Monthly Feature: Get to Know... Matthew A. Young

July 1, 2022

Matthew Young’s path to the law was far from traditional.

“I was an avid and pretty good golfer growing up,” he says. “But shortly after graduating from Siena College, everything seemed to ‘click,’ which prompted me to give it a shot to play professionally. I played on professional mini-tours in Florida and New England for two years, even winning an event in Massachusetts.”

Skilled as he was on the links, however, Matt eventually reached the difficult realization that he would never transition from talented amateur to money-earning pro. He worked for several years in commercial real estate finance and property management, but it wasn’t his calling. Sept. 11 also prompted some soul searching. As his 30th birthday approached, the time had come to find his calling. In planning his next step, he thought back to the advice his father gave him when he was an undergraduate at Siena: Go to law school. Dad even offered to foot the bill.

“Of course, nine years later, I had to pay for it,” Matt says, chuckling. “But there’s no question: By going to law school later in life, by having to pay for it myself and by having been in the workforce for several years, I just treated law school like a full-time job and soaked up every minute. I don’t think I would have done nearly as well in law school had I gone right out of college – and if I hadn’t had my wife’s support.”

His wife, Renee, an elementary school principal, met on a blind date in 1999 and got married during spring break in his first year of law school. Their first son was born in the fall of his third year.

“Law school was hectic on many levels, but Renee deserves much of the credit for me getting through it successfully.” He ended up graduating magna cum laude.

After his second year of law school, Matt was hired as a summer law clerk in Bond’s Albany office, where he blossomed under the tutelage of attorney-mentors, including Hermes Fernandez, Greg Champion, Stuart Klein and Frank Mayer, who eventually became his colleagues. He officially joined the firm in 2005 and is part of the business and transactions and health care practices. In 2019, he was named deputy managing member of the office.

After Matt had been at Bond for a couple of years, Hermes, the co-chair of the firm’s health care practice, asked him to help out with a client facing health care issues.

“I said yes, because he asked. And then I just loved the work. It was more regulatory based. The regulations are, in large part, unclear and it was my job to clarify them.”  Matt now concentrates his practice on corporate, business and regulatory matters for clients that are regulated by New York State agencies, such as the departments of Financial Services, Health, Education and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, among others.

He compares navigating the maze of rules and guidelines to solving a puzzle.

“I just love it. I like crosswords and anything that challenges me to use deductive reasoning,” he says.

In 17 years, nothing made Matt more sure about whether he made the right choice of law firm than the COVID-19 pandemic, as Bond attorneys worked tirelessly to assist each other and their clients – nursing homes and insurance companies, in particular – rocked by the health crisis.

“I’m eternally grateful,” he says. “The way we dealt with COVID speaks volumes about the firm and our client base.”

Matt also proudly serves on the board for the Prevention Council of Saratoga County, which does a lot of work in schools to help thwart drug and alcohol use and addiction.

Matt and Renee have two sons in high school. The boys, just 20 months apart in age, are “finally more kind to themselves and each other” and are growing into fine young men.

“I couldn’t be prouder of my family,” he says.