Matt Topic

Partner

Biography

Matt Topic is a partner at Loevy & Loevy. He leads the firm’s Media/Freedom of Information and Intellectual Property practices.

Media/FOIA: Matt has litigated hundreds of state and federal FOIA cases around the country. Matt has forced the release of: video exposing the murder of Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke; redacted material from the Mueller Report; Rahm Emanuel’s “private emails” about public business; and FBI records that helped lead to the exoneration of an innocent person.  Matt has trained hundreds of journalists, activists, lawmakers, and individuals on the Freedom of Information Act, is a regular presenter at Investigative Reporters & Editors conferences, and is frequently quoted in the media on transparency issues. Matt has also represented journalists seeking access to court records, quashed subpoenas for sources, defended and counseled against defamation claims, and fought unconstitutional gag orders.  He has litigated many First Amendment free speech and Open Meetings Act cases. Matt is the Outside General Counsel for the Better Government Association.

Intellectual Property: Matt is also an experienced intellectual property attorney and business litigator. He began his career as an associate and partner in the IP practice at Kirkland & Ellis. He represents inventors, entrepreneurs, and creators in litigation involving patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets, non-compete agreements, fraud, and breach of contract, and often takes these matters on a contingency basis. Matt has taught intellectual property law as an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Matt represents several news publishers in copyright and Digital Millennium Copyright Act claims against OpenAI and Microsoft, and was named to the Time Magazine list of 100 Most Influential People in AI 2024 in connection with that work.

Appellate: Matt has represented clients in dozens of FOIA, False Claims Act, intellectual property, and commercial litigation appeals before the United States Supreme Court, the Illinois Supreme and Appellate Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal, D.C., and Seventh Circuits, and other state appellate and supreme courts.

Matt graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law as Valedictorian in 2006, where he was a Chicago-Kent Law Review board member and an Intellectual Property Consortium Fellow.  Matt clerked for Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow in the Northern District of Illinois, and externed for Justice Michael Gallagher on the Illinois Appellate Court.  Prior to law school, Matt was a professional jazz musician and small business owner. Matt is a Trustee of the Downers Grove Public Library Board.


Press:

Time Magazine | September 5, 2024 | TIME Reveals the 2024 List of the World’s Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence

NBC Chicago | June 28, 2024 | City agencies delay, deny and withhold records related to protest permits at Democratic National Convention

NBC Chicago | March 22, 2024 | NBC 5 Investigates files lawsuit against Johnson administration seeking public records related to migrants

Chicago Tonight | September 19, 2022 | Firm Has Filed More Than 100 Lawsuits Against Lightfoot Administration Over FOIA Denials 

CBS Chicago | March 8, 2022 | FOIA Expert: IDES ‘Simply Wrong’ For Denying CBS 2 Records Request 

Chicago Tonight | April 5, 2021 | Chicago Agency to Release Video of Teen’s Shooting by Police

Chicago Tribune | April 9, 2020 | Commentary: Fighting the coronavirus is no excuse for government to ignore transparency

Law.com | December 19, 2019 | Meet the Ex-Kirkland Partner Wielding FOIA for Mueller Records and More

Chicago Tribune | May 31, 2019 | Chicago’s next mayor must end culture of secrecy

NBC Chicago | April 4, 2019 | Chicago Attorney Files Suit For Release of Mueller Report

NBC Chicago | September 28, 2018 | One Year Later: The Laquan McDonald Video Fallout

Muckrock | October 23, 2017 | Requester’s Voice: FOIA lawyer Matt Topic of Loevy & Loevy

Scripps News | October 19, 2017 | How the Laquan McDonald tape was released

The New York Times Magazine | April 24, 2016 | Chicago After Laquan McDonald

Stateline | July 4, 2014 | Government Transparency Attorney Matt Topic

Bar Admissions

  • Illinois
  • United States Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth , Seventh, Tenth, and Federal Circuits
  • U.S. District Court for the District of D.C
  • Various other District Courts
  • Court of Federal Claims

Education
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, Illinois
• J.D., Valedictorian
• Order of the Coif
• Executive Articles Editor, Chicago-Kent Law Review
• Intellectual Property Colloquium Fellow

North Central College
• B.A.

Past Employment
• Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Publications
• Co-Author, Using Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms to Resolve Patent Disputes, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (2012)

• Author, The Standards Development Organization Advancement Act of 2004: A Victory for Consumer Choice?, Journal of Technology Law & Policy (2007)

• Author, Proposed New Guidance to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures in Light of the Internet and Related Technologies, 2006 Employment Law Update § 7 (Henry H. Perritt, Jr. ed.)

• Author, Proposed New Guidance to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures in Light of the Internet and Related Technologies, 2006 Employment Law Update § 7 (Henry H. Perritt, Jr. ed.)

• Author, Note: A Strategy for Renewing Trademark Negotiations in Kosovo, Chicago-Kent Law Review (2005)

Our Impact

Loevy + Loevy has won more multi-million dollar verdicts than perhaps any other law firm in the country over the past decade. Our willingness to take hard cases to trial, and win them, has yielded a nationally recognized reputation for success in the courtroom.

Read the latest public reporting and press releases about Loevy + Loevy’s clients, our public interest litigation, and our civil rights impact.

We take on the nation’s most difficult public interest cases, advocating in and outside the courtroom to secure justice for our clients and to hold officials, governments, and corporations accountable.

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