multi-million page discovery productions accompanied by hundreds of depositions throughout the country.

She is the first and sole Hispanic partner at Patterson Belknap.  She has been recognized as one of Crain’s New York Business’s 40 Under Forty.  Ms. Sanchez is Chair of the Firm's Diversity Committee and Chair of the Patterson Attorneys of Color, an affinity group focused on issues relevant to its member attorneys. 

Prior to joining Patterson Belknap, Ms. Sanchez served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Deborah A. Batts, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Representative Matters

Complex Financial Litigation
Representing financial guaranty insurers in actions against major financial institutions regarding residential mortgage-backed securities.

False Advertising/Trade Dress
Prosecution and defense of false advertising, trademark and trade dress actions between competitors (including against private label) in federal courts for a wide variety of products and services including consumer and household products, internet providers, credit cards, OTC and pharmaceutical drugs and pizza.  Several matters resolved after preliminary injunction hearings, jury and bench trials.  Also recently represented the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in its successful suits against banks and credit card companies involved in deceptive credit card offerings.

Patent
Represented Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies in both infringement and inventorship actions. 

General Commercial Litigation
Represented clients in high-stakes and complex commercial disputes involving a broad range of substantive matters from licensing disputes to commercial landlord tenant proceedings.

Products Liability
Defended pharmaceutical companies against product liability claims in federal and state courts.