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Practice Emphasis Litigation Professional Experience Christopher Mathews is Of Counsel in Lionel Sawyer & Collins' Litigation Department. Mr. Mathews' extensive and distinguished legal career has to date encompassed over 18 years of service as counsel to government agencies, and as a prosecutor, commercial litigator and appellate court judge. He has been lead counsel in over 150 cases tried to verdict, and most recently served a two-year tour of duty on the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, completing his military career as a Senior Judge of that Court. Prior to entering law school, Mr. Mathews was an Intelligence Officer for the U.S. Air Force. After receiving his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, he served for two years as a member of the Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, where he was lead counsel in labor hearings involving officer and enlisted personnel assigned to the U.S. military's only intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) maintenance and launch training facility. During this time he was also a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. His next assignment was as regional prosecutor for the south-central United States, where he was responsible for all phases of felony trial litigation in cases tried at 21 Air Force installations in a five-state area. He later served on the island of Okinawa, Japan, where he was deputy "city attorney" and chief prosecutor for the largest American military installation in the region. On his return to the United States, Mr. Mathews was a trial attorney for the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command, defending the Department of the Air Force before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals in construction, services, and systems acquisition cases throughout the western United States. Starting in 1997, he was a litigation associate with two California-based law firms, and in 2000 was recalled to active duty to become the chief U.S. attorney responsible for the trial of military criminal offenses on Air Force installations throughout the Asia-Pacific theatre of operations. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Mathews was chief agency counsel for the Department of Defense in the Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile litigation, a classified $1.3 billion contract dispute in federal court, and authored a successful motion to dismiss plaintiff's claims totaling over $800 million. Reported Cases United States v. Maxwell, 45 M.J. 406 (C.A.A.F. 1996) Northrop Grunman Corporation, Military Aircraft Division v. United States, 63 Fed. Cl. 38 (Ct. Fed. Cl. 2004) United States v. Carr, 63 M.J. 615 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 2006) Professional and Civic Affiliations Member, State Bar of Nevada Adjunct Faculty, U.S. Department of Justice National Advocacy Center, 2006 Adjunct Faculty, U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's School, 2002-2006 Education Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., cum laude, 1988 Arizona State University, B.S., cum laude, 1982 Bar/Court Admissions State Bar of Nevada State Bar of California Pennsylvania Bar (currently inactive). | 