Matthew is widely recognized for his knowledge, advocacy skills and strategic acumen in international trade and investment law.
He represents Canadian and global clients in WTO and investment treaty disputes, trade remedy and safeguard investigations and trade treaty negotiations, and advises them on economic sanctions, export control and foreign corrupt practice laws.
Matthew has been engaged on many of Canada’s highest-profile trade files. He has led legal teams in WTO panel and Appellate Body proceedings in matters involving subsidies, dumping, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers and tariffs, and in investment arbitrations under the NAFTA.
A former trade diplomat, Matthew was the Director-General of the Government of Canada’s Trade Law Bureau from 2009-2012 and was the Canadian Government’s chief legal counsel in the negotiation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union and in free trade negotiations with Colombia, Peru and Singapore. He served for three years at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, where he focused on trade and economic sanctions legislation and trans-border resource and environmental issues.
Matthew is an Adjunct Professor of International Arbitration at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and Vice-Chair of the International Bar Association's International Trade and Customs Law Committee. He has been appointed to Canada’s roster of NAFTA Chapter 19 panelists and served on the Canadian Minister of the Environment’s NAFTA Advisory Council.