Hecker Fink LLP
Lawyers
Joshua Matz
- Phone(212) 763-0883
- Email[email protected]
- Social
Work Department
Appellate Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Congressional Investigations; Education; Employment, Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct; Investigations and Crisis Management; Public Interest Litigation
Position
Partner
Career
Joshua Matz is a partner at Hecker Fink LLP.
Joshua works closely with clients as a strategic counselor, trial and appellate litigator, and advisor in responding to governmental investigations. He has successfully litigated cases at every level of the state and federal courts, and has assisted clients in addressing a wide array of state attorney general, congressional, and federal executive branch inquiries. In those matters, Joshua draws on his experience as a law clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy, his service on the House Judiciary Committee, and his expertise on constitutional law (he has co-authored two books with Harvard Law School Professor Larry Tribe). Joshua’s clients have included individuals, universities, nonprofits, philanthropies, businesses, cities, states, and public officials. In recent years, Joshua’s lawyering has been recognized by Chambers, Forbes, Benchmark Litigation, Business Insider, Bloomberg Law, The National Law Journal, and The American Lawyer. As one of his clients told Chambers, “People are blown away by how powerful, precise and persuasive he is as an advocate.”
Joshua maintains an active civil litigation and appellate practice—and is most often consulted when cases involve high-complexity constitutional or statutory issues, or where clients seek the involvement of appellate-experienced counsel in trial-level strategic planning. He has litigated a diverse set of commercial proceedings, ranging from defamation, contract, and trade secrets disputes to consumer protection and sex discrimination matters. He has worked with major corporations and civil rights groups to shape litigation strategies and structure cutting-edge lawsuits. And he has litigated a range of high stakes matters at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Joshua’s practice features a strong focus on nonprofits, universities, public charities, and private foundations. He has substantial experience advising on compliance, resilience, and risk management issues, and is often consulted by organizations as they face new or rapidly evolving legal requirements. In the philanthropic sector, Joshua works with some of the nation’s largest advocacy and grantmaking entities—and represents clients in high-stakes litigations and government investigations. He also provides strategic guidance, crisis support, and outside general counsel advice. In the university sector, Joshua has represented Brown University, Columbia University, and New York University in litigation concerning their compliance with anti-discrimination law. He has also advised universities on Title VI, Title IX, free speech and religious liberty, immigration matters, False Claims Act issues, executive orders, and government investigations.
Joshua is particularly experienced in the field of democracy and elections. In 2020, he successfully represented Pennsylvania in defending its certification of the presidential election results. In 2021, Joshua secured the dismissal of a case against a nonprofit—and subsequently secured sanctions—where plaintiffs asserted claims related to the 2020 election. In 2022, he successfully represented the Governors of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in defending their states’ congressional districting maps against challenges at the U.S. Supreme Court. And in the 2024 cycle, he represented several nonprofits and states in high-impact election matters. Alongside these litigations, Joshua has represented democracy-focused clients in state and congressional investigations. He has also provided state-by-state compliance advice to democracy-oriented nonprofits, worked with clients to ensure their preparedness for election cycle challenges, and advised clients on questions concerning the administration and certification of state and federal elections.
In that same vein, Joshua is frequently retained for constitutional disputes. These matters have encompassed LGBTQ rights, religious liberty, free speech, privacy, racial justice, prisoners’ rights, firearm regulation, criminal defendants’ rights, and the separation of powers. While many of these representations have involved litigation—or the filing of amicus briefs—Joshua has also worked on civil rights issues in counseling settings.
Alongside his litigation experience, Joshua has written for diverse audiences about legal issues. His writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Harvard Law Review Forum, The University of Chicago Law Review, Just Security, The Atlantic and WIRED. He has been invited to speak at Harvard Law School, the 92nd Street Y, the National Constitution Center, and Politics & Prose. Joshua also has been appointed as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law School, where he co-teaches “Constitutional Litigation and the Executive Branch.” Joshua serves on the boards of several nonprofits and has twice served on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee.
Joshua received his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania; his MSt, with distinction, from Oxford University; and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. In law school, Joshua interned at the Public Citizen Litigation Group and the Federal Defenders of New York. He also served as Articles & Book Reviews Chair of the Harvard Law Review. Following law school, Joshua clerked for the Honorable J. Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York, the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Anthony Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court.