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Preetha Chakrabarti

Partner | She/Her/Hers

Overview

Creative problem solving is what clients need in this ever-changing technological landscape. And that’s what Preetha Chakrabarti provides. As a member of the firm’s Technology & Intellectual Property Department, a co-leader of the firm’s ESG Advisory Group, and a co-leader of the firm’s Metaverse working group, Preetha seeks to offer holistic and integrated counsel to her clients. Her practice cuts across all areas of intellectual property, consisting of litigation, counseling, licensing, and transactional due diligence as well as trademark prosecution. In particular, she advises clients in the technology, retail, and fashion industries on how best to manage risks when using and developing intellectual property.

Preetha is also well known for helping companies understand their obligations regarding the advertising of environmental, social, and governance-related claims, including claims about carbon offsets, greenwashing, bluewashing, waste reduction and recycling, woke-washing, and social issues. She leverages rich experience in counseling companies across multiple industries—including food and beverage, fashion, media and telecommunications, technology, and consumer products—to help clients understand industry-specific challenges and achieve their business objectives.

Preetha also takes pro bono work seriously, and her practice includes cases involving appellate, immigration, family, and employment law as well as IP counseling for nonprofit entities. Preetha successfully represented Sandra Avery, a woman sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent, low-level drug crime who sought commutation of her sentence from President Barack Obama, reducing her life sentence to time served. Sandra was one of the 95 nonviolent drug offenders to whom Obama granted clemency in December 2015. Preetha was featured in the documentary film The Vanishing Trial by the Families Against Mandatory Minimums and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, released in 2020 in connection with her representation of Sandra. She also received the firm’s 2015 George Bailey Award for her pro bono contributions. In July 2023, Preetha was appointed to The City of New York Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, which works to recruit and encourage diverse and highly qualified persons to serve as a judge of the Criminal, Family, or on an interim basis, the Civil Court.

There are many experiences that form the foundation of Preetha’s interdisciplinary legal practice, but a few stand out. In 2012, during her final semester of law school, Preetha participated in LawWithoutWalls, a part-virtual collaboration that develops problem-solving and project management business skills necessary to provide effective legal services in today’s global, multidisciplinary, and cross-cultural marketplace. Her group placed first in key presentation categories, and overall, the group was one of three finalists. In 2015, Preetha was selected as a 2015 Pathfinder by the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a national organization comprised of the legal profession’s top general counsels and managing partners. And from 2019 to 2020, Preetha served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Career & Education

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    • Department of Justice: United States Attorney's Office
      Legal Intern, Criminal Division, Southern District of New York
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
      Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson, 2019 — 2020
    • Department of Justice: United States Attorney's Office
      Legal Intern, Criminal Division, Southern District of New York
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
      Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson, 2019 — 2020
    • Brown University, B.A., cum laude, biology and classics
    • Columbia University, M.A., secondary science education
    • Fordham University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 2012
    • Brown University, B.A., cum laude, biology and classics
    • Columbia University, M.A., secondary science education
    • Fordham University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 2012
    • New York
    • New Jersey
    • Supreme Court of the United States
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
    • New York
    • New Jersey
    • Supreme Court of the United States
    • U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
    • U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • Professional Activities and Memberships

    Professional Activities and Memberships

Preetha's Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 03.05.24

Scrutiny of Green Claims is in Fashion: Zalando Forced to Overhaul Sustainability Claims

Europe’s biggest online fashion retailer, Zalando, recently agreed to dramatically and rapidly overhaul its sustainability marketing in the face of pressure by the European Commission. This is yet another example of why companies need to be extremely careful when making environmental claims in their advertising. Such claims are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny and activist litigation in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere around the globe....

Recognition

  • City & State New York: The Responsible 100, 2023
  • Legal 500 United States: Intellectual Property: Trademarks: Non-Contentious (including Prosecution, Portfolio Management and Licensing), 2023
  • World Trademark Review 1000, 2023
  • The City of New York Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, 2023
  • Lawyers Alliance for New York: Cornerstone Award, 2021
  • New York State Bar Association: Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, 2019
  • South Asian Bar Association: Rising Star Award, 2019
  • Legal Aid Society: Pro Bono Publico Award, 2016, 2021
  • Empire State Counsel for Pro Bono Service, 2013 – 2016

Preetha's Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 03.05.24

Scrutiny of Green Claims is in Fashion: Zalando Forced to Overhaul Sustainability Claims

Europe’s biggest online fashion retailer, Zalando, recently agreed to dramatically and rapidly overhaul its sustainability marketing in the face of pressure by the European Commission. This is yet another example of why companies need to be extremely careful when making environmental claims in their advertising. Such claims are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny and activist litigation in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere around the globe....

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Preetha's Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 03.05.24

Scrutiny of Green Claims is in Fashion: Zalando Forced to Overhaul Sustainability Claims

Europe’s biggest online fashion retailer, Zalando, recently agreed to dramatically and rapidly overhaul its sustainability marketing in the face of pressure by the European Commission. This is yet another example of why companies need to be extremely careful when making environmental claims in their advertising. Such claims are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny and activist litigation in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere around the globe....