Matthew P. Houghton

Counsel

“Perfect balance between deep substantive knowledge that exceeds even our in-house real estate attorney with aggressive but practical litigation strategy savvy that is helping the team get to where it needs to be.”

Legal 500 USA, Dispute Resolution: General Commercial Disputes client

Matthew is a counsel in the San Francisco office in Reed Smith’s Global Commercial Disputes Litigation Group. Matthew has substantial commercial litigation and arbitration experience working on complex cases involving trade secret misappropriation, business torts, and contractual disputes. He is also one of Reed Smith’s most experienced associates in construction and real estate, having handled both transactional negotiations and disputes on behalf of owners, contractors, and developers of commercial, residential, and energy construction projects.

Experience

Representative matters

Represented international energy company at high-stakes arbitration involving the construction of wind farms in Texas.
Defended Turkish company in contractual dispute arising out of government restrictions on certain exports.
Represented international apparel company in a commercial landlord-tenant dispute that received national and international news coverage.

Credentials

Education

  • University of San Francisco School of Law, 2015, J.D., cum laude, USF Merit Scholarship, Business Law Certificate, with Honors
  • Santa Clara University, 2012, BSc, Political Science

Professional admissions & qualifications

  • California

Professional affiliations

  • Santa Clara County Bar Association, member 
  • Santa Clara County Barrister’s Executive Committee, member

Clerkships

  • Superior Court - California, Judge Theodore C. Zayner
  • Superior Court - California, Judge James E. Towery
  • Superior Court - California, Judge Mary Ann Grilli (ret.)