Matthew J. Connolly

Matt is also deeply familiar with state government, having previously served as the General Counsel to the Executive Office of Education in the Administration of Governor Baker and Lieutenant Governor Polito. In this role, he was the chief legal officer to the Education Secretariat and a trusted advisor on legal issues and policy development to the Secretary of Education, the Governor’s Office, and the three state education departments:  the Department of Early Education and Care, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Department of Higher Education. This work also included overseeing litigation involving the secretariat and its departments and coordinating with other state agencies on cross-secretariat matters. In 2021, Matt received the Manuel Carballo Governor’s Team Award for Excellence in Public Service in recognition of a multi-agency team’s outstanding contributions. Matt has also served as the interim chief legal counsel and senior policy advisor at the Office of the State Senate Minority Leader in Boston.

In the U.S. News & World Report / Best Lawyers survey of “2017 Best Law Firms,” a client described Matt as “an example of what a really good attorney should be. He is always responsive and on top of issues, tasks, and timelines. Matthew is not only able to understand and then explain in a clear and precise language complex technical concepts we deal with in our engagement, but he is also able to shed a new light on the technical and procedural matters we have at hand.”

Notable Experience and Client Impact

• Municipalities and quasi-government entities in appeals of their state and federal water discharge permits
• A Massachusetts community in defending a citizens’ suit brought be an environmental group alleging violations of the state Clean Waters Act
• A publicly traded energy company in a multi-jurisdictional commercial dispute involving a joint venture
• Energy traders and companies in several enforcement and compliance matters before FERC
• Several companies and financial institutions in non-public and internal investigations involving complex regulatory and reporting procedures
• A multi-billion dollar company in a federal jury trial regarding an overtime compensation dispute under the Fair Labor Standards Act
• Achieved a successful seven-figure verdict in a breach of contract dispute and fraud allegations involving the sale of a national company based in New Hampshire

Matt continues his leadership outside of the firm as a member of the Boston Bar Association. He is a member of the 2016-17 class of the Boston Bar Association’s Public Interest Leadership Program, which promotes civic engagement and public service by advancing the leadership role of lawyers in service to their communities.

Prior to rejoining Nutter in 2022 and his service in the Baker/Polito Administration, Matt was a partner in Nutter’s Litigation Department, where he advised individuals and companies on complex business disputes, regulatory proceedings, and white collar defense and investigations. Prior to that, he spent a number of years as a litigator in the Washington, DC office of an international law firm.

During law school, Matt served as a senior articles editor of the Northwestern University Law Review and president of the Student Funded Public Interest Fellowships Program.

Matt enjoys participating in Massachusetts politics. He regularly advises candidates on political and legal issues for federal, state, and local campaigns.