Matt is a Partner with over 30 years’ experience representing clients in commercial disputes across Canada involving oil and gas, construction, shareholder's rights, investigations and the tracing and recovery of proceeds of fraud. He was the firm's Managing Partner from 2013 to 2019 and was formerly Calgary Managing Partner and member of the National Management Committee of one of Canada’s largest national law firms.
Matt is the former Executive Director of ICC FraudNet, a global network of asset recovery legal specialists organized under the International Chamber of Commerce's Commercial Crime Services Secretariat in London.
Matt has appeared before all trial and appellate courts across Western Canada, the Federal Court of Canada and in U.S. State and Federal Courts. He has also appeared as counsel in international and domestic arbitrations and as an expert witness on Canadian law.
### PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- Member of International Chamber of Commerce’s Fraudnet organization
- Member, American Bar Association, Tort & Insurance Practice Section
- Member, Canadian Bar Association
### REPRESENTATIVE WORK
- Counsel to owner in $1 billion arbitration over delays and deficiencies in extraction and processing project
- Counsel to a pipeline company in disputes over alleged improper use of technology and patent infringement
- Counsel to energy producer in CCAA-based dispute over road access and Master Road Access Agreement
- Counsel to plaintiff energy transmission company in $60 million defective product claim against contractor, manufacturer and distributor
- Counsel to special committee of the Board of a publicly traded company regarding allegations in a derivative action
- Counsel to exploration and production company in $100 million claim over seismic data and related agreements
- Counsel to U.S. manufacturer in $1 billion product liability claim
- Counsel to lending consortium in $30 million auditor's negligence claim
- Member of counsel team on $1 billion dollar environmental arbitration between energy industry participants
- Counsel to a pipeline in a Federal Court judicial review of aboriginal consultation issues in the context of a National Energy Board Joint Review Panel
- Counsel to an energy producer regarding rights of first refusal over $100 million of Calgary real estate
- Obtained, defended and administered preservation orders over $100 million of Alberta commercial properties for an interim receiver as part of a worldwide multi-jurisdictional asset recovery plan
- Trial counsel in year-long trial and related appeals involving rights of first refusal and commercial fraud for a public resource company
- Counsel to Canadian financial institutions on multi-jurisdictional fraud asset recovery plans, bills of exchange disputes, UCP 600 disputes and defence of knowing assistance claims
- Counsel to energy industry participants on internet and website fraud cases
- Counsel to former directors of public pipeline company in corporate governance and fiduciary duty case
- Counsel to a Canadian insurer in Trinidad proceedings alleging procurement fraud in airport construction
- Counsel to owners and contractors in construction deficiency claims on numerous facilities
- Counsel to parties in several public inquiries and investigations
### SELECT PUBLICATIONS/APPEARANCES
- "Covert Discovery of Hidden Assets", Offshore Alert Conference, Miami, 2013
- "Asset Recovery in the Context of Organized Crime: A Canadian Perspective", Paper for "Prevention and Punishment of Organized Crime in the Globalization EraV, 4th International Forum of Contemporary Criminal Law, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 2011
- "The Roles of the Expert - Consulting vs. Testifying", Institute of Forensic Accountants Conference, November 2010
- "Fraud Recovery Case Study", 2010 HNAH Legal and Compliance Conference
- "Piercing the Canadian Corporate Veil", Offshore Alert Conference, Miami, Florida, March 2010
- "Anatomy of a Fraud Recovery Case" In-house client presentation, 2007-2010
- Contributing author for Canada, The Fraudnet Compendium, Eric Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co., Berlin 2009
- Moderator, "Fraud Detection, Investigation and Recovery," Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, Spring Conference, 2007
- Presenter, "Risk Management: Accentuate the Positive," Martindale-Hubbell Best Practice Summit on Containing and Resolving Corporate Crisis, Chicago, Illinois, 2006
- Presenter, "Pre-Trial Remedies in Fraud Cases," Saskatchewan Trial Lawyers Association, Regina, Saskatchewan, 2005
- Guest Instructor and Team Leader for Legal Education Society of Alberta Trial Advocacy Course
- Guest Instructor, Trial Advocacy, University of Notre Dame Law School, South Bend, Indiana
- Guest Lecturer on Law for Project Managers through University of Calgary Engineering School
### RECOGNITION
- Recognized as a leading lawyer in Dispute Resolution by Chambers
- Recommended annually by Best Lawyers in Canada since 2009 as a leading practitioner in Construction Law, Commercial Litigation and Bet-the-Company Litigation
- Recommended annually since 2009 by Who's Who Legal as a leading lawyer in the areas of Investigations, Fraud and Asset Recovery, and Commercial Litigation
- Appointed Queen's Counsel 2014.
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