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Matt Schwartz

Matt Schwartz

Partner
US Finance Practice Group Leader 
About

Matt is the Practice Group Leader of DLA Piper’s U.S. Finance Group which includes a broad range of finance transactions and clients across six different subspecialties including:

  • Leveraged Finance
  • Structured Finance
  • Venture & Growth Finance
  • Sports, Media and Entertainment
  • Project and Energy; and
  • Restructuring

Matt has spent more than two decades representing banks and private credit funds in structuring and negotiating a wide range of debt, equity and hybrid debt/equity investments.

Matt is co-founder of the Legal Mentor Network, the first non-profit dedicated to mentoring young lawyers and law students, particularly those students from communities who are traditionally underrepresented in the legal industry and DLA Piper is the primary law firm sponsor.  

Matt is also a founding board member of the Randy Jones Foundation, a local San Diego charity founded by MLB legend Randy Jones that provides kids from local military families the opportunity to get involved in camps, sporting events, and outdoor activities in addition to providing athletic scholarship for military scholar athletes.

Matt sits on the advisory board of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and is a regular host committee member and fundraising leader for the Best Buddies, an organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Matt is also a board advisor to Headcount, a non-profit organization that registers people to vote at concerts and sporting events.

Bar admissionsCalifornia
Education
  • J.D., Harvard Law School 2001
  • B.A., George Washington University 1998
    Phi Beta Kappa
    John Morgan Award for top Political Science graduate
    Golden Key National Honor Society
    summa cum laude

Awards

  • Chambers USA
    • Band 5, California Banking & Finance (2023)
  • The Legal 500 United States
    • Recommended, Commercial Lending – Advice to Lenders (2016-2020)
  • The Daily Transcript named Matt to its list of San Diego County Top Attorneys in recognition of his corporate transactional practice (2011-2012)

Bylines

Seminars

  • Moderator, Legal Mentor Transactional Bootcamp Series, 2023
  • Moderator, "Venture Debt: What Investors Should Know," HFA Hedge Fund Association, June 22, 2021

Civic and Charitable

Matt sits on the board of directors of the John Brockington Foundation and serves on the Host Committee for the annual Best Buddies Hearst Castle Challenge.

Memberships And Affiliations

Matt is a member of the San Diego, California and Federal Bar Associations.

Connect

Phone

+1 858 638 6834
(Work, San Diego)
+1 415 615 6085
(Work, San Francisco)