Merchant & Gould is pleased to welcome new partner Scott M. Smith, M.D., to the Minneapolis and Silicon Valley offices.

 Scott is an M.D. and registered patent attorney who has spent nearly two decades advising medical device companies and the investors who fund them. He has experience as both outside counsel to companies in all stages of development and in-house counsel at several successful medical device companies. Scott began his practice in Silicon Valley and is resident in both the Minneapolis and Silicon Valley offices of Merchant & Gould.

“With Scott’s extensive work in the medical device industry and his insider M.D. perspective, he will be a fantastic addition to our medical devices practice,” said Brian Batzli, CEO and Managing Director of Merchant & Gould. “We are thrilled to have him on board.”

Prior to joining Merchant & Gould, Scott practiced patent law as a partner at Dorsey & Whitney. His practice focused on patent strategy and portfolio building, competitive analysis, IP due diligence and patent prosecution for medical device and digital health clients in all areas of medicine. Before returning to law firm practice six years ago, Scott served in leadership IP roles at Silicon Valley medical device companies Acclarent, Pulmonx, Baxano, and Align Technology.

Scott earned an M.D. from the University of Arizona College of Medicine, a J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and a B.A. from Northwestern University. He is admitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the California and Minnesota bars.

“I am very excited to be joining a firm with such a strong tradition of IP specialization and an incredibly deep bench of IP expertise,” said Scott. “I look forward to helping build up the already successful medical device practice at Merchant and to continuing the successful launch of the firm’s Silicon Valley office.”