Introduction
Sarita Matheson joined the St. Thomas Law faculty in 2024 to teach and write in the areas of patent law; intellectual property law; and drug, medical device, and food law and regulation. She has a master's degree in molecular, cellular, and development biology and genetics from the University of Minnesota, and an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), where she received an award for the best senior thesis and published two papers in scientific journals. She completed her legal education at the University of Minnesota Law School jointly with her graduate science degree.
Matheson practiced in primarily intellectual property litigation (patent, Hatch-Waxman, trade secret, and copyright), patent prosecution, and intellectual property transactions at Kelley Drye & Warren, a large Chicago firm, and Carlson Caspers, a Minneapolis intellectual property boutique firm. Her research agenda draws on her experience as a litigator to assess how to correct flaws in the operation of the Hatch-Waxman Act, the federal statute designed to allow a generic drug to come to market as soon as patents expire on a branded drug.
Before entering private practice, Matheson served as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow with Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, representing children in immigration cases, and clerked for the Hon. Edward T. Wahl of the Minnesota District Court (Hennepin County).
She began her law teaching career in 2021 teaching legal analysis, research, and writing as an assistant professor at Mitchell-Hamline School of Law and an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.