Joseph M. Matthews

Joe Matthews is the principal of Joseph M. Matthews, P.A. He has been a trial and appellate advocate for 45 years. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Miami, School of Law where he was an Editor of the Law Review and recipient of the Wesley Sturges Award, graduating first in his class.

He is a Fellow and Past-President of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is Past President of the Miami-Dade County Trial Lawyers Association and past chair of the Commercial Law Sections of the Florida and the American Associations for Justice and the former associate editor of the Commercial Law Section of the Journal of the Florida Association for Justice.

He is a member of the American Law Institute and is an Honorary Bencher of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland.

In addition to his domestic trial practice, Mr. Matthews has been an advocate in arbitration and a neutral arbitrator for more than 30 years. He is a Chartered Arbitrator of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. He served for 12 years as a member of the Board of Directors of American Arbitration Association and for 3 years on its Executive Committee.

He is a Florida Supreme Court Circuit Certified Mediator and a Member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.

Mr. Matthews has lectured and taught extensively in the US and other countries on topics including substantive law, civil justice systems and procedure, trial tactics, arbitration, rule of law and ethics, as well as technology. In 2006, he taught at the National University of Mongolia and lectured at the University of Dundee, in Dundee Scotland. He has lectured at the Ontario Bar Association, Toronto on technology and the law and at the Central Party School, Beijing, China on the role of lawyers and the rule of law.