Bio (continued)

The Asheville and greater Western North Carolina economy has surged in recent years—new ventures, new construction, new people. Our burgeoning area requires competent legal advice to sustainably thrive. 

Matt takes great pride in supporting his neighbors, representing individuals and small businesses in the courtroom and the boardroom. As a former business owner, Matt understands the challenges of starting and maintaining a business. He guides entrepreneurs from seed to sprout, providing careful organizational documents and delivering deft advocacy when problems arise.

As an associate at Asheville Legal, Matt supports a variety of cases and clients. He leverages his business background and leadership experience to help clients navigate complex commercial challenges, and he leverages his zero-tolerance policy for injustice to protect clients when they have been wronged.

Matt makes sure clients feel heard and their interests protected, creating space for clients to share their whole story–the facts and their feelings. Every legal dispute is personal, and Matt pleads each client’s case like it’s his own. It’s unfortunate not everyone acts with integrity. When they don’t, Matt stands in their way, guarding clients from unscrupulous actors, large and small.

In a perfect world, there’d be no lawyers, because everyone would trust each other to do the right thing. Lawyers bridge that gap in trust. Matt understands clients come to him feeling vulnerable, or worse, mistreated and strained. His first priority is trust, built with listening and collaboration to envision the destination and the path to get there. 

But trust goes only so far. Clients rightly expect results. Matt works cordially with opposing parties to see if an equitable resolution is possible. However, Matt is no shrinking violet, always prepared to go the distance for his clients if their fairness and willingness to compromise is abused.

Before joining Asheville Legal in the summer of 2024, Matt worked as an associate at a corporate law firm in Chicago. Although the work was stimulating, it was impersonal. He joined Asheville Legal to cultivate relationships, to be a counselor at a time when trust, reliability and care seem to be fading. 

During law school, Matt spent two years as the editor-in-chief of The Podvocate, the only podcast at a U.S. law school. It was in that role he knew his career as an attorney needed to be grounded in close relationships with clients. Matt also finished first in his class in his tax classes, demonstrating his insight of where a business’s rubber meets the road. Before law school, Matt worked as a tech entrepreneur, a magazine editor, an ESL teacher in Japan, earned an MFA in Creative Writing and spent many years as a competitive rower.

Matt has lived in many places but has never felt at home as he does in Asheville. When not supporting his clients, Matt and his family seek the road less traveled.

MATTHEW DORAN, ASSOCIATE