Matthew W. O’Neill

mwo@ffsj.com

Matt O’Neill focuses his practice on commercial litigation and appellate work. He has argued numerous cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Wisconsin Court of Appeals and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and has been involved in several successful high-profile appeals, including Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Wis. Dept. of Revenue, 2006 WI 88, Clean Wisconsin v. PSC, 2005 WI 93, City of West Allis v. WEPCO, 2001 WI App. 226, and Jandrt v. Jerome Foods, Inc., 227 Wis. 2d 531, 597 N.W.2d 744 (1999), Matt argued on behalf of minority shareholders in the two leading Wisconsin Supreme Court cases addressing minority shareholder rights and special litigation committees, Einhorn v. Culea, 2000 WI 65, and Notz v. Everett Smith Group, 2009 WI 30. Matt was awarded Legal Action of Wisconsin’s 2008 Exceptional Pro Bono Advocacy Award for successfully obtaining a six-figure verdict for a local family whose belongings were wrongly sold at auction by a self-storage company. Cook v. Public Storage Corp., 2008 WI App 155.

Matt graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame (1988) and magna cum laude from Marquette University Law School (1991). From 1991-92, he was the law clerk for the late, great Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan S. Heffernan. Matt has worked for Friebert, Finerty & St. John, S.C. since 1992, and has been a shareholder since January 1, 2000. Matt has been recognized as a Super Lawyer by Milwaukee Magazine in the area of business litigation in 2006 and every year since.

In addition to his commercial and appellate practice, Matt has substantial experience with campaign finance and election law, counseling numerous clients in campaign and election-related matters. Matt was State Counsel for the Obama for America campaign and trained over 1,200 lawyers to monitor the polls in Wisconsin on election day in 2008. He has testified before the United States Congress and the Wisconsin Senate on proposed reforms to federal and state election laws.

Matt is admitted to practice before the Wisconsin Bar, the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is currently the President-Elect of the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association. Matt also serves as the Secretary of the Board of Trustees for Woodlands School in Milwaukee, and is a Director on the Board of Legal Action of Wisconsin.

Matt was born in 1966 and is married to Shannon O’Neill. They have three beautiful daughters, Audrey, Sylvie and Daphne. In his spare time, Matt enjoys golfing, running marathons, and fantasy football. He is also the unofficial firm archivist, memorializing the travails of the firm’s basketball and softball teams.