Matthew Simon Blum

Having worked as a litigator and trial attorney in several New York State and multistate law firms, Mr. Blum is a seasoned trial attorney, having represented clients in matters dealing in complex commercial, financial, securities, and real estate litigation. Mr. Blum has handled more than forty trials through judgment and appeal, and has handled appeals in all four New York Appellate Departments.

Mr. Blum has represented Fortune 250 and closely-held corporations, manufacturers and distributors, military contractors, casinos, financial institutions, and government agencies. He has prosecuted and defended complex civil cases concerning, for example, banking disputes, direct and derivative shareholder actions, fiduciaries and special purpose vehicles, construction, antitrust, trade secret/corporate espionage, and real estate disputes. Mr. Blum has worked on securities fraud cases involving multi-million dollar transactions, and residential mortgage-backed securities cases resulting in recovery of over $1 billion dollars for institutional clients.

Mr. Blum has served as special counsel and advisor to national banks on defensive strategies in securities, banking, and real estate litigation, authoring statewide bank policy on New York-specific litigation strategies on various case issues.

Currently, Mr. Blum maintains a dynamic practice involving litigation and transactional matters. In his litigation practice, Mr. Blum concentrates in the areas of complex commercial litigation involving multi-party business disputes, dissolution actions, partnership/member disputes, construction, disputes over dispositions of real estate, landlord/tenant, and banking litigation.

In his transactional and advisory practice, Mr. Blum advises credit unions and lenders on regulatory compliance and financial product structures in connection with his clients’ mortgage banking businesses. Mr. Blum serves as general counsel to domestic and international businesses on financing transactions, corporate organizational structures, and intellectual property. Mr. Blum brings to this work not only legal acumen informed by his litigation experience, but also the benefits from having earned an M.B.A. in Corporate Finance with concentrations in derivatives and institutional risk management.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Blum was a computer programmer. He applies that expertise extensively in his litigation practice. For example, Mr. Blum has assembled and managed teams of attorneys, engineers, and data analysts in eDiscovery and ESI investigations, which have entailed review and analysis of millions of documents. Mr. Blum has created eDiscovery platforms and automation tools that have been used to analyze voluminous document productions in connection with public offerings, securities filings, loan and bond underwriting transactions, payroll and check registers, time records, and other electronically-stored materials used in securities cases and other complex class action litigation.

Representative Matters

• Represented a global military contractor, prosecuting Lanham Act, Defend Trade Secrets Act, and business torts for misappropriation of proprietary technology used to assess radiation, achieving a favorable confidential settlement.

• Represented minority shareholders in multiple concurrent direct and derivative actions involving control over misappropriated commercial assets held in an incorporated special purpose vehicle, achieving complete recovery of the misappropriated commercial assets.

• Served as of counsel to a Fortune 250 company and global contractor, prosecuting racketeering and bid rigging claims involving misappropriation of proprietary technologies, with claims exceeding $100,000,000.00.

• Served as of counsel to a Fortune 250 company in an international dispute concerning the sale and servicing contract concerning a VVIP aircraft, with claims totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, litigating in the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration, Paris, France.

• Represented a taxi company and its principals in defending an unfair competition lawsuit brought by a competitor who formerly employed the principals, winning summary judgment dismissal, which included the court’s invalidating the non-compete provision in the competitor’s standard employment form used for all of its employees.

• Represented a scientist in prosecuting a $400 million-plus securities fraud scheme in the over-the-counter market, perpetrated by 39 defendants in eight states. One conspiring-defendant was convinced to testify against his conspiring co-defendants, leading to defendants settling all civil claims and the commencement of criminal and civil enforcement proceedings by the Department of Justice and Securities & Exchange Commission.

• Represented a general contractor in multiple concurrent lawsuits, prosecuting misappropriation claims while defending breach claims relating to a joint venture to construct a $27.2 million sky-rise, obtaining release for the breach claims and winning the misappropriation action by summary judgment.

• Represented a nationally-recognized restaurateur in connection with her interactions with the press; a $1.6 million equity offering for her acclaimed restaurant; and resolution of a wage & hour litigation against her and the restaurant.

• Represented a prominent economics professor and financial advisor before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in defending claims brought by an international financial institution for breach of an employment agreement while counterclaiming for business torts over misappropriation of a $3 million book of business, achieving a favorable settlement of all claims.

• Represented an international financial institution as trial counsel for eight related, high-profile fraud cases dealing with defaulted residential loans secured by illegally-partitioned commercial property, serving as appellate counsel for one of the eight cases then pending in the New York Appellate Division, First Department, and another slated for appeal to the New York Court of Appeals.

• Represented an online casino in intellectual property litigation with an international gaming distributor over license rights and use of trademarks in connection with the unlawful issuance of exclusive rights to the gaming distributor’s subsidiary as part of an $825 million sale of the subsidiary to a Korean shell company.

• Represented a manufacturer in disputes concerning breach of contract and violation of the Uniform Commercial Code in connection with goods shipped interstate through a foreign intermediary.

• Represented a financial institution in prosecuting a fraudulent scheme perpetrated on multiple bankruptcy courts in connection with the unlawful sale of real property conveyed through a straw man.

• Represented receivers of failed-bank assets in prosecuting residential mortgage-backed securities claims against international financial institutions that securitized and sold prime and subprime mortgage bonds.

Professional Memberships and Activities

• Member, International Defense Bar

• New York City Bar Association