Co-Chair of Goodwin’s San Diego office, Matthew Bresnahan helps biotechnology, therapeutics, medical device, and diagnostics companies build intellectual property strategies that drive innovation and business growth. Over the past two decades, he has developed patent strategies supporting more than 50 drugs and therapeutic candidates and serves as outside general IP counsel to more than 50 life sciences companies across California. Matt regularly advises clients on portfolio development, high-stakes IP diligence, financings, licensing transactions, IPOs, M&A, strategic IP litigation, freedom-to-operate analyses, and inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. He also counsels boards and executive teams on patent and business strategy, translating complex scientific and commercial objectives into durable intellectual property portfolios that support long-term growth. As Goodwin continues to expand its Life Sciences platform on the West Coast, Matt plays a central leadership role in building the firm’s California practice and serving innovative companies throughout the region.
Matt is recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2022-2026) among the top 30 patent attorneys in California, where clients describe him as “extremely effective as an IP lawyer in both execution and advice.” He is also ranked in the IAM Patent 1000 (2019-2026) as “recommended by peers for his creative thinking around complex strategic issues” and has received many awards throughout his career.
Experience
Matt represents emerging and established life sciences companies across the therapeutics, diagnostics, medical device, and biotechnology sectors, advising on the intellectual property strategies that support innovation from company formation through commercialization. Over the course of his career, he has developed patent strategies for more than 50 drugs and therapeutic candidates and regularly serves as outside IP counsel to companies at every stage of growth, from venture-backed startups and university spin-outs to publicly traded life sciences companies.
His practice spans the full lifecycle of life sciences innovation. Matt advises clients on global patent portfolio development and prosecution, freedom-to-operate analyses, strategic licensing and collaboration agreements, IP diligence, financings, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, public company IP matters, and patent-related regulatory strategy. He also counsels clients on complex patent disputes, IPR proceedings, Patent Term Extension (PTE) matters, and other high-stakes intellectual property issues critical to the successful development and commercialization of life sciences products.
Representative areas of experience include:
- Advising biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies developing small molecule, biologic, peptide, antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), cell therapy, RNA, and AI-enabled therapeutic platforms across a broad range of disease areas, including oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, ophthalmology, metabolic disorders, genetic diseases, and rare diseases.
- Counseling diagnostics and genomics companies on intellectual property strategies supporting molecular diagnostics, precision medicine, CRISPR technologies, and non-invasive diagnostic platforms.
- Representing medical device companies developing ophthalmic, cardiovascular, neurovascular, regenerative medicine, and AI-enabled diagnostic technologies through product development, financing, commercialization, and strategic transactions.
- Advising research institutions, academic medical centers, and university technology transfer organizations on patent strategy, commercialization, and the formation of life sciences spin-out companies.
- Guiding clients through venture capital financings, strategic collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies, public offerings, and transformative mergers and acquisitions, including transactions valued in the billions of dollars.
Areas of Practice
Professional Activities
- Member, board of directors, Biocom California
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association
- Member, Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association
- Member, San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Credentials
Education
JD2007
University of San Diego School of Law
BSBiochemistry2004
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Admissions
Bars
- California
Courts
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Recognition
- Named among San Diego Business Journal’s 2025 “Leaders of Influence in Life Sciences”
- Named in the 2022-2026 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, in which sources describe him as having been “extremely effective as an IP lawyer in both execution and advice”
- Named in the 2019-2026 editions of the IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals, in which he is “recommended by peers for his creative thinking around tricky strategic issues” in representation of a “swath of Southern California life sciences companies”
- Named to the 2015, 2016, and 2017 San Diego “Rising Stars” lists published by Super Lawyers magazine (top 2.5% of all attorneys in California under 40 years of age)
- Featured in a cover article titled “Students for Startups” in the University of San Diego School of Law alumni magazine (The Advocate, Winter 2012)
- Named a San Diego Daily Transcript Young Attorney in 2009
- Honored with the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services by the State Bar of California, 2009