Matt’s clients call on him to protect their interests wherever they do business. He handles commercial disputes before international, administrative, and judicial bodies, including federal and state courts, government agencies, and arbitration panels in the U.S. and internationally. He has led trial and arbitration teams on virtually every form of business dispute, including sales of businesses, supply contracts, intellectual property, insurance, real estate, lender liability, restrictive covenants, and sovereign immunity.

Matt began his career at a leading Washington, D.C. law firm in which he represented U.S. commercial interests expropriated by foreign governments. That brought Matt to government service with the U.S. Department of State, where he represented the United States in commercial and military claims against Iran at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal located in The Hague, the Netherlands. He later served as counsel to the Bureau of InterAmerican Affairs, where he worked on Central and South American foreign policy issues.

Matt has written extensively on the development of commercial arbitration law in the United U.S., especially in the wake of the explosion of U.S. Supreme Court cases on this subject in the past 15 years. He is the author of the law school textbook, Commercial Arbitration: Cases, Problems and Practice (Carolina Academic Press, 2nd ed. 2021). He has taught arbitration as an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and George Washington University School of Law, and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan Law School.

Matt’s scholarship also includes articles and lectures on various commercial aspects of international law, with a special concentration on enforcement of judgments and arbitration awards across borders. He has published on this subject in the U.S. and internationally, including in the Northwestern University School of Law’s Journal of International Law and Business, The International & Comparative Law Quarterly, Georgetown University Law Center’s Law and Policy in International Business, the United States-Mexican Law Journal, and the Fordham International Law Journal, and, most recently, in a series of articles in the Center for Dispute Resolution’s publication Alternatives.

International Arbitration

• ICC arbitration between German and Italian members of an international consortium concerning sharing of patent and contract rights (10-day hearing in Paris).
• Hong Kong International Arbitration Commission representation of U.S. company in case concerning impact of U.S. trade regulations on contract and governance obligations (ongoing).
• The first major case to be heard by the New Delhi branch of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA-I), concerning a real estate joint venture in India. Multiple hearings in Delhi and London, and successful enforcement proceedings in Dubai.
• An arbitration against the Jordanian government before the World Bank’s Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes; client won an issue of first impression under ICSID rules.
• An arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce between an Italian-owned supplier and a French-owned buyer of chlorine anodes.
• An arbitration before the London Court of International Arbitration on behalf of a group of U.S. professional firms against a former Soviet Republic country over privatization fees.
• An arbitration before the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce on behalf of a U.S. buyer of uranium and the Russian government’s selling arm, in which client won a liability award involving issues of state responsibility, force majeure and a U.S.-Russian nuclear treaty.
• An arbitration before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes on behalf of an Israeli national asserting rights pursuant to a Bilateral Investment Treaty.
• An arbitration before the China International Economic and Trade Commission on behalf of a U.S. specialty machine manufacturer.
• An arbitration against the United States government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) on behalf of a Congo-based consortium for losses in insurrection.

U.S. Arbitration

• Ten-day 2018 JAMS hearing between licensor and licensee regarding breach of contract and IP rights (successful award).
• Six-week JAMS hearing in 2018 involving pay day lending industry, with collateral U.S. court proceedings (matter pending).
• AAA proceeding between distributor and project owner, with competing jurisdictional issues (successful award).
• Ad hoc proceeding between leading health care provider and physicians’ group; seven-day hearing, settlement before final award.
• Two-week 2016 AAA hearing concerning contract and intellectual property rights in refrigeration industry (settlement following hearing).

U.S. Commercial Disputes

• Represented New Jersey shareholders in a dispute with majority owners of a close corporation.
• Represented a leading U.S. health care company in a dispute with pharmaceutical company.
• Representing a U.S. private equity firm in disputes regarding purchases of business, and in separate litigation regarding bonus payments.
• Representing a leading U.S. health care provider in multiple cases against payors and in separate litigation against joint venture partners.
• Moran v. DaVita, D.N.J., No. 06-5620, March 23, 2009 (summary judgment dismissal of contract and employment claims).
• El-Hennawy v. DaVita, Kings County, NY (2005 summary judgment in $155 million defamation claim).
• Whitesell Enterprises v. Brandywine Realty Trust, Camden County NJ Equity Division, No. C-71-99 (affirmed New Jersey Appellate Division 2004) (summary judgment for defendant on plaintiff’s claims of liability and defendant’s counterclaims in case of first impression under New Jersey law on unilateral and mutual mistake in contract).
• Brandywine Realty Trust v. Grubb & Ellis, Bergen County, NJ, No. BER-L-7828-99, (2000 summary judgment for plaintiff in commercial real estate broker commission case).
• LT Propco LLC v. Westfield Garden State Plaza Ltd., A-2529-09T1 (affirmed New Jersey Appellate Division 2010) (motion to dismiss for major developer sued by sub-tenant).

Transborder Commercial Disputes

• Representation of a buyer (London, England court) (pending).
• Arbitration proceedings in India concerning international disputes in a real estate joint venture.
• Representation of an Italian biotech company in licensing and contract disputes with U.S. licensees (California and Pennsylvania courts, and Geneva [ICC] arbitration) (pending).
• Leading a London-based litigation concerning the breach of an international purchase agreement.
• Lawsuit against the United States on behalf of all Chilean grape growers and exporters arising out of a trade embargo against Chile.
• Lawsuit against former East German joint venture partners with a U.S. bearing manufacturer.
• Representation of the Council of Europe in contract disputes.
• Lawsuit seeking to enjoin Venezuelan proceedings against a large U.S. construction company.
• A sovereign immunity case against the government of Russia.

• Pennsylvania Super Lawyers (2004-2008, 2010-2023)