Matthew A. Taylor is Chairman of Duane Morris' Trial Practice Group. The Trial Practice Group consists of nearly 300 attorneys in 18 offices.

Mr. Taylor practices in the area of commercial litigation, handling matters in state and federal courts across the United States. He is an active trial lawyer dealing with matters in banking and securities law, corporate governance, commercial real estate, product liability (with a concentration in medical devices), computer software license disputes, computer software and hardware installation and implementation, and corporate director's and officer's liability and indemnification. Mr. Taylor handles a wide range of employment matters involving noncompete, trade secrets and business related torts. Mr. Taylor is lead trial counsel in numerous patent infringement matters where he and one of the firm's technical patent lawyers take a team approach in patent litigation. Mr. Taylor represents medical device manufacturers nationally in product liability matters and in connection with commercial disputes between the manufacturer and its distributors.

Admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New York, he is a member of the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia bar associations, the International Association of Defense Counsel (serves as Vice Chair of the Technology Committee) and the Drug and Medical Device Committee of the Defense Research Institute. He is listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in general commercial litigation. Mr. Taylor is a 1989 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and a graduate of Boston College.

Representative Matters

Computer Software Litigation -- Information Technology Litigation -- Lead trial counsel for several different corporate entities in various jurisdictions across the United States against a tier one software developer and consulting company, in multimillion-dollar breach of contract and misrepresentation actions. All of the respective claims arose out of software license agreements in which the developer agreed to develop, deliver and service ERP software. All claims went to trial and resulted in very favorable outcomes for our clients.
Computer Software Litigation -- Lead trial counsel in defense of claims brought by a municipality against a tier one global software company in connection with the licensing and implementation of public sector enterprise software.
Venture Finance-Biotechnology -- Re: BioQuest Venture Leasing Company-A v. Vivorx Autoimmune, Inc. (Cal. Sup. Ct. for Los Angeles, Case No. SC084416, 2007) - Lead trial counsel on behalf of the plaintiff, a foreign venture capital fund, in a multimillion dollar dispute arising out of a technology license and lease back agreement between venture capital fund and a bio-science research and development company based in California. The case centered around the issues of whether the plaintiff venture fund had proper standing, as an alleged undisclosed principal and assignee of the underlying agreement, to pursue the case and whether the technology had been abandoned by the parties to the agreement. The case went to trial in Superior Court in Santa Monica, California. After a two-week trial before a jury of twelve, a unanimous verdict was rendered by the jury in favor of our client, the plaintiff venture fund. The matter also included issues of the award of attorney fees and alter ego liability, which are the subject of post-trial proceedings.
Corporate Merger/Securities Litigation -- Lead trial counsel in defense of a technology company and its Wall Street investment group in connection with a multimillion-dollar merger agreement involving over $200 million of post-merger milestone payments. The plaintiffs are shareholders of the selling company who claim rights to the milestone payments post-merger and who have claimed breach of the merger agreement, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and fraud in the inducement. The matter centers around the defendants' efforts to secure FDA approval and commercialize a certain medical device.
Wright Medical Technology v. The Somers Group, et al., 37 F. Supp. 2d 673 (D.N.J. 1999) -- Commercial litigation -- manufacturer -- distributor disputes: Preliminary Injunction matter on behalf of plaintiff, a medical device manufacturing company, against medical device distributor for breach of non-compete and trade secrets clause in distribution agreement.
VonFeldt v. Stifel Financial Corporation, Delaware Supreme Court En Banc Opinion, 714 A.2d 79 (1998) -- Corporate director and officer liability and indemnification; lead trial and appellate counsel; landmark decision regarding a parent corporation's obligation to indemnify officers and directors of wholly owned subsidiaries.
Cochran v. Stifel Financial Corporation, Delaware Supreme Court, 809 A.2d. 555 (Del. Sup. Ct. 2002) -- Corporate director and officer liability and indemnification; lead trial and appellate counsel in this case of first impression involving former officer and director's claim for the reimbursement of defense cost arising out of a successful defense of criminal charges involving the government's investigation into various municipal finance transactions. Also, opinion established new law on corporation's duty to pay "fees for fees" for director's costs and fees in pursuing indemnification.
Baker, et al. v. Summit Bank, E.D. Pennsylvania, C.A. No. 99-CV-2010 -- Banking and Finance Litigation: successful defense of banking institution in a $30 million class action brought by group of securities holders pursuant to an Indenture Agreement and the Trust Indenture Act. The Bank was granted summary judgment by the District Court, and that order was unanimously affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
West Virginia Medical Device Litigation -- Lead trial counsel in over 40 consolidated matters in West Virginia in defense of global medical device manufacturer. The claims made by the plaintiffs range from improper off-label use of biologics products, illegal kick-backs, fraud and general medical device product liability.
Real Estate Litigation -- Secured multimillion-dollar settlement on behalf of major commercial real estate and Brownfield developer in connection with the sale and planned development of former industrial site in a Northeast Pennsylvania town. The matter centered around the enforceability and legal effect of a letter of intent for the sale of commercial real estate.
Securities Litigation -- Lead trial counsel and appellate counsel in securities matter involving the rights of warrant holders in stock of a wholly owned subsidiary company. Pursuant to the warrant, the warrant holders could exercise those warrants upon the commencement of a planned IPO of the subsidiary. Despite the fact that the subsidiary did not go through with a planned IPO, which was the trigger for any right to exercise the warrants, the plaintiffs/warrant holders brought suit against the parent, claiming that when the subsidiary merged back into the publicly traded parent that such a transaction was a "de facto IPO," triggering the right to exercise the warrants. We successfully defended matter at trial level and secured summary judgment for parent company. The Pennsylvania Superior Court unanimously upheld the trial court summary judgment order.

Professional Activities

Pennsylvania Bar Association
Philadelphia Bar Association
International Association of Defense Counsel
Defense Research Institute
- Drug and Medical Device Section

Admissions

New York
Pennsylvania
Supreme Courts of New York and Pennsylvania
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Third and Seventh Circuits
U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania
U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

Education

Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1989
Boston College, B.A. English, 1986

Experience

Duane Morris LLP
- Chair, Trial Practice Group, 2008-present
- Partner, 1999-present
- Associate, 1997-1999
Taylor & Taylor
- Trial Lawyer, 1991-1997
Emmet, Marvin & Martin
- Associate, 1989-1991

Civic and Charitable Activities

Board Member, Covenant House Pennsylvania
Board Member, M-Able, Inc.
Malvern Preparatory School Board of Governors

Honors and Awards

Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2008 edition

Selected Publications

Co-author, "High Court Gun Case Could Impact Proposed Philadelphia Regulations," The Legal Intelligencer, April 4, 2008