If you’re considering making a career move, know that Matt Miller has already made it. With nearly three decades of experience spanning Big Law, boutique litigation shops, solo practice and in-house roles at consumer-facing tech companies like Groupon, Matt has seen – and done – it all.
A trial attorney to his core, Matt was part of Loyola Chicago’s only champion National Trial Competition team (“We’re the ‘72 Dolphins.”). He carried that zeal to Jenner & Block, where he participated in a pro bono jury trial during his first year. But in a Biglaw tale as old as time, opportunities to go to trial were rare. When he walked into the office of a trial boutique, where faxes were flying off machines and people were running around with sleeves rolled up, he felt right at home. He spent a few years honing his trial skills there before launching a solo practice.
Somewhere along the way, Matt was across the table from the founders of Groupon, where his dogged style gained their respect and their business. Eventually, he was recruited as Groupon’s Deputy General Counsel of Global Litigation, IP, and International Law, where he helped build their legal team and even spent a year in Switzerland, skiing the Alps with his sons on weekends.
He went on to take on GC roles at high-growth startups, including BARK, where he oversaw their SPAC, and founded his own startup, Jolo, which transforms job search and recruitment by amplifying candidates’ voices and using technology to match profiles. In his downtime he brought (possibly the first?) class-action lawsuits against universities for retaining dorm fees during the pandemic.
At Whistler, Matt has found his perfect next act: helping lawyers navigate their careers and bringing his “straight talk” style to the recruiting world. He has deep roots in Chicago’s legal and soccer communities—he’s coached, competed at the Maccabiah Games, and still talks strategy with his kids. Though he downplays it, he is also a cancer survivor: “It’s part of my story, but it’s not the story.” Matt is down to meet for an amaro or coffee on the North Side, but know that it will not be at a Starbucks.
Movie that's secretly about you?:
“I had a real life My Cousin Vinny trial experience. It was a wrongful death case in a tiny town where the bailiff also ran the country club and we had to stay at the jail because there weren’t enough hotel rooms for our team. We brought a motion in limine because we didn’t want the local lawyers to reference that we're from Chicago and the judge was like ‘you don't think the jury has figured out you're from Chicago by now?’
“Everything that normally only happens in movies happened: the heat went out and we had to continue in coats, an expert witness had a Perry Mason moment that made the room gasp, we got to take the jury on a field trip to the scene of the man’s death... I did the closing arguments, and we got a record verdict. Super fun experience.”
