Matthew Sanderson

Matthew Sanderson, is an attorney in the Political Law Group of Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered. He helps major 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, Sanderson advises clients on campaign-finance, "pay-to-play," ethics, and lobbying rules.

Sanderson served as General Counsel for 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 Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, and general counsel for a government reform commission created by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. 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. 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.

Sanderson teaches an advanced course on campaign finance regulation at UVA Law. 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. In 2014 and 2013, respectively, he was recognized as a top practitioner by Chambers USA and Super Lawyers for his work in the political law arena. 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.