Matthew Solomon

Matthew Solomon represents corporate and individual clients in high-stakes civil and criminal investigations and litigation before U.S. and global regulatory authorities and in U.S. courts.

Matt has been at the center of some of the most groundbreaking litigation in fintech and emerging technologies over the past decade, including cases against the SEC involving the crypto markets, actions against state attorneys general over prediction markets, and novel commercial disputes in fintech. He brings advocacy and judgment honed over 25 years before corporate boards, regulators, and courts to sharpen the issues, press the strongest arguments, and keep strategy grounded in clients’ business objectives.

Matt draws on a rare combination of high-level government service and extensive trial experience to guide clients through every phase of civil and criminal matters, including as lead trial counsel. He regularly practices before the SEC, DOJ, CFTC, and state attorneys general, and achieves superior results representing public and private corporations, banks, and asset managers. He also has a strong track record defending senior executives in sensitive government-facing matters: he has never lost a hearing or trial, has never settled a case for fraud, and in the vast majority of his cases has persuaded the government to walk away entirely.

Matt’s commercial litigation practice focuses on securities and complex civil disputes, including cross-border matters. He brings significant trial experience to that work: in government, he first-chaired dozens of bench and jury trials in state and federal courts nationwide, and in private practice he has served as lead trial counsel in multiple complex civil litigations over the past five years, including two highly publicized cases that resulted in full dismissals for his clients. His credibility in securities enforcement and litigation is reflected in his retention as an expert witness on securities-related topics, including in a securities class action in Oklahoma state court and a complex commercial dispute in the New York Supreme Court.

Matt’s work has earned several awards and distinctions. He was named Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily in July 2023 after helping secure the only favorable summary judgment decision against the SEC in a crypto case. In 2024, Law360 named him an MVP for achieving “a rare dismissal” against the government, which “dropped its claims” against his clients before trial. Matt recently earned a Band 1 ranking in Chambers USA for Securities Regulation and Enforcement, complementing his Chambers rankings in FinTech Disputes (Band 2) and White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (Band 4).

Before joining Cleary, Matt spent five years as the SEC’s Chief Litigation Counsel, overseeing all litigated matters conducted by the agency’s 150-attorney national trial unit. Earlier, he served as Chief of the Fraud Unit and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. He began his career as an Honors Program trial attorney in the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, following two federal judicial clerkships on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the D.C. District Court.