Matthew Dawson has been a partner at the Patrick Lynch Law Firm, LLC since it’s founding in 2011. He enjoys a wide and varied litigation practice, which includes Criminal Defense, Family Law, Personal Injury, and all manner of civil litigation. He also handles probate and estate matters and business disputes. He is admitted to the R.I. Bar and U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. He is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association, the Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Rhode Association for Justice and the Criminal Law Bench Bar Committee. In December of 2012 Dawson was appointed Deputy Probate Judge for the City of East Providence, Rhode Island.
Prior to entering private practice Dawson was a top-level prosecutor for the State of Rhode Island having served as lead-counsel for the State in numerous high-profile cases. Since entering private practice Dawson taken that considerable experience and dedicated himself to the private practice of law by providing aggressive, highly-skilled representation for individuals falsely accused of crimes and those who are being treated unfairly by authorities. He has successfully represented clients facing criminal charges in State and Federal Courts and has also applied his experience and skills to help Rhode Islanders coping with divorce and child custody issues, dealing with catastrophic personal injuries, and all manner of civil litigation.
During a two-decade career as a prosecutor Dawson served as both Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Chief of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit. For six years he was responsible for direct supervision of all specialized units within the Criminal Division including White Collar, Appellate, Narcotics and Organized Crime, District Court, Medicaid Fraud, Juvenile, Intake, Extraditions, Probation Violations and Elder Abuse.
In addition to his service as trial counsel Dawson also directed investigations in a variety of criminal settings, including homicides, sexual assaults, gun cases, white-collar and corruption cases, drunk-driving death cases, the use of force by law-enforcement personnel, gun cases, violent street crimes, and numerous narcotics and organized crime cases. Dawson has secured numerous indictments in complex criminal cases through the presentation of evidence to grand juries, including cases involving murder, government corruption and the wiretap interception of transmitted communications.
Dawson is a recognized speaker in police procedure and trial tactics who has lectured extensively on application of the 4th Amendment and reviewing police conduct where individuals are searched by the Police. Dawson has advised law enforcement agencies as to issues of criminal law and has also conducted seminars with respect to investigating crimes against the elderly, juvenile justice, criminal law and procedure and Effective Courtroom Presentations for police officers.
Dawson has also conducted training seminars on behalf of the Rhode Island Bar Association on a number of topics including: Cross-Examination, Post Conviction Relief, Introduction to Criminal Practice and False Testimony: Your Ethical Obligations.
Dawson received his Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Journalism and Political Science from the University of Rhode Island in 1990. He received his law degree from New England Law, Boston in 1995.
