ABOUT

Matthew Dresden represents a wide range of clients, with an emphasis on entertainment, intellectual property, and cross-border transactional work. He provides a full suite of services for independent filmmakers and other creative artists, and has also worked on behalf of film studios, cable channels, video game developers, magazines, restaurants, wineries, design firms, technology companies, major public universities, and international retailers. His clients include startups and Fortune 100 companies. Matthew is widely viewed as an expert in Chinese intellectual property, and has been quoted numerous times in publications ranging from the New York Times to The Economist to Variety.

Before attending law school, Matthew worked in Hollywood for eight years as an independent filmmaker, starting as a production executive for Roger Corman’s Concorde-New Horizons Pictures. Before that, he was a computer science graduate student at Stanford University. He has also worked as a journalist, a transportation planner, a food critic, and a website designer.

Matthew serves on the board of Northwest Film Forum and is currently District 7N Governor for the Washington State Bar Association. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he teaches a clinic on legal issues for independent filmmakers. He regularly volunteers with Washington Lawyers for the Arts.

Matthew was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his work takes him back to California several times each year. He spends his free time watching television, reading, hiking, cooking spicy food, and spending time with his wife and daughter.

Education

  • Stanford University (B.A.)
  • University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (J.D.)
  • University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Affairs (M.A.)
  • New York University School of Law (LL.M., Law and the Global Economy)
  • National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (LL.M., International and Comparative Law

Bar and Court Admissions

  • California
  • Washington
  • Texas

Judicial Clerkships

  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Jeff Bohm, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Vanessa D. Gilmore, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas