Photo of Wyche Attorney Matthew T. Richardson

Matthew T. Richardson, Member

Matthew’s practice focuses on civil litigation, and he has participated in cases involving personal injury, products liability, medical malpractice, employment law, civil rights and voting rights, copyright infringement, and commercial law. His experience includes jury trials, bench trials, preliminary motions and injunctions, dispositive motions, class action certification determinations, mediations, arbitrations, and appeals.

Representative Matters

Matthew has appeared in federal courts in South Carolina regularly since joining the Bar:

  • as counsel for the lead plaintiff in a three-judge panel voting rights case that went to trial and resulted in affirmative relief and an agreed-on fee award to the client;
  • as counsel in a minority shareholder suit litigated as an adversary proceeding in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina;
  • as counsel in numerous copyright infringement cases in various federal courts, without an adverse judgment in any of those cases;
  • as counsel in major securities litigation that ultimately reached a settlement after jury selection but before opening statements;
  • as counsel in a products liability case involving a national computer manufacturer that ended up settling; and,
  • as lead counsel in an employment discrimination case that ended in a favorable settlement.

Matthew has also been counsel in several cases in federal courts that have been transferred to Multi-District Litigation courts, including one products liability class action that was transferred to the District of South Carolina for pre-trial purposes. Most recently, he was lead counsel in another Voting Rights case in the District of South Carolina that resulted in the client receiving an affirmative injunction against the State and an agreed-on payment of attorneys fees and costs. Matthew currently serves as local counsel for supplementary proceedings in front of the U.S. District Court for collection of a judgment for the victims of a terrorist act in which competing claims are being made for the funds that have been frozen in the District of South Carolina.

Professional Background

2001-Present Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham, P.A.
2000–2001 Law Clerk to the Honorable Patrick Michael Duffy, United States District Court, District of South Carolina
1998–1999 Law Clerk to the Honorable Kaye G. Hearn, South Carolina Court of Appeals

Educational Background

1998, J.D. The University of South Carolina School of Law; South Carolina Law Review (Editor in Chief, 1997–98); Order of the Wig and Robe
1995, A.B. Duke University, Economics

Professional Activities and Memberships

  • Permanent Member, Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference
  • Member, Federal Bar Association; President, South Carolina Chapter 2004–05
  • Board of Governors, South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association, Officer 2007–08
  • Member, American Association for Justice
  • Member, Taxpayers Against Fraud
  • Member, South Carolina Bar; Committee Chair, Young Lawyers Division 2003–04
  • Board of Directors, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; Treasurer 2006–07
  • Board of Directors, South Carolina Law Review Association; Treasurer
  • Member, Richland County Bar Association

Bar and Court Admissions

  • South Carolina Bar, 1998
  • District of South Carolina
  • Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States Supreme Court

Representative Community Activities

  • Life Loyal Tau, Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity
  • Advisory Committee, Central Carolina Community Foundation

Publications

  • Co-Author, “Insurance Bad Faith,” 2 South Carolina Damages 11 (S.C. Bar 2004).
  • Co-Author, “Secret Settlements: Reports of Their Demise Are Premature,” 15 S.C. Law. 29 (May 2004).
  • Co-Author, “The Tort of Unauthorized Pelvic Exams,” Trial (October 2004).
  • Author, “2005 Legislative Changes to the South Carolina Civil Justice System,” SCTLA Bulletin (Summer 2005).
  • Presentation, “All Aboard, The Train is Leaving: Electronic Case Filing is Mandatory in the District of South Carolina,” SCTLA Convention (Aug. 5, 2005).
  • Moderator, Fourth Annual Federal Practice in the District of South Carolina (Sept. 9, 2005).
  • Presentation, “What it Means to be a Trial Lawyer,” SCTLA Student Chapter, USC School of Law (Fall 2005).
  • Presentation, “2005 Legislative Changes to Joint and Several Liability in South Carolina,” Judges Meeting, U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina (May 12, 2006).
  • Presentation, “Overview of the Federal Legal System,” FBA Summer Clerks Program (June 23, 2006).
  • Presentation, “Is ‘Joint and Several’ Becoming ‘Blaming Everybody Else’?,” SCTLA Convention (Aug. 3, 2006).
  • Presentation, “No-Injury Class Actions: Frontier or Futile?,” RPWB Co-Counsel Seminar (Apr. 27, 2007).
  • Presentation, “No-Injury Class Actions are Coming to South Carolina,” S.C. State Circuit Judges Conference (May 17, 2007).
  • Presentation, “Overview of the Federal Legal System,” FBA Summer Clerks Program (June 15, 2007).
  • Presentation, “No-Injury Class Actions: Frontier or Futile?,” SCTLA Convention (Aug. 3, 2007).
  • Presentation, “Statutory Changes to Joint and Several Liability,” SCTLA Convention (Aug. 3, 2007).

Awards and Honors

  • Compleat Lawyer Award, University of South Carolina School of Law, 2003
  • Fellow, Liberty Fellowship, Class of 2009