Mr. Thompson received a 2016 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award for his Ninth Circuit victory representing the City of Sunnyvale in its successful opposition to a Second Amendment challenge.  He has twice been named to the Daily Journal’s list of the “Top 75 IP Litigators” in California.  He is listed among the Best Lawyers in America (Intellectual Property Litigation), Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars, Benchmark Litigation’s State Litigation Stars in California, and Northern California Super Lawyers. He has been recommended in PLCWhich Lawyer? for Dispute Resolution.

Matt Harrison runs Bentham’s San Francisco office, which he opened in May 2015.  Matt joined Bentham IMF because he views commercial litigation funding as an innovative way to allow individuals and entities to bring meritorious claims in the often prohibitively expensive U.S. judicial system.  Matt has seen a strong demand for the access to justice that the industry offers to those who could not otherwise afford it.  Matt also has been impressed by the diversity of those seeking funding, including larger companies that recognize the value in defraying the risks inherent in expensive, resource-consuming litigation.  Matt is proud of the groundbreaking work he is now doing to provide claimants with their day in court and the ethical manner in which Bentham is accomplishing that objective. 

Prior to joining Bentham, Matt was a litigation associate and then partner at Latham & Watkins LLP.  Matt’s first 15 years of practice focused primarily on representing clients in a wide variety of securities and M&A litigation matters, as well as complex commercial cases involving antitrust, intellectual property and mass torts. 

Matt earned his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where he was Editor of the UCLA Law Review, and graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif.  He received a B.A. in Business Administration from University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, with concentrations in finance and marketing.