Joshua Matz > Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Joshua Matz

(212) 763-0883 jmatz@kaplanhecker.com View profile

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 Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP. His practice includes complex commercial disputes, constitutional and civil rights law, and Supreme Court and appellate litigation. 

Joshua litigates a wide array of commercial cases, ranging from contract, fraud and misappropriation disputes to consumer protection and sex discrimination matters. He advises individuals, non-profits and companies on their response to congressional and state attorney general inquiries, participates in sensitive internal investigations and supports clients seeking to navigate complex legal questions. Along with several of his colleagues at Kaplan Hecker, Joshua has represented Brown University and Columbia University in Title IX litigation.

Joshua is also an experienced defamation litigator. He was part of the legal team that successfully represented writer E. Jean Carroll in her sexual battery and defamation suit against Donald Trump, securing a $5 million jury verdict on her behalf after under three hours of deliberations. Joshua previously represented Liz Mair in successfully defending against two defamation suits filed by Rep. Devin Nunes concerning her political criticism. And in September 2020, he successfully represented Stanford Medical School faculty who were threatened with a defamation suit for scientific criticism of policies advocated by former White House Coronavirus Advisor Dr. Scott Atlas.

Joshua maintains a substantial civil rights and constitutional practice. He has developed expertise in election law and redistricting, LGBTQ rights, religious liberty, and freedom of speech, though his representations have also addressed privacy rights, due process, racial justice, firearm regulation, the right to counsel and the separation of powers. In his constitutional matters, Joshua has represented individual clients, civil rights organizations, non-profits, companies, current and former government officials, cities, states, and congressional committees. While many of these representations have involved litigation, Joshua also provides practical counsel to clients seeking to understand and strategize their options. 

Joshua has received widespread acclaim for his work. In 2021, he was recognized by The American Lawyer as a “Young Lawyer of the Year”; more recently, Law360 named him an “Appellate Rising Star” and Business Insider described him as a “Rising Star of the Courtroom.” He was also named to Washingtonian Magazine’s List of Most Influential People in Washington in both 2021 and 2022. In January 2021, Joshua was commissioned by Governor Andy Beshear as a Kentucky Colonel for successfully defending the Governor’s COVID-19 public health measures at the Supreme Court. In February 2021, Joshua took a leave of absence from the firm to serve as Impeachment Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the second Senate trial of President Trump; he previously served among counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the first impeachment and trial of President Trump. 

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. He clerked for the Hon. J. Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York, the Hon. Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court.

Education

• B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 2008
  magna cum laude
• M.S.T., Oxford University, 2009
  with distinction
• J.D., Harvard University, 2012
  magna cum laude