Workers Compensation Law
811 SW 6th Ave ste 1000, Portland, OR 97204, USA
It was 1998 when Matt was sitting at the foot of his grandpa’s hospital bed. Having taken numerous licensing exams for different career and educational reasons, Matt decided to take the LSAT solely because his older brother, who is an attorney, accused him of being a professional test taker. This sparked Matt's competitive nerve, and he needed to prove he could take this test as well. Matt's grandpa overheard and slowly sat up, pointed directly at Matt, and uttered what turned out to likely be the last full sentence of his life — “make up your gosh darn mind” (although he just received his Last Rights and felt he had a clean slate, so he used more colorful words than gosh darn). Fear of being haunted by his no-nonsense grandpa caused Matt to make a final decision and attend Willamette University School of Law, graduating in 2003. Matt had the pleasure of serving as Chair of the Moot Court Board, president of the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity, and was inducted into The Order of Barristers. Willamette University was a familiar place where Matt previously obtained his Bachelor of Science in 1993, majoring in Biology with a Chemistry minor. Matt's work experience was varied throughout college, as well as between graduating and returning to law school. Matt worked primarily as an Emergency Room Technician where he confirmed his love of an adrenaline-filled life. After witnessing an eye bank technician perform a procedure to remove the eyes from a deceased patient and eye donor, Matt pursued a job with that organization and became a Certified Eye Bank Technician (yes, that was another test) and was responsible for final review and release of corneal tissue for transplant. VisionGift later graciously reached out and invited Matt to serve on its Board of Directors, currently as Chair of the Board. The intersection of medicine and law is very appealing. Matt therefore spent 18 years representing employers and insurers in workers’ compensation disputes before switching to represent injured workers. The Workers’ Compensation Section of the Oregon State Bar provided Matt the honor of serving on its Executive Committee where he eventually became Chair. This position allowed Matt to work closely with judges, as well as attorneys on both sides, and opened Matt's eyes to the decreasing number of attorneys willing to represent Oregon’s injured workers due in large part to the complexity of the system. Matt has handled nearly 2,000 workers’ compensation cases throughout his more than 20-year career, of which about 1,500 were for employers and insurers while a senior partner at a large defense firm. He now uses that experience and understanding of the other side to help Oregon’s injured workers navigate the complexities of workers’ compensation. Matt's service in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve, culminating as Captain and Brigade Judge Advocate, provided him a sense of fearlessness and determination in zealously representing the interests of his clients. Matt's goal with every client is therefore the same: make sure you have a strong advocate to obtain all benefits to which you are entitled, while doing everything possible to reduce the stress and anxiety that is commonplace for injured workers. In addition to workers’ compensation, Matt believes in veterans helping veterans and assists clients with issues involving Veterans Administration disability benefits. He also represents people before the Social Security Administration to secure disability and supplemental income when needed.
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