Fellows meets Mat Brechtel of Vancouver law firm Bull Housser
Mat Brechtel talks with Consultant Phillipa Field about social media, networking and his career in IP to date.
Mat is an associate in the Dispute Resolution and Litigation Group at Bull Housser, working primarily on cases dealing with various aspects of intellectual property rights. Prior to working with Bull Housser, Mat clerked for Justices Mackenzie and Newbury of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in 2009-2010, and for Justice Rothstein at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2010-2011, after which he worked at the Vancouver office of a leading national law firm.
You initially completed a BSc in Biochemistry before studying law, why the change in direction?
I originally wanted to do pure research, but after a few summers spent in a lab I realised that it is a fairly solitary life, and that is just not up my alley. I came to the idea of going to law school after getting involved in University governance, and speaking to lawyers who worked with the university.
Does your earlier education aid you in your work?
It does in two ways. First, it is directly relevant to patent work and helps me when I am working with clients in similar sectors. Second, I think it prepared me for law more than I realised because it encouraged me to adopt an analytical approach that is extremely helpful when dissecting complex legal problems.
What motivated you to focus on working in IP?
Coming from biochemistry, it seemed like the natural fit. But working through law school, it seemed to me that all the exciting developments were connected in some way to intellectual property. When I began working in this industry Napster was ending and internet streaming was entering the mainstream. Brands from all over the world were beginning to appear in Canada. It is an endlessly exciting industry to be a part of.
Do you see social media, such as LinkedIn, an important tool in business?
I think that it does have a huge capacity for benefiting business and individual careers. But it equally risks becoming another part of the information overload we all contend with daily. I feel like a good social media presence requires careful curating—you need to make the effort to ensure the online content is up to date and relevant. I have not taken that plunge just yet. Instead, I have been focusing on creating content, working with my firm to produce newsletters, updates, and publications through the firm’s website where I am able to gain an element of visibility.
You attended INTA earlier this year, what do you hope to gain from attending networking events?
I try to approach conferences with an open mind. From my experience, limited as it is, my impression is that it is more important make a meaningful connection with a few people. The benefit of spending more time with fewer people is the ability to build a relationship of trust, so that when your colleague sends a file across the world, they are comfortable that their client is in good hands, and not left worrying about what might go wrong.
Describe a typical working day.
A typical working day would involve primarily drafting and preparing filings for court, or materials for steps in litigation—examination (deposition) scripts, offers to settle, things like that. Less often, but certainly more memorable, are the days spent preparing for and attending court. Today I am focusing on the writing letters to opposing counsel on a few of my files to keep matters moving. My schedule changes every day so it’s difficult to describe what ‘typical’ is. I suppose that’s one of the reasons why I love what I do.
Is it difficult to balance work and personal life?
At the moment I am leaning more towards work, but I think that’s the norm early in a legal career. I think that there is always a decision to be good at what you do or to excel; and the latter always requires more work. The key is to know what you’re getting into, and to embrace it. If you’re caught unprepared for what is expected, it is easier to become disillusioned.
What are your career goals?
Other than spending more time in court, I’d love to be doing litigation for a variety of clients across patent, trade mark and to some extent copyright issues. Having clerked for two appellate courts, my ideal litigation practice would be predominantly in appellate work.
What are the positive and negative elements of working in the IP industry?
It is the most interesting field of law by far. You get to grapple with new technology and find solutions to issues that have never been addressed before. In many ways IP is a legal frontier. One difficulty is that many clients are not aware of the importance of IP, and it sometimes difficult to express how their intangible property is so fundamental to their business.
When not working, what do you enjoy doing?
I like to play soccer a couple of times a week. I live in Vancouver so try to go hiking and kayaking when I can. I’ve recently bought a house and am taking on the renovations myself; I’m currently trying my hand at being a plumber. After a day of staring at computer screen, or a paper, it is nice to go home and do something tangible where you can always observe your progress.
Fellows and Associates would like thank Mat for his time. If you’d like to find out more about Mat and Bull Housser please visit www.bht.com. To share your views, comments and suggestions on this article email us at [email protected]