Matt Schmidt
Matt is a partner at Schmidt, Sethi & Akmajian and graduated from the James E Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in 2010. Matt's primary interest in law focuses on serious personal injury, insurance bad faith, and police liability.
Prior to attending law school, Matt earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Creative Writing at the University of Arizona. During this time, his interest in travel sent him on two study abroad programs in Italy and Ireland. His passion for creative writing has not left him since then, having self-published two children's books for his two older children - with a third book in the works. Matt's writing talent even won him 2nd place in the Arizona Attorney's creative arts competition in May 2011 for his fictional piece “The Taker.”
In law school, Matt served as a legal extern for Senator Jon Kyl in Washington D.C. on the Judiciary Committee for the subcommittee of Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security in the Fall of 2008. He won the Andrew Silverman Law Student Community Service Award in the 2009-2010 for his leadership on the Community Service Board and orchestration of several community service events for law students to participate in. He served as a writer for the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. In June 2010, Matt put his legal writing skills to work and with his dad (Ted Schmidt) co-authored “Taking the ‘Strict' Out of Products Liability Law,” a feature article in the Arizona Attorney. Matt also co-authored Sections of the Products Liability Chapter in the State Bar of Arizona's Arizona Tort Law Handbook 2012. He also participated on the Arizona Mock Trial Team in 2009-2010, a team that made it to the finals in the annual regional completion. Matt also writes frequently in the Writ, which is Pima County Bar Association's monthly publication, having recently written an ongoing column called “Techno-Law-gically Speaking” from 2011-2018 and now writes one called “Mind Your Mind”.
When he is not practicing law, writing or traveling with his wife, Matt enjoys participating in or watching just about any sporting event. He played rugby at the University of Arizona, played for the Old Pueblo Lions' Rugby Club until recently, and still bleeds red and blue when it comes to the Arizona Wildcats. Now, Matt's passion for sports, penchant for mentoring, and love of his family have combined as a coach for his sons' baseball and soccer teams. Matt also enjoys staying active in the community and has been involved in various philanthropic and charity organizations such as the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Tucson program, as the President and Founder of the Engage Foundation, and being on the Board of Directors for the Empower Coalition, among many others.
- Areas of Practice:
- Serious Personal Injury
- Insurance Bad Faith
- Police Liability
- Bar Admissions:
- Arizona, 2010
- Education:
- The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson, Arizona, 2010
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona B.A.
Major: English
Major: Creative Writing
- Honors and Awards:
- "40 Under 40 Award" winner, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 2014
- National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Student-Athlete Scholar Award Winner
- Professional Associations and Memberships:
- Engage Foundation President and Founder, 2018 - Present
- Empower Coalition, Board of Directors
- NEXUS Executives, Member
- Arizona Association of Justice Board Member
- Eagle Scout, 1999 - Present
- Tucson Big Brothers Big Sisters, 2010 - 2016
- University of Arizona Rugby Team
- Young Lawyers Division of the Pima County Bar Association Board Member, 2012 - 2017
- Officer and President of the Old Pueblo Rugby Football Club, 2010 - 2017
- Published Works:
- “Mind Your Mind,” The Writ, October 2018 - March 2020
- “Techno-Law-gically Speaking,” The Writ, December 2011 - July 2018
- Sections of the Products Liability Chapter in the State Bar of Arizona's Arizona Tort Law Handbook, 2012
- The Taker, Arizona Attorney, May 2011
- Taking the “Strict” Out of Products Liability Law in Arizona, Arizona Attorney, June 2010
- Children's Books: Boopie Goes to Dreamlandia, 2017 and Brody Badger Plays Baseball, 2019
- Classes/Seminars Taught:
- Minding your Mind in a Difficult Time (State Bar of Arizona, 2020)
Stress Management & Wellness: A toolkit for lawyers (State Bar of Arizona, 2019)
Positive Psychology for Lawyers (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2019)
The Winter Bench and Bar Program: FASTAR panel (State Bar of Arizona 2018)
Achieving Equilibrium in Professional & Personal Life (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2018)
Food for Thought: Networking and Marketing (James E. Rogers College of Law,2018)
Food for Thought: Managing your caseload (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2018)
Food for Thought: Networking and Marketing (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2017)
Food for Thought: Managing your caseload and your time (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2017)
Food for Thought: Ten things new associates should (and shouldn't) do (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2016)
Reducing Stress and Increasing Happiness to Become More Productive and Successful (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2016)
Cloudy with a Chance of Pitfalls: Cloud computing for lawyers (State Bar of Arizona, 2016)
Red Car, Blue Car: An introduction to car crash litigation (Pima County Bar Association, 2015)
Food for Thought: Client management (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2015)
Food for Thought: Managing your caseload and your time (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2014)
Get the Most Out of your iPad in your Law Office (Western Trial Lawyers, 2014)
Got Apps? An in-depth review of the most useful iPad apps for lawyers (Pima County Bar Association, 2014)
Food for Thought: Ten things new associates should (and shouldn't) do (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2014)
iPad Magic: How the iPad can change your practice for the better (State Bar of Arizona, 2013)
LEAD Career Discussion Panel (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2013)
Food for Thought: Managing your caseload (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2013)
Food for Thought: Writing an effective letter (James E. Rogers College of Law,2012)
Food for Thought: Ten things new associates should (and shouldn't) do (James E. Rogers College of Law, 2012)