Maria Cruz Garcia joined the international team at ClarkeModet on 1 January 2020 with the goal of strengthening the management of clients and foreign partners, as well as providing assessment on intellectual property, one year later and until today Maria leads the Portuguese Team (25 people) and Office as Country Managing Director for Portugal and PALOPS.
Prior to that, Ms Cruz had practiced as an attorney at law and a patent and trademark attorney in prestigious Portuguese law firms, having become a partner at one of them. She has led several departments in her previous firms and was head of the litigation department and the marketing and communication department in her last firm.
Her technical and legal expertise is extensively recognized – she has held leading positions in numerous IP associations, such as serving as the general secretary of the Portuguese Group of the International Association for the Protection of IP since 2013 and being a past member of the board of directors of the Portuguese Association of IP Professionals.
She is a regular speaker at conferences and a lecturer on training programmes and postgraduate courses in the IP field.
As a result of her passion regarding IP matters and her commitment towards her clients IP rights protection, Ms. Cruz Garcia has been awarded several international recognitions over the last years:
In 2022, Ms. Cruz was ranked by Leaders League in Trademark Prosecution, In 2019 Ms Cruz Garcia was ranked among the Top 250 Women in IP by Managing Intellectual Property, which has been awarding her the IP Star status since 2015. In addition, IAM has recognised her in the IAM Patent 1000 since 2016 and she has been honoured as a World IP Review leader, while Acquisition International has recognised her as “the only spotlighted ‘Woman in IP’ from Portugal”.
Year Joined Firm: 2020
Education/Alumni: Portuguese Catholic University
Network Memberships:
