Matt Owen is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn. He is a member of Gibson Dunn’s Litigation and Congressional Investigations Practice Groups. His practice focuses on antitrust, complex commercial litigation, constitutional law, congressional and other government investigations, and appeals.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Matt served as majority staff director and chief counsel of the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In that role, Matt, supervised the successful litigation of the Senate’s first contempt action in more than twenty years, and led congressional investigations into competition in the cable and satellite television industry, human trafficking, and drug pricing. Matt also previously served as chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, which oversees the federal antitrust enforcement agencies and reviews major proposed mergers affecting the national economy.
As a litigator, Matt has represented clients in federal preemption and constitutional matters, antitrust litigation, drug-pricing disputes, environmental cases, consumer class actions, contested bankruptcy proceedings, contract disputes and regulatory matters. He appears regularly in federal appellate and district courts across the country.
Matt is a graduate, summa cum laude, of the University of Michigan Law School, and a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and to Justice Neil Gorsuch, both on the Supreme Court of the United States and as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Matt also served as a Bristow Fellow at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Solicitor General.
Representative Matters*:
Civil Litigation
- Counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in affirmative constitutional litigation challenging state laws purporting to regulate the federal 340B prescription drug program.
- Counsel in several Walker Process antitrust monopolization cases, including for an oil & gas equipment manufacturer, a building supply manufacturer, and an industrial technology company.
- Counsel for a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in an antitrust monopolization case.
- Counsel for a building materials company in nationwide antitrust class action and related securities class action.
- Counsel for a sports organization in a pair of antitrust challenges to its bylaws.
- Counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in a nationwide RICO class action.
- Counsel for an oil exploration company in environmental and civil litigation arising from a major oil spill.
- Counsel for a private equity fund in civil and bankruptcy litigation related to a major environmental incident.
- Counsel for a major aerospace company in a securities class action.
- Counsel for a private equity fund in breach of contract litigation concerning an earn-out provision in a merger agreement.
- Counsel to a private equity fund in breach of contract litigation concerning an unpaid note and indemnity.
- Counsel for an energy company in a contested bankruptcy proceeding and a securities class action.
- Counsel for a major financial institution in False Claims Act litigation.
- Counsel for a health care company in False Claims Act litigation.
Governmental and Regulatory
- Counsel for a leading private university in its dispute with the federal government over research funding and compliance with civil rights laws.
- Counsel for lead director of a major university in congressional investigations into antisemitism on campus.
- Counsel for a leading private university in DOJ investigations into Title VI compliance.
- Counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in affirmative litigation challenging HHS regulations and agency determinations related to the 340B prescription drug program.
- Counsel for a health care company in affirmative litigation against HHS challenging revocation of its Medicare participation.
- Counsel for an oil exploration company in a criminal investigation arising from an oil spill.
- Counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in congressional investigations into drug pricing and related matters.
- Counsel for a major industrial company in a congressional investigation into foreign nuclear technology transfers.
- Counsel for a healthcare company in a congressional investigation into federal COVID funds.
*Includes matters prior to joining Gibson Dunn.
Capabilities
- Litigation
- Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice
- Antitrust and Competition
- Appellate and Constitutional Law
- Congressional Investigations
- Crisis Management
- False Claims Act / Qui Tam Defense
- First Amendment and Free Expression
- Life Sciences
- Trials
- White Collar Defense and Investigations
Credentials
Education:
- University of Michigan - 2008 Juris Doctor
- University of Texas, Austin - 2004 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- District of Columbia Bar
- New York Bar
- Texas Bar
Clerkships:
- US Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Neil M.Gorsuch, 2017 - 2019
- US Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Antonin Scalia, 2010 - 2011