Matthew Cohen
Of Counsel
Matthew Cohen is Of Counsel at Aleshire & Wynder, where he draws on over two decades of legal experience representing and advising public agencies in California and abroad. At Aleshire & Wynder, Matt supports public agency clients with a broad range of matters, including drafting and updating municipal ordinances, advising on public procurements, negotiating development and settlement agreements, serving as an administrative hearing officer, and representing clients in complex civil litigation, including writ proceedings and high-stakes regulatory disputes. He has extensive experience with public contracting, employment law, ethics, compliance, and environmental law.
As a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Senior Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Matt served as Deputy General Counsel- the most senior career attorney- for a 12,000 person, $42 billion a year agency. In that role, Matt managed a 130-member legal team and advised senior U.S. officials, including the White House, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Congress, on complex regulatory, governance, and litigation matters. Prior to serving as Deputy General Counsel, Matt was USAID’s in-house legal counsel in Nairobi, Kenya and Lima, Peru, advising leadership on all internal and external operations and regularly negotiating international agreements with presidents, foreign ministers, and ambassadors. Most recently, Matt spent four years as a USAID director in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he managed over $1.2 billion in U.S. development assistance programs for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as U.S. sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding initiatives.
Prior to joining Aleshire & Wynder, Matt practiced at Richards, Watson & Gershon in Los Angeles, counseling more than 30 public agencies on municipal governance, environmental compliance, employment law, and representing them in civil and administrative litigation.
Matt holds a J.D. from UC Davis School of Law, an M.S. in Forestry, and a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology. He served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Oruro, Bolivia, working at a rural research station with Aymara farmers on agroforestry and soil conservation projects. He is a member of the California State Bar and is fluent in Spanish.