Matthew Anthony von Fricken

I am an experienced attorney currently licensed to practice before the United States 4th Circuit, Eastern District of Virginia, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland, and the Superior Court of Washington DC. With over 12 years of experience in contract negotiations and transactional law, and having built a successful referral based practice from the ground up, I am an attorney with extensive trial experience in criminal law in both state and federal court, extensive trial and negotiation experience in juvenile and domestic relations courts, and many years advising C-suite executives, government contractors, and commercial developers.

I have direct in-depth experience in commercial property transactions and contract negotiations against corporations as large as Amazon Services LLC, for government contractos, retail stores, inventors, farms, and start-ups. 

As a transactional attorney, I utilize my listening skills and writing skills to advise CEOs, CFO’s, Boards of Directors, grass roots organizations, and lobbying groups. I identify conflict inflection points, negotiate mergers and acquisitions, draft purchase agreements, articles of incorporation, operating agreements, leases, business plans and investor pro formas. I advise on monetization, security, raising capital, cash burn rates, and implementation. I am often engaged in mitigating risk or identifying liabilities in unsettled areas of law or emerging areas of law by providing comparative analysis of trends and precedent in similar or adjacent areas of law, commercial norms, other permitted activity, and, occasionally by historical analogy. In coordinating legal teams on complex cases and projects with various federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as various administrative rule making bodies, I have become adept at leading teams in litigation, factual investigations, strategic decision making, and risk identification and management, and have developed a deep understanding and appreciation for the importance of community and legislative relations.

I often utilize my background in neuropsychology, behavioral science, and game theory to effectively organize wide varieties of data derived from diverse sources such as human intelligence, signal and communication intelligence, open-source intelligence, discoverable materials, FOIA’s, and expert opinion, to craft effective litigation strategies and provide leverage in negotiations. I am adept at client communication and case analysis, with a specialty in engaging in, and monetizing, emerging and unsettled areas of law, technology, and commerce.

My work with real estate developers, government contractors, inventors, and start-ups has exposed me to multi-million-dollar commercial property transactions, IP protection, zero trust architecture, digital twinning, cloning, quantum computing, neural networks, and other emerging areas of technology such as artificial intelligence. I have direct experience in large GPU assemblies and their various capabilities. I understand and stay current in the latest continuing legal education for machine learning, supervised classification and regression models, unsupervised clustering and association models, reinforcement training, and can competently advise as to use, misuse, malfunctions, hallucinations, risks of biases, unintended consequences, as well as identifying threats to security resulting from implementation, or lack there-of, for businesses. These skillsets allow me to identifying use-case risks, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses while promulgating effective strategies for monetization and liability mitigation for a wide range of economic activities.

For example, in 2014-2015, I assisted in writing the probable cause language of Initiative 71 which legalized cannabis cultivation, posession, and gifting of cannabis in the nation's capitol. In 2022, as outside counsel for Everyday Investors Real Estate Development, I advised the CEO on litigation strategies, assembled and managed litigation teams, provided advice in adopting long-term strategic goals, and otherwise performed services such as risk identification and liability avoidance. I negotiated several multi-million-dollar purchase agreements and commercial real-estate development contracts. I drafted requests for proposals for social equity and certified minority businesses, created SoPs that streamlined management responsibilities and staff training, and drafted non-disclosure agreements and releases to reduce future litigation risks. As an advisor to the governance board, I supported equity and inclusion initiatives with the creation of an apprenticeship program for children from Wards 6, 7, and 8 that provided a career development workshop for children in DC looking to work in real estate, resisential and commercial development. 

During this time, I also provided counsel for Generational Equity Movement (GEM), an alliance dedicated to creating generational wealth and opportunity for underserved and underrepresented communities. We successfully formed a large coalition that included grassroots organizations and national organizations like the NAACP and successfully lobbied the DC Council to change emergency legislation in August and November of 2022 to include provisions that created opportunities for diversity and inclusion.

In 2023, as General Counsel for DC’s Own LLC, a security company based in Washington DC, I drafted security plans and standard operating procedures (SoPs) to protect against terrorist attacks, ram-raids, armed incursions, active shooters events, blackmail, kidnappings, theft, burglary, and inside jobs. DC’s Own LLC was retained to consult on 7 security contracts in 2023 and returned receivables that resulted in successful contract awards for each client. In 2024, I was further retained by the entities who were successfully awarded contracts to advise as to appropriate execution and implementation, draft operating agreements, develop business plans, assist in series A and B fundraising, and to provide future compliance review.

As lead counsel for several high-profile complex federal RICO, gang, firearm, and narcotic distribution cases, in some instances encompassing over 30 defendants and hundreds of indictments, I have spent countless hours in discovery, examining lab reports, forensic evidence, and witness statements and am well versed in resolving cases with interagency involvement and intense public scrutiny. Over the course of time, I achieved working knowledge of the operational methodology of national and international gangs, and the activity of other non-state actors in the trafficking of narcotics, weapons, and humans, and developed an expertise in cryptocurrencies, various forms crypto-mining, and blockchain, identity management, tumblers, hard and digital wallets, Web 3.0, Web 2.0, end-to-end encryption, and how each may be used to facilitate crime.

I received my Juris Doctor in 2010 from Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington D.C., where I enjoyed applying principles of game theory to complex divorce litigation practices in directed research. While in law school, I worked nights as an educator for children with disabilities, afternoons and evenings as a paralegal, and later as an associate attorney for Schmergel & Mersberger PLC. In 2006 and 2007, I had the honor of interning as a law clerk for the Honorable Chief Judge Dennis Smith of the Fairfax County Circuit Court.

From January 2005 to September 2008, I created, directed, and staffed a free tutoring and athletics program for underprivileged children in the District of Columbia at the 6th Presbyterian Learning Center using $30,000 received in a twice renewed grant from the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership Program. In 2002, I interned as a Legislative Correspondent for Robert Brady of Pennsylvania's 1st District and also worked as an investigative and beat reporter/photographer for Connection Newspapers, where I wrote and photographed multiple cover stories the summer of 2003.

As an undergraduate at Georgetown University, I studied writing, psychology, finance and accounting and had the honor of being named a Folger Shakespeare Library Lannan Fellow in 2002 and 2003. A true son of Washington DC, I attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC and I hold the motto of my Alma Mater, “men for others”, near and dear to my heart.

I am a driven, innovative, and determined self-starter whose diversity of clientele and breadth of practice and experiences continue to drive my passion for helping people and companies achieve outstanding outcomes. My familiarity with employment law, contracting, the FAR and the federal procurement process, fiscal law, and with child and youth programs have uniquely prepared me to assist government contractors in achieving awards while maintaining the highest Ethics and Standards of Conduct. I have the experience necessary to reach across departments, combat siloing, achieve consensus and move projects forward. 

Whether achieving a goal alone or completing a team project, whether in leadership or in support, in each case and in every day, I bring my creativity, curiosity, and compassion to the practice of law in service of my clients.