Matt focuses primarily on legal and business matters for technology entrepreneurs, startups and emerging growth companies. In particular, he has deep experience working with clients in the rapidly emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) spaces. He is based in Los Angeles and works within the booming tech community that is widely known as “Silicon Beach.”
Just prior to joining Santomassimo Davis LLP, Matt served as General Counsel of an AI & ML-focused startup company in Los Angeles throughout the six-year lifecycle of the company. As part of the company’s founding team, he managed all legal affairs of the company including its formation, advising on a wide range of business transactions, corporate finance matters, corporate governance, information security and privacy, human resources, intellectual property and managing all contract drafting and negotiation. Before that, Matt worked on a broad spectrum of tech-focused legal and business matters for internet/technology clients as a solo practitioner and in general counsel roles, including as Assistant General Counsel for an international ecommerce tech startup that operated in six countries in East Asia, and as a Senior Counsel for the popular $2B ecommerce retailer, Newegg.
Matt began his legal career in Los Angeles working in the insurance sector for nearly a decade, including stops in the General Counsel’s offices at two major life and health insurance companies. Subsequently, he took a five-year “sabbatical” from the law to work in media as a television news reporter and anchor at television stations across the US. It was after rejoining the Los Angeles legal community in 2007 at the height of the internet, social media and mobile boom that Matt turned his professional focus to the technology sector and it has been his professional focus ever since.
Areas of Practice
- Technology
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Information Security and Privacy
- Ecommerce
- General Counsel
- Startups
- Business Formation
- Early-stage Finance
- Corporate Governance
- Contract Drafting and Negotiation
Bar Admissions
- California
Education
- Syracuse University College of Law, Juris Doctor
- Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications, Master of Arts (Communications)
- State University of New York at Oneonta, Bachelor of Arts (Economics/Political Science)