Matthew J. Mertens

Matt assists clients with contract disputes; product liability defense; public sector law, including First Amendment matters; and data privacy and technology issues. He regularly litigates trade secret and business misappropriation cases, including violations of nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements.

Matt's product liability work includes defending lawsuits around the country against a major online retailer. These cases run the gamut from routine personal injury issues to complex multiparty wrongful death disputes involving liability allocation between parent and child corporate entities; corporate veil-piercing; and insurance recovery. Matt aggressively negotiates of insurance subrogation claims arising from these cases.

In his public sector practice, Matt defends local and state public bodies against tort claims and is an experienced litigator of issues arising under the Oregon Tort Claims Act. Matt was selected as one of a dozen lawyers representing the Biden-Harris campaign in managing the recount of nearly five million ballots in the U.S. presidential election in Georgia, the second-largest recount in American history.

Matt is an avid technologist and leverages generative AI (GAI) and sophisticated electronic discovery techniques to position his clients for success at every phase of litigation. He is an accredited, certified information privacy professional and regularly presents on issues at the intersection of data privacy, GAI, and electronic discovery.

In his active pro bono practice, Matt's recent efforts have included raising constitutional challenges to an incarcerated client's prison sentence and assisting individuals seeking asylum from political violence in their countries of origin.