Matt Gilliam is an attorney in Pacific Legal Foundation’s Environment and Natural Resources practice group. He joined the team in 2025.
Prior to joining PLF, Matt worked for nearly a dozen years as a staff attorney with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, defending individual rights in federal and state courts and before the National Labor Relations Board. He developed his love for liberty after reading Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom and was forever hooked on the Constitution after reading The Federalist Papers while freezing on a deer stand in the Louisiana swamps. Ever since, Matt has passionately pursued his interests in political philosophy and constitutional law, receiving his undergraduate degree from Transylvania University and an M.A. from the University of London. He later obtained his J.D. from Georgetown Law.
Before law school, Matt worked for seven years in Marathon Petroleum’s marketing division, where he managed wholesale gasoline and distillate marketing in Florida and Louisiana, asphalt marketing on the U.S. Gulf Coast, and asphalt supply and logistics between the company’s terminals and refineries. Matt left his employment with Marathon in 2008 to attend law school and embark on the career path he always dreamed of—enforcing and defending constitutional protections of individual freedom.
After law school, Matt worked as a legal associate in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies where, among other things, he co-authored amicus curiae briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court. While at Cato, he was inspired by PLF’s success in Sackett I and Koontz and is now excited to be a part of the mission.
While he currently resides in Virginia, Matt is a Kentuckian at heart. Outside of work, he loves hiking, fishing, and exploring the great outdoors, and is also an avid film and music buff. He’s also a dedicated Formula One and IndyCar racing fan and attends the Indianapolis 500 every year.
Matt is a member of the bar in New York and West Virginia.