Irell & Manella Elects A. Matthew Ashley to Partnership

12.2005

A. Matthew Ashley, a litigator in Irell & Manella LLP’s Newport Beach office, has been elected to the firm’s partnership.

In his short career, Mr. Ashley, 32, has taken a leading role in some of the firm’s larger matters. Since joining Irell as an associate in 1998, he has focused on complex commercial disputes spanning a broad range of legal issues and industries. Mr. Ashley has significant experience litigating business torts, securities fraud and contract disputes, as well as cases concerning hedge fund and broker-dealer regulations.

In addition to securities and investment cases, he has been heavily involved in disputes involving intellectual property, professional negligence, employment law, insurance, and real estate. Clients include regional, national and international banking institutions, publicly-traded developers, and international retailers and manufacturing companies.

Mr. Ashley’s current caseload includes handling an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court over alleged improper tax shelters. In another matter, he is arbitrating over the management and proposed dissolution of a limited partnership hedge fund. Mr. Ashley also represents an international medical device manufacturer in a number of lawsuits brought over alleged infringement of patents relating to cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Recently, Mr. Ashley worked with Irell attorney Richard Sherman to successfully defend a client against claims of breach of contract, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty in an arbitration proceeding involving over $1 billion in Southern California real estate. Hired just five weeks before the hearings, the team achieved a total victory for its client, including an award of the disputed real estate and a grant of its request for dissolution. Mr. Ashley was credited with trying a large part of that case.

“Despite his relative youth, Matt is an aggressive and smart litigator who has repeatedly been able to obtain excellent results for the firm’s clients, regardless of the nature of the dispute,” said Mr. Sherman, the Managing Partner of Irell’s Newport Beach office. “What’s especially noteworthy is the ease with which he’s been able to represent with equal skill clients in industries as diverse as medical devices, real estate and hedge funds. Matt’s election to the partnership reflects not only his talents as a litigator, but his command of extremely complex topics.”

Mr. Ashley is a graduate of Yale Law School (J.D., 1998) and Tulane University (B.S. in Economics, 1995), where he graduated second in his class, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. In 2004, his peers recognized him as one of Southern California's "Rising Stars" in business litigation in a survey published by Los Angeles Magazine.