Matt Lee
Partner
“Strong cases are built by doing the hard work early and never losing sight of who the case is for.”
About Matt | Partner & Co-Chair, Employment & Civil Rights
Delivering for people over the long arc of a case requires preparation, judgment, and follow-through. Matt Lee brings that approach to employment, civil rights, and consumer litigation nationwide.
Matt co-chairs the firm’s Employment & Civil Rights Group and focuses on matters where careful record development and strategic discipline shape outcomes over time. His work includes class actions, jury trials, and coordinated proceedings in state and federal courts, often involving workplace discrimination, unpaid compensation, retaliation, and consumer harm.
In recent years, Matt secured a $14 million jury verdict against IBM on behalf of a sales manager who reported racial discrimination and wage theft. The federal court later noted the strength of the trial presentation and the evidence supporting retaliation. The verdict was the largest of its kind in the Western District of Washington. His work has also included leadership roles in cases involving unpaid sales commissions, defective construction, consumer protection, and mass harm events.
Matt’s work has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite. He is admitted to practice in North Carolina and Florida and before numerous federal district and appellate courts, including the Fourth and Ninth Circuits.
Matt enjoys traveling with his wife, Molly, and their three children. He has a longstanding interest in music, including attending live shows, playing, and writing songs, and also enjoys golfing
Notable Cases
Lead Counsel in two class actions against IBM arising from its commission’s practices: Comin v. International Business Machines Corp. (N.D. Cal.) and Engle v. International Business Machines, Corp. (Supreme Court of New York)
April 2021: Won a $14 million judgment on behalf of an IBM sales manager who was fired after reporting racial discrimination and wage theft – After an 8-day trial in federal court in Seattle, Washington, the jury returned a verdict in our clients’ favor on all claims
Co-Lead Interim Class Counsel in Edwards v. CSX Transportation, Inc., a case involving devastating flood damages after Hurricanes Matthew and Florence estimated damages in excess of $250,000,000
October 2019: Won the summary judgment battle with IBM in Swafford v. IBM in CA federal court – To the best of our knowledge, the resulting order denying summary judgment to IBM to the entire extent that the firm opposed it was the first of its kind around the country
October 2019: Confidential settlement for $21 million in a defective condominium construction case
August 2018: Won verdict and judgment we value at over $1 million, with hundreds of thousands more in punitive damages awarded by the jury, after a two-week jury trial in New Hanover County for an LLC member who’d been illegally ousted from the companies by his business partners
February 2013: Won a $1.39 million verdict after a three-week jury trial in Madisonville, Kentucky on behalf of a church and a business against two coal companies for causing subsidence to their properties
June 2012: Won a verdict and judgment of over $3 million after a three-week jury trial in Wilmington, North Carolina involving a contractor’s defective construction of marine bulkhead
February 2011: Won a verdict and judgment in excess of $3.5 million after a two-week jury trial involving the developer’s deceptive advertising and shoddy construction of subdivision roads in the mountains of Western North Carolina
Lead Counsel in two class actions against IBM arising from its commission’s practices: Comin v. International Business Machines Corp. (N.D. Cal.) and Engle v. International Business Machines, Corp. (Supreme Court of New York)
April 2021: Won a $14 million judgment on behalf of an IBM sales manager who was fired after reporting racial discrimination and wage theft – After an 8-day trial in federal court in Seattle, Washington, the jury returned a verdict in our clients’ favor on all claims
Co-Lead Interim Class Counsel in Edwards v. CSX Transportation, Inc., a case involving devastating flood damages after Hurricanes Matthew and Florence estimated damages in excess of $250,000,000
October 2019: Won the summary judgment battle with IBM in Swafford v. IBM in CA federal court – To the best of our knowledge, the resulting order denying summary judgment to IBM to the entire extent that the firm opposed it was the first of its kind around the country
October 2019: Confidential settlement for $21 million in a defective condominium construction case
August 2018: Won verdict and judgment we value at over $1 million, with hundreds of thousands more in punitive damages awarded by the jury, after a two-week jury trial in New Hanover County for an LLC member who’d been illegally ousted from the companies by his business partners
February 2013: Won a $1.39 million verdict after a three-week jury trial in Madisonville, Kentucky on behalf of a church and a business against two coal companies for causing subsidence to their properties
June 2012: Won a verdict and judgment of over $3 million after a three-week jury trial in Wilmington, North Carolina involving a contractor’s defective construction of marine bulkhead
February 2011: Won a verdict and judgment in excess of $3.5 million after a two-week jury trial involving the developer’s deceptive advertising and shoddy construction of subdivision roads in the mountains of Western North Carolina
- Board President, Theatre Raleigh
- American Association for Justice
- NCAJ
- Wake County Bar Association
