Matthew A. Barish is member in the firm’s Litigation, Real Estate and Construction Services Departments. A commercial litigator by trade, Matthew also advises businesses in navigating complex legal issues and mitigating corporate and regulatory liability. With a background in finance prior to being a lawyer and having litigated extensively in the state and federal courts in New York and Florida, Matthew leverages his business experience and courtroom skills in a variety of venues and alternative dispute forums to achieve his clients’ goals.

Experience

Matthew regularly represents national lending institutions, real estate management companies, property owners and real-estate developers, construction companies, corporate shareholders and various other businesses and individuals, in matters pertaining to:

• Commercial foreclosures and loan workouts
• Complex commercial contract disputes
• Construction performance/delay and payment disputes
• Lender liability claims
• Shareholder disputes/minority oppression actions
• Commercial real estate litigation
• Guaranty actions and promissory note defaults
• Condominium/governance disputes

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Matthew has played significant roles in numerous matters at the firm, including:

• Obtaining dismissal of all claims in a putative shareholder dispute following a two-day bench trial in Florida Circuit Court.
• Representing a commercial lender in securing the appointment of a receiver to protect commercial property located in Manhattan encumbered by mortgage loans in excess of $50 million.
• Successfully meditating a shareholder dispute involving the use and sale of real property located in New York City.
• Representing commercial landlords in prosecuting eviction and damages actions.
• Prosecuting fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims against a condominium board in New York City.
• Representing a commercial lender in securing the appointment of a C11 Trustee to manage and protect a multifamily property located in Florida.
• Representing a Major League Baseball organization in stadium construction and lease disputes in various forums.

Background & EDUCATION

Prior to pursuing his legal career and joining Cole Schotz, Matthew gained extensive knowledge in broker-dealer regulatory matters as an Assistant Vice President at Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.  During law school, Matthew also continued building upon his financial services experience as a Summer Analyst with The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. working in their Global Compliance Division.

Matthew earned his B.S., cum laude, from Brooklyn College and his J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  While in law school, Matthew was a Staff Editor on the Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal where he published Reaching for the Stars: A Proposal to the FTC to Help Deter Astroturfing and Fake Reviews, 36 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 827, 856 (2018). Matthew was also a Teaching Assistant helping law students develop and fortify their legal writing skills.