Joshua Matz

Practice Areas

Appellate Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Congressional Investigations; Education; Employment, Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct; Investigations and Crisis Management; Public Interest Litigation

Career

Joshua Matz is a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.

Joshua’s practice includes complex commercial disputes, constitutional and civil rights law, and Supreme Court and appellate litigation. He 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 KHF, 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 suits against Donald Trump, securing two substantial jury verdicts of $5 million and $83.3 million, respectively—both 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.

In addition, Joshua maintains a substantial civil rights and constitutional practice. He has developed particular 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.

Alongside his litigation experience, Joshua has written for diverse audiences about legal issues. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Law Review Forum, The University of Chicago Law Review, The Fordham Law Review, The Daily Journal, The Guardian, The Atlantic and Wired, and he has been invited to speak at Harvard Law School, the 92nd Street Y, the ABA LGBT+ Forum, the National Constitution Center and Politics & Prose.

In March 2012, Joshua and Larry Tribe of Harvard Law School published “The Constitutional Inevitability of Same-Sex Marriage,” 71 Md. L. Rev. 471 (2012). In June 2014, they published an award-winning book, Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution (Henry Holt). And in May 2018, they published their second book together, To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment (Basic Books). The Economist proclaimed this book “the definitive treatment of a vital subject.”

From October 2019 through February 2020, Joshua took leave from the firm to serve as counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the first impeachment and trial of President Trump. Following the events of January 6, 2021, Joshua again took leave to serve as Impeachment Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the second Senate trial of President Trump.

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.

Beyond his work at the firm, Joshua also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law School, where he co-teaches “Constitutional Litigation and the Executive Branch.” Additionally, Joshua serves on the Board of Directors for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the American Constitution Society.

Joshua has received widespread acclaim for his work. He was recognized by The American Lawyer as a “Young Lawyer of the Year,” 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 2014, Forbes named Joshua to its “30 Under 30: Law & Policy” list, and in 2016 he was named an “Alumni All-Star” of past honorees.

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. While 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 M. Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court.