As USPTO's Acting General Counsel, Nicholas Matich is the principal legal advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. He supervises the provision of legal advice and litigation on intellectual property and administrative matters for the agency. Mr. Matich is responsible for providing legal advice on patent, trademark, and copyright matters as well as administrative issues such as rulemaking, government contracts, personnel, and budgetary matters. He also coordinates with the Department of Justice, Department of Commerce, and other agencies in developing the U.S. position on major intellectual property cases before the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals. Mr. Matich also serves as Senior Legal Advisor in the Office of the USPTO Director.  

In addition to his duties at USPTO, Mr. Matich concurrently serves as a Presidential appointee on the governing body of the Administrative Conference of the United States, an independent federal agency charged with recommending improvements to administrative processes and procedures government-wide.

Prior to working at the USPTO, Mr. Matich was the Deputy General Counsel at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the Executive Office of the President. At OMB, Mr. Matich oversaw attorneys advising on the full range of legal issues affecting the agency and supervised OMB’s legal review of significant regulatory actions by federal agencies. Before joining OMB, Mr. Matich worked in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Staff Secretary, where he coordinated the vetting of executive orders, speeches, legislation, signing statements, memoranda, and other documents for the President.

Previously, Mr. Matich worked as an attorney in private practice and as a law clerk for the Honorable Richard C. Wesley of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Mr. Matich earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a Senior Editor on the Virginia Law Review. Before attending law school, Mr. Matich served in the United States Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer and made several overseas deployments.