Matt Harrington White

Matt White is counsel in Goodwin’s Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice and a member of the firm’s Private Investment Litigation and Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement practices. His practice focuses principally on representing private investment clients and their portfolio companies in a wide range of disputes, including complex commercial litigation, partnership and shareholder rights disputes, post-closing disputes, and other business torts. Matt also maintains an active securities litigation practice, including derivative litigation defense, corporate governance matters, fiduciary duty claims, and government and internal investigations.

Matt has represented buyers, sellers, founders, and board members in numerous post-closing matters, including earnout disputes, working capital disputes, indemnity disputes, and restrictive covenant disputes. He also has experience representing clients in partnership disputes, shareholder rights disputes, shareholder derivative litigation, and other matters involving allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty, fraud, and wrongful termination. Finally, Matt has represented both private and public clients across a wide spectrum of industries in securities litigation, internal investigations, and government investigations before federal and state regulators, including the DOJ, SEC, and FINRA. His recent representations include defending and/or representing:

• An investment partnership majority stockholder against breach of fiduciary duty claims brought in connection with a go-private transaction of a web-services technology company in Delaware state court
• A national email management solutions provider against breach of contract and fraud claims in earn-out litigation in Massachusetts state court
• A national business solutions provider and institutional investor against claims for breach of contract and tortious interference in earn-out litigation in Delaware state court
• A major pharmaceutical company in earn-out litigation in Delaware state court
• An international pharmaceutical company in an arbitration before a Big Four accounting firm in a post-closing working capital dispute
• The demand review committee of a mutual fund board investigating a shareholder demand alleging breaches of fiduciary duties related to investments in affiliated funds
• A cloud-based cybersecurity company in an investigation relating to high-profile Solar Winds data security incident
• Dozens of public and private companies in FINRA trading investigations
• Numerous companies and investment managers in connection with books and records requests by stockholders and limited partners
• Public companies and individuals in SEC insider trading investigations resulting in termination notices
• Two nationwide pharmacy chains in health care fraud investigations by HHS/OIG and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in New Jersey, Michigan, and Florida
• On a pro bono basis, two federal prisoners serving life sentences for nonviolent drug offenses in successful petitions for clemency to the Office of the Pardon Attorney

During law school, Matt served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

In 2020, Matt gained significant trial experience during a six-month secondment with the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, where he served as a Special Assistant District Attorney. In that capacity, he independently conducted jury and bench trials to final verdict and argued numerous dispositive and evidentiary motions.