Matthew Sanderson is an associate in the Political Activity Law practice group of Caplin & Drysdale.
Services
Mr. Sanderson helps 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, he advises clients on campaign-finance, “pay-to-play”, ethics, and lobbying rules.
Highlights
Mr. Sanderson served as Campaign Finance Counsel for McCain-Palin 2008, Senator John McCain's presidential campaign committee. He now serves as General Counsel and Chief of Staff for the
Commission on Strengthening Utah’s Democracy, an entity created by Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. to review Utah’s ethics, lobbying, campaign-finance, redistricting, and election laws. Mr. Sanderson is also a founder of
PlayoffPAC, the principal opposition group to college football’s Bowl Championship Series. He is frequently quoted in national media outlets, such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CBS News, and Associated Press, as a leading authority on political cybersquatting and the politics of college football reform.
Mr. 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. He is a fluent Mandarin speaker and has three children with his wife, Emily.
Selected Recent Publications
- Elections: Administrative Law Developments, American Bar Association (with Trevor Potter) (Forthcoming)
- Two Birds, One Stone: Reversing “Frontloading” by Fixing the Presidential Public Funding System, Virginia Journal of Law and Politics (Forthcoming)
- The Conservative Case for College Football Reform, The Hill (Jan. 6, 2010)
- Analysis of Bill Clinton's Cybersquatting Loss, Election Law Blog (June 4, 2009)
- A Dot-Pol of Their Own, Washington Post (April 13, 2009)
- Candidates, Squatters and Gripers: A Primer on Political Cybersquatting and A Proposal for Reform, Election Law Journal (2009)
- Federal Campaign Finance Law: A Primer for the Lobbyist, ABA Lobbying Manual (with Trevor Potter, 2009)
- Lobbyist Bundling of Campaign Contributions, ABA Lobbying Manual (with Trevor Potter, 2009)
- From Intent to Outcome: Balloting and Tabulation Around the World, ABA International Election Law Principles (with Joseph Birkenstock, 2008)
- Voodoo Economics: A Look Abroad for a Supply-Side Solution to America's Campaign Finance Riddle, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law (2008)