Matt Sawchak Serves as Moderator at Federal Bar Association Event

Ellis & Winters

Matthew W. Sawchak

On February 13, 2015, Matt Sawchak moderated two panels featuring federal judges from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The program, entitled A View from the Bench:  Nuances of Civil and Criminal Practice in the Eastern District of North Carolina, was hosted at Campbell Law School by the Eastern District of North Carolina Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. The audience included 130 lawyers, judges, and law students from throughout the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Sawchak served as moderator for a panel of three federal district judges for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The speakers on the panel were Chief United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle, and Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard. The judges addressed a number of issues regarding their dockets, including caseloads, when matters are referred to a magistrate judge, and their experiences and preferences on the bench.  All three judges spoke to a range of matters, including dispositive motions in civil cases, their practices for holding oral argument on motions, and their trial preferences in both civil and criminal cases.

Sawchak also moderated a panel of all four federal magistrate judges for the Eastern District of North Carolina, including United States Magistrate Judge James E. Gates, United States Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones, Jr., United States Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers, II, and United States Magistrate Judge Kimberly A. Swank. The judges spoke to their experiences and practice preferences on a wide variety of issues, from civil discovery to criminal detention hearings.

Sawchak focuses his practice on business litigation, antitrust, and appeals. Business North Carolina magazine has profiled him twice as the top antitrust lawyer in North Carolina. Sawchak is also profiled as a Litigation Star in the current edition of Benchmark Litigation. He appears in North Carolina Super Lawyers, Chambers USA, and Best Lawyers in America. Sawchak is a North Carolina State Bar-certified specialist in appellate practice. He is the chief editor of What’s Fair?, a blog on the law of unfair and deceptive trade practices. He has also published two recent North Carolina Law Review articles on the law in this area. Sawchak graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he was a National Merit Scholar. He earned his J.D. and LL.M. with honors from Duke Law School. He was the editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal. He served as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas when Justice Thomas served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before his judicial clerkship, he clerked in the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States.