Matthew K. Cowherd

Counsel | Washington, D.C.

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE:

Matt has significant experience representing and advising clients on discovery issues in large commercial and civil litigation matters, particularly those involving financial fraud claims, handling all aspects of motions and trial practice. Over the course of his career, he has litigated numerous commercial and fraud cases, including bet-the-company disputes and highly contentious actions.

Matt works with clients to identify strategies to effectively manage litigation-related activities across a broad portfolio of matters. These efforts increase efficiency and risk minimization by implementing repeatable project management processes and cross-department legal operations technologies. Matt’s approach to client work and matter management is also informed by his experience as a military attorney, where he led teams of officers and enlisted personnel in trials, training exercises, mentorship, and prosecution and defense side portfolio management.

At Redgrave LLP, Matt counsels clients on strategic approaches to discovery in litigation and investigation matters and advises on practical information governance strategies. He draws on his background as a litigator to assist organizations with enterprise risk mitigation initiatives, including applying best practices for information management and litigation preparedness.

Matt is an accomplished thought leader and has delivered presentations, written publications, and led trainings for organizations, including the American Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association.

Some of Matt’s recent work experience includes:

Advising on eDiscovery strategies, processes, and technologies
Identifying systemic approaches for reducing litigation costs, including best practices for leveraging data analytics and automation
Designing a cost-efficient discovery management process for use in high-volume, multi-district litigation matters
Managing large-scale discovery workflows, including preservation, collection, review, and production
Advising on corporate governance, regulatory matters, and risk mitigation
Serving as trial counsel and managing litigation preparation, including crafting strategy, drafting pleadings and motions, and handling depositions and discovery
Drafting discovery protocols and managing vendor relationships

Matt also has significant pro bono experience encompassing a wide range of impactful cases. He has successfully secured political asylum in Immigration Court for victims fleeing persecution in countries such as Sudan, Darfur, Russia, Syria, Honduras, and Ghana and prepared visa petitions to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for victims of domestic violence under the Violence Against Women Act. Matt has also advocated for Holocaust survivors in their applications for pensions and payments from the German government for work done in ghettos during World War II and represented elderly clients against unfair debt collectors in Brooklyn Civil Court on behalf of the Legal Aid Society's Brooklyn Office for the Aging. As a volunteer with the Public Service Program, Matt served as Special Assistant Corporation Counsel for the New York City Law Department, where he assisted the department in conducting and defending depositions in various tort cases involving multiple city agencies. Further demonstrating his commitment to justice, Matt represented an Alabama death row inmate referred through the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization focused on providing legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners denied fair treatment in the criminal justice system.

Prior to joining Redgrave LLP, Matt was a senior associate at Baker & Hostetler LLP and served as a captain in the United States Army Reserve, where he was a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. His previous experience also includes roles at a prominent litigation firm and in-house for the financial services industry. Matt was a judicial intern for the Honorable Robert E. Sweet, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

ORGANIZATIONAL INVOLVEMENT & MEMBERSHIPS:

Matt is an active member of the New York City Bar Association and serves on its Committee on Government Ethics and State Affairs. He also supports the NYU Law Moot Court Board’s National Immigration Law Competition and has served as a volunteer judge since 2019.

EDUCATION:

Matt received his J.D., with a concentration in International Law, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and his Executive LL.M. in Litigation Management from Baylor University School of Law. He also earned an M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago and a B.A., cum laude, in English Education from Lee University. Matt is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York.