Kathleen J.L. Holmes

Kathleen Holmes focuses her practice on commercial and intellectual property litigation. Ms. Holmes represents business clients involved in a variety of issues, including computer hardware and software performance, software licensing, trade secret theft, copyright infringement, breach of contract, fraudulent conveyance of assets, breach of fiduciary duties, shareholder rights, partnership disputes, employment agreement disputes, domain name cyber-squatting, covenants not to compete, and trademark and patent infringement. Her practice includes litigating requests for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. She also works as local counsel with firms outside Virginia representing clients who are parties to actions before Virginia courts. Her clients include financial institutions, software companies and government contractors.

Kathleen Holmes focuses her practice on commercial and intellectual property litigation. Ms. Holmes represents business clients involved in a variety of issues, including computer hardware and software performance, software licensing, trade secret theft, copyright infringement, breach of contract, fraudulent conveyance of assets, breach of fiduciary duties, shareholder rights, partnership disputes, employment agreement disputes, domain name cyber-squatting, covenants not to compete, and trademark and patent infringement. Her practice includes litigating requests for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. She also works as local counsel with firms outside Virginia representing clients who are parties to actions before Virginia courts. Her clients include financial institutions, software companies and government contractors.

In addition to her work in state and federal courts, Ms. Holmes handles complex arbitration cases and appeals to state and federal courts. She is admitted to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia. Previously, Ms. Holmes was a partner with a boutique litigation law firm handling a variety of business disputes in state and federal courts as well as before arbitration panels. Prior to that, Ms. Holmes clerked for the Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ms. Holmes is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Virginia State Bar, the Federal and Fairfax bar associations, and a permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She is a regular contributor to the ABA Intellectual Property Litigation newsletter, president of the Virginia Women Attorneys Association, and active in the National Association of Women Lawyers. She is a past director and president of the George Mason School of Law Alumni Association and an active member of the Federal Bar Association. Ms. Holmes has been recognized as one of Virginia’s “Legal Elite” by Virginia Business magazine. Martindale Hubbell has rated Ms. Holmes an AV attorney, its highest rating available.


Ms. Holmes earned her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1984. In 1986, Ms. Holmes earned a master of science degree from the University of Chicago, where she was a University Fellow. She earned her juris doctor degree in 1992 from George Mason University School of Law. Ms. Holmes is a member of the 2006 Leadership Fairfax Institute Class.