Matthew Harrison is the founding member of Harrison Law and has been practicing law for over 20 years. Prior to forming Harrison Law, Mr. Harrison was an attorney with a nationallyrecognized surety, construction, and fidelity law firm in Phoenix, Arizona, where his practice focused on complex civil litigation. Previously, Mr. Harrison was a Deputy County Attorney with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for over seven years where he held leadership positions and mentored less-experienced attorneys. Matthew Harrison has combined these experiences into a law firm that has established itself both locally and nationally as a highly-regarded law firm.
Mr. Harrison has extensive experience in both civil and criminal law. He also has significant trial court and arbitration experience, which includes being lead counsel in over 35 jury trials. He is rated as an AV© Preeminent™ Attorney by Martindale Hubbell and is a Sustaining Member of Arizona’s Finest Lawyers™. Mr. Harrison has represented clients on legal issues involving claims and litigation from a few thousand dollars to claims and litigation in excess of 100 million dollars. He is the author or co-author for several legal publications and is a frequent presenter at CLE workshops and other programs for business owners.
Mr. Harrison is involved in several volunteer and other legal opportunities. These opportunities include his continuing appointment as a Judge Pro Tempore for the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County, where he is assigned to both civil and criminal matters. As a Judge Pro Tem, Mr. Harrison has successfully conducted Settlement Conferences, which have resulted in a resolution of the litigation. Mr. Harrison also served as a member on the Williams Air Force Base Restoration Advisory Board for five years.
Mr. Harrison graduated in 1997 from Arizona State University College of Law (now Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law) where he was a Pedrick Scholar and received CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Family Law. He is an active member of the Arizona State and Federal Bars, the Utah State and Federal Bars, the American Bar Association, and the Maricopa County Bar Association. He is also involved in several subcommittees within these bar associations.
Mr. Harrison lives in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area with his wife and children. They enjoy the outdoors and local art and culture, as well as other activities that Arizona has to offer.
Representative Cases/Matters
- Represented a surety in complex indemnity actions in two jurisdictions against a group of corporations and individuals, which included allegations of fraudulent transfers designed to hide assets to be used to indemnify the surety client. After significant litigation and a settlement agreement with a portion of the individuals and corporations, Mr. Harrison obtained Judgments totaling over $2.72 million dollars against the corporations and individuals that did not settle.
- Represented a surety who held a performance bond on a construction project on tribal lands. The construction company was terminated for failure to perform and a demand was made on the bond. Mr. Harrison was able to locate a completion contractor and successfully negotiate a tender agreement, which included the surety providing no payment on the performance bond. These actions eliminated over $1.25 million dollars of potential performance bond losses to the client.
- Represented a surety who held multiple performance and payment bonds on a construction company that was terminated for failure to perform on projects in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and had also failed to pay its subcontractors and suppliers. These projects involved municipalities or tribal entities. Mr. Harrison was able to evaluate and successfully resolve over 150 claims and lawsuits to the benefit of the client.
- Represented a surety company in a complex civil dispute and claim in excess of $100 million dollars regarding construction of a regional wastewater treatment plant, which led to a successful outcome for the surety.
- Provided a successful defense, including a jury trial, of an insurance company involving an injury claim where the plaintiff demanded over $1.5 million dollars in damages. The jury awarded less than $75,000 in damages to the plaintiff.
- Represented a surety in an indemnification action involving an automobile dealership’s license bond where the indemnitors held assets and real property in Mexico. Through litigation and motion practice, Mr. Harrison was able to obtain a favorable settlement recovering the losses incurred by the surety for payment of claims on the bond.
- Represented a surety who held multiple performance and payment bonds on a construction company that was terminated for failure to perform on several construction projects in Arizona and Utah. Mr. Harrison was able to evaluate and successfully resolve these multiple claims and lawsuits to the benefit of the client.
- Represented a general contractor on its claims against a subcontractor for its failure to timely perform in the construction of a hospital in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. This litigation led to the general contractor recoupling losses it incurred for retaining another subcontractor to complete the subcontract on time.
- Represented a national engineering firm from allegations of design and other defects on a multi-million dollar construction project in central Arizona.
- Participated in a successful litigation team representing a surety who intervened in a multi-million dollar complex arbitration in Nevada between a contractor and developer. After a long and contentious arbitration, the Panel found in favor of surety client and the contractor. The Panel awarded damages in excess of $4.3 million dollars.
Court Admissions
- Utah State Bar, 1997
- U.S. District Court, Utah, 1997
- Arizona State Bar, 1998
- U.S. District Court, Arizona, 2008
Publications and Legal Presentations
- From 2012 to the present, Mr. Harrison is a regular presenter for various business organizations on topics concerning business organization, commercial law issues, construction law, both discovering employee theft and deterring future occurrences.
- Regular Presenter at Lorman Building Codes CLE, January 2016, March 2012, and October 2010. Mr. Harrison also authored a portion of the manual provided at the seminars.
- Mr. Harrison and Harrison Law were featured in Attorney At Law Magazine in the December 2011 issue as well as the March 2012 issue of Arizona Public Accountant Magazine.
- Co-author of article: How Prompt Payment Laws Affect the Surety, which was presented at the Surety Claim Institute annual meeting, June 2011.
- Co-author of presentation: Prompt Payment Laws and the Surety, which was presented at the American Bar Association Spring Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, April 2011.
- Co-author of article: Recent Developments in Arizona Law of Implied Warranties, which was presented at Arizona Construction Law 2010 – Examining Trends Over the Past 10 Years State Bar of Arizona CLE, February 2010.
- Authored law journal article: Legislative Delegation and Presidential Authority: A Discussion of the Antiquities Act and the Establishment of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument—A Call for a New Judicial Examination, Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, 13 J. Env. Law & Lit. No. 2 (Winter 1998). The article is widely considered as an excellent history of the foundation of the Antiquities Act has been cited in several legal, environmental, and administrative law journal articles since that time.
