Matthew Lasky

Matt represents businesses and their investors in complex commercial litigation, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions litigation, corporate control disputes and financial misconduct. His clients include private equity firms, portfolio companies, founders, and executives. He handles both affirmative claims and defenses involving post-closing indemnification, earn-outs, fiduciary duties, investor rights, and significant commercial contracts.

Matt handles disputes across the country, including matters involving parallel court and arbitration proceedings in multiple jurisdictions. He has served as trial counsel in mergers and acquisitions litigation in the Delaware Court of Chancery and in substantial commercial arbitration, including securing emergency relief in expedited matters.

Matt also represents independent directors and litigation trustees in investigations into suspected financial misconduct and abuses of corporate control. He works alongside forensic accountants to uncover misconduct by founders and senior executives, undisclosed financial interests and conflicts surrounding major corporate transactions.

An eighteen-month in-house secondment gives Matt firsthand perspective on the business consequences of litigation. Working directly with the general counsel of an institutionally backed company previously valued at more than $5 billion, he oversaw the redesign of customer-contracting practices, addressed customer legal issues and supervised outside litigation counsel during significant business disruption. That experience informs his advice, keeping legal strategy in service of the client’s business goals.

Matt is licensed to practice law in Illinois and New York.

Practice Areas

Representative Matters

Mergers and Acquisitions Litigation

• Served as trial counsel for the sellers of a securities clearing firm in litigation arising from an approximately $80 million merger, winning a post-trial decision in the Delaware Court of Chancery rejecting in full the buyers’ indemnification claims arising from a $15.2 million trading loss. Also obtained a ruling awarding attorneys’ fees and costs for discovery misconduct.*
• Represented a company co-founder and director in expedited Delaware Court of Chancery litigation challenging a proposed $263.3 million equity issuance and related acquisition based on controlling-stockholder conflicts and dilution. Obtained a temporary restraining order halting the transaction pending expedited proceedings.*
• Represented an insurance broker as plaintiff in securities-fraud and control-person litigation arising from its nearly $100 million acquisition of an insurance agency network. The dispute concerned alleged concealment of the impending failure of the agencies’ sole underwriting insurer, which necessitated an additional $15 million capital contribution and costly arrangements with replacement insurers.*
• Represented the seller of a consumer-products business in three related federal actions in New York and Illinois involving earn-outs, deferred acquisition consideration, and trademark infringement and counterfeiting claims. The disputes included more than $10 million in claimed trademark damages arising from the buyer’s alleged unauthorized use of the seller’s retained trademarks.*

Investigations

• Conducted investigation into suspected fraud by a company’s founder involving hundreds of millions of dollars in investor capital. The investigation, run alongside forensic accountants, concerned alleged misrepresentations to investors, falsified corporate records and the conduct of the company’s founder.*
• Conducted investigation of potential claims for hundreds of millions of dollars arising from a multibillion-dollar take-private transaction. The investigation concerned alleged insider conflicts, the integrity of the transaction’s approval and valuation process, and improper transfers of corporate assets.*

Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

• Represented an investor in an eleven-day commercial arbitration hearing involving fund valuation, tax allocations and competing claims under partnership and subscription agreements. The dispute concerned millions of dollars in disputed tax liabilities following the investor’s removal from the fund.*
• Represented a manufacturer seeking at least $17.5 million under a take-or-pay agreement for the manufacture of consumer products and defending a counterclaim exceeding $10 million in alleged lost profits. The dispute concerned pandemic-related production shortfalls, minimum purchase commitments, and the applicability of force majeure provisions to COVID-19. Secured an order for discovery sanctions requiring the purchaser to pay attorneys’ fees and expenses associated with discovery misconduct.*
• Represented a cryptocurrency retirement-account platform in related South Dakota and Kentucky litigations after a dispute with its custodian disrupted customer transfers and access to account data. Obtained a preliminary injunction restoring access to customer account information and the online functionality needed to operate the platform. Also secured dismissal of the related Kentucky action, clearing the way for the South Dakota litigation to proceed.*
• Represented a community development financial institution in federal litigation and an administrative appeal concerning its eligibility for Federal Home Loan Bank membership and access to the bank’s funding facilities. The dispute involved regulatory requirements concerning the institution’s liquidity. The administrative appeal succeeded: the denial of the institution’s renewed membership application was reversed and its membership reinstated.*
• Represented a staffing-platform company in related Connecticut and Texas litigation arising from its provision of remote survey workers to a market-research company. The disputes concerned more than $8 million in allegedly unpaid invoices and the customer’s demand for indemnification against workers’ claims for unpaid pre- and post-shift work.*
• Represented a member of a real estate investment entity in related Illinois and Delaware litigation involving allegations of millions in diverted funds, enforcement of an LLC buy-sell provision, and an attempted judicial dissolution.*

*matter handled prior to joining Honigman LLP

Prior Experience

• Raines Feldman Littrell LLP, Partner
• Michelman & Robinson LLP, Senior Associate
• O’Hagan LLC, Associate

Education

Admissions

Awards

• Rising Stars, Super Lawyers Illinois, 2018–2024
• Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, 2025–2026

Professional & Community Involvement

• Illinois State Bar Association
• Chicago Bar Association
• Giving Kitchen Community Engagement Counsel (Great Lakes) Chair

Press Releases