Matthew Laight is the Managing Partner of Bird & Bird’s China offices (Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.) He specialises in intellectual property law, both contentious and non-contentious, advising clients in a variety of sectors. In the past decade Matthew has worked extensively in the electronics and life sciences sectors and represents some of the world’s leading companies in these areas.

Since the early 1990’s, Matthew has represented, in an advisory capacity, multinational companies in the People's Republic of China on all aspects of IP, including trademarks, patents and commercial IP. 

Matthew also advises on major IP litigation throughout Asia and is well-known for managing complex, multi-jurisdictional litigation, working closely with our network of partner firms and developing strategies for cases which take place across different legal and regulatory environments in the Asia-Pacific region.

Matthew’s life sciences experience includes contentious matters (patent, trade mark and unfair competition litigation) and commercial life sciences work such as clinical trials agreements, joint promotion and joint marketing agreements, collaboration and development agreements.

In the electronics sector, Matthew has been heavily involved in standards issues and the interplay between standards and intellectual property rights.