Matthew T. Sanderson

Member, Washington, D.C.
(202) 862-5046
msanderson@capdale.com | v-card | PDF

Matthew T. Sanderson is a Member in the Political Law and Exempt Organizations practice groups of Caplin & Drysdale.

Mr. Sanderson is listed in Super Lawyers and Chambers USA, where clients noted that he "is extremely thorough, looks at all the angles, and gives the best advice you can get in the market."

Services

Mr. Sanderson helps corporations, political committees, candidates, and advocacy groups comply with the increasingly numerous and complex federal, state, and local laws that govern political activity and commercial interaction with public-sector clients. Specifically, he advises clients on campaign-finance, "pay-to-play", ethics, and lobbying rules.

Highlights

Mr. Sanderson served as General Counsel of Senator Rand Paul's 2016 presidential campaign, Outside Counsel for Governor Rick Perry's 2012 presidential campaign, Legal Counsel to Governor Mitt Romney's Commonwealth PACs, Campaign Finance Counsel for Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, and General Counsel for a government reform commission created by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. Mr. Sanderson was a legal consultant for Netflix’s hit series House of Cards and he, along with the rest of The Colbert Report team, received the prestigious Peabody Award in 2012 for efforts related to television personality Stephen Colbert's Super PAC. Mr. Sanderson is also a founder of PlayoffPAC, which was nominated in 2011 for Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year award for its work in bringing down college football's unpopular former post-season system, the Bowl Championship Series.

Mr. Sanderson is an Adjunct Faculty Member at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he teaches an advanced course on campaign finance regulation. He is frequently quoted on political matters in national media outlets, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Associated Press. He is also a Trustee for the American Council of Young Political Leaders, a nonprofit that connects rising political leaders in the U.S. and around the world.

Mr. Sanderson is a graduate of the University of Utah and of Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was a Chancellor's Scholar and member of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. He speaks Mandarin and has four children with his wife, Emily.

Awards & Rankings

Chambers USA, Associate to Watch, 2014; Up and Coming, 2015-2016; 2017
Super Lawyers, Rising Star, Washington, D.C., 2013-Present
Alumni Association, The University of Utah Par Excellence Award, 2016
The Washingtonian, Top Lawyer, 2015
The Washington Post, Among the Top Attorneys in D.C., 2014

Recent Speaking Engagements

Speaker, Campaign Finance in the 2014 Election and in the Future, West LegalEdcenter, Webinar, November 10, 2014
Speaker, Best Practices in Corporate Political Activity, West LegalEdcenter, Webinar, October 13, 2014
Speaker, Effective Advocacy in Washington, Even Without a PAC, West LegalEdcenter, Webinar, September 15, 2014
Speaker, Engaging with Government: Recent Trends in Political Law, Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics, Web Conference, September 10, 2014
Speaker, The New ‘Super PAC'?: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Joint Fundraising Committees, Caplin & Drysdale, April 11, 2014
Speaker, Campaign Finance After Citizens United: Colbert Super PAC and Other (Less Hilarious) Phenomena, Utah State Bar Annual Conference, July 20, 2013
Speaker, Lessons from the Least Horrible Super PACs of 2012, Netroots Nation, 8th Annual Conference, June 22, 2013
Presenter, Campaign Finance after Citizens United: A Primer on Super PACs and Corporate Political Activity, West LegalEdcenter and Westlaw GC, Webcast, May 8, 2012

Click here for a full list of speaking engagements.